GER
1962
1hr 35mins
Dir: Alfred Vohrer
Starring: Heinz Drache and Sabine Sesselmann
A woman arrives at a lonely mansion and finds herself mixed up with a lunatic who has built his own torture chamber
This German crime film was one of 32 produced by Rialto Films of West Germany between 1959 – 1972 that were based on Edgar Wallace novels. All were produced in both German and English language versions (with a different cast for each) and this film was Number 10 in the production run. This film is an adaptation of the Edgar Wallace novel The Door with Seven Locks, which had previously been made into a 1940 British film of the same title (released in the US as Chamber of Horrors). This 1962 version was also released as an English language film with the title The Door with Seven Locks. It has an opening title sequence of some confusion. This starts with a shot of Terminus Place outside London’s Victoria station, and we see the entrances to both the main line station and the more rarely seen Underground station. This is then followed by scenes filmed at a German main line station, probably Berlin, interspersed with a shot of the platforms at London Paddington with Class 117 DMU’s in attendance. Most oddly of all is the 1940s stock shot of passengers alighting from GWR coaching stock at Paddington that has been thrown in for good measure! In addition to this opening sequence there are several scenes that are filmed in a room overlooking a railway line. As all the views out of the window are mainly at night it is impossible to identify the trains that pass by outside but they do appear to be English. Whether they are studio back-projection or the real thing, however, is another matter entirely.
