The movie opens with a shot of an old mansion being surrounded by a lightning storm. Could anything be more unoriginal? Opening like that, you know that there isn't going to be much to write home about. All the standard stuff you would expect to find in this kind of a movie is here.
An old and wealthy man (Aubrey Mallalieu) dies, leaving his estate naturally enough to his son, but the inheritance is locked away in the old guy's tomb and seven keys are needed to open it. The man's servants, of course (including a butler, played by Robert Montgomery, who looks vaguely like something that would have fit in nicely with the Addams Family) are convinced that they deserve the inheritance far more than the boy, and they set out to get it.
Basically the story revolves around the search for the missing key, as a woman named June from Canada (Lilli Palmer) turns out to be the heir to the fortune after the son disappears and isn't heard from for several years. She's in a contest with Dr. Mannetta (Leslie Banks) - your typical evil doctor type complete with a monkey who rides around on his shoulders, and who is a collector of torture equipment. Anyway, I found it all rather silly and not really all that interesting, although a bit funny in places. I love the character of Dick Martin (Romilly Lunge) for example. As the movie starts he's handing in his resignation from Scotland Yard when June walks in to the office to report a murder. June's cute, and Martin uses the murder as an opportunity to get a girlfriend. Then, smitten with her as he is - and suspicious of Mannetta as he is - he nevertheless leaves June alone all night in the mansion with Mannetta. It doesn't make much sense, but in a way that fit with the rest of the movie. 3/10
An old and wealthy man (Aubrey Mallalieu) dies, leaving his estate naturally enough to his son, but the inheritance is locked away in the old guy's tomb and seven keys are needed to open it. The man's servants, of course (including a butler, played by Robert Montgomery, who looks vaguely like something that would have fit in nicely with the Addams Family) are convinced that they deserve the inheritance far more than the boy, and they set out to get it.
Basically the story revolves around the search for the missing key, as a woman named June from Canada (Lilli Palmer) turns out to be the heir to the fortune after the son disappears and isn't heard from for several years. She's in a contest with Dr. Mannetta (Leslie Banks) - your typical evil doctor type complete with a monkey who rides around on his shoulders, and who is a collector of torture equipment. Anyway, I found it all rather silly and not really all that interesting, although a bit funny in places. I love the character of Dick Martin (Romilly Lunge) for example. As the movie starts he's handing in his resignation from Scotland Yard when June walks in to the office to report a murder. June's cute, and Martin uses the murder as an opportunity to get a girlfriend. Then, smitten with her as he is - and suspicious of Mannetta as he is - he nevertheless leaves June alone all night in the mansion with Mannetta. It doesn't make much sense, but in a way that fit with the rest of the movie. 3/10