gridoon2024 Review of Seven Keys to Baldpate

Seven Keys to Baldpate (1929)

Multilayered old-dark-house mystery-comedy

[7/10 · 25 February 2024]

"Seven Keys To Baldpate" (1929) appears to be, for a long while, "just" an archetypical old-dark-house mystery-comedy, but it's more than that: this must one of the first, if not THE first, sound films to completely pull the rug from under the audience's feet not once, but twice! (and talking about sound, check out those enthusiastic snowstorm sound effects). The film is lively, snappy, sometimes flippant to a fault regarding Richard Dix's attitude (though this makes sense at the end), elevated by that double-twist ending. There is also one great directorial shot from inside a fireplace. *** out of 4.