Seven Keys (1961)

Memorable, crazy movie

Captivating movie !

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

This lower-case parable is a highly entertaining and well-plotted thriller, boasting a charismatic, intelligent and droll lead performance by Alan Dobie that impresses with his star quality.The film is most notable for having the most extraordinary cast of well-known British character actors and comedians, several of them popping up for a single scene. There are of course many from the Independent Artists repertory company, including Delphi Lawrence, John Carson and Philip Locke. But there are also several familiar scene-stealers from a previous generation, including Robertson Hare, Fabia Drake and Colin Gordon. And eagle-eyed viewers will also spot future stars in impossibly tiny roles, such as Peter Barkworth, Robert Lang and Brian Peck. Virtually everybody is somebody, and for the fan of the British B movie it's a treat.

This is the second time, the first on DVD, that I've caught this fast paced low budget rocket. A prison inmate, Alan Dobie, is left a set of seven keys in the will of another inmate. Dobie is not exactly sure what to make of this, since he had only met the dead man once.He asks around and discovers that the dead man was doing a 15 year bit for embezzling. He was charged with the theft of the tidy sum of 20,000 pounds. The stolen funds it seems are still missing. Could the keys have something to do with the cash? Dodie does the last three months of his sentence and then heads out to see if he can find the cash. Dobie is meet at the prison gates by some former "associates". Having heard through the prison grapevine about the keys, they expect a cut of the cash. Dobie has other ideas and ditches the mob.Dobie hunts down the dead man's former secretary, Jennie Carson. He asks her about the man and is told he was a straight arrow and not a crook. Dobie tells her about the keys and offers her a cut if she will help. Carson refuses the cash but does identify five of the keys for Dobie.Dobie checks out the locks on the dead man's former house, office, car and his son's apartment. He discovers that the son, John Carson, had died in a car wreck the same day that his father had died. He finds the locks for all 7 keys but no cash.What he does discover is that Carson's lover, Delphi Lawrence, was blackmailing the father. Out with Lawrence one night, Carson had killed a man while driving drunk. Lawrence had been putting the screws to the father ever since. The payday stopped when the father was sent up for embezzling his company funds.Dobie pays Lawrence a visit and turns a few screws of his own. Cough up what is left, or a quick call will be made to John Law. Lawrence agrees but has only 5,000 left out of the 20,000.They meet at the bank next day to collect the cash. Just as the teller hands over the loot the Police show. It seems they have been keeping tabs on Dobie since his release. They slap the cuffs on Lawrence, take the cash, and leave Dobie standing there.At only 57 mins this low renter just zips along. Cast - Alan Dobie, Jennie Carson, Delphi Lawrence, John Carson, Robertson Hare and Jeremy Lloyd.The director is Pat Jackson who did SHADOW ON THE WALL-1950. The story and screenplay is by Jack Davies and Henry Blyth.The only other person with any sort of noir pedigree is Miss Lawrence. She was in BLOOD ORANGE, MURDER BY PROXY, BARBADOS QUEST, THE GOLD EXPRESS, STRANGER'S MEETING, BLIND SPOT and BEAT GIRL. (b/w)