Seven Keys to Baldpate
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
Hugh Ford
George M. Cohan
Anna Q. Nilsson
Elda Furry
Corene Uzzell
Joseph Smiley
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Writer George Washington Magee arrives at Baldpate Inn to win a bet from its owner by beginning a novel at midnight one day and finishing it by midnight the next. He is interrupted in his endeavor by John Bland, who comes to the inn to bribe mayor Jim Cargan into awarding his boss, Thomas Haydan, a building contract. Magee locks Bland in a room, only to be interrupted once more by Mary Norton, a newspaper reporter on the trail of the bribe story. A series of interruptions follow which include gunplay, the theft of money and visits by Myra Thornhill, her accomplice Lou Max and the mayor himself. As the clock strikes twelve, however, Magee finishes his book and it is revealed that the entire proceeding has been a fantasy which he embodied in the book.
Director
Hugh Ford
Cast
George M. Cohan
Anna Q. Nilsson
Elda Furry
Corene Uzzell
Joseph Smiley
Armand Cortes
C. Warren Cook
Purnell Pratt
Frank Losee
Eric Hudson
Carlton Macy
Paul Everton
Russell Bassett
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
This film was shot at the Famous Players studio in New York City. Cohan's production company was called variously the George M. Cohan Film Corp. and the Cohan Feature Film Co. in news items appearing at the time of the company's formation. Reviews for the films, while referring to Cohan's company, do not give a specific name. The film opened the week of August 26, 1917 in New York.
Cohan's play and Earl Derr Biggers' novel were the basis for a film made in Australia in 1915 with Monte Luke directing. Two screen versions were made in the 1920s: by Paramount in 1925, with Douglas MacLean starring and Fred Newmeyer directing; and by RKO in 1929, with Richard Dix starring and Reginald Barker directing. (See AFI Catalog of Feature Films, 1921-30.) RKO filmed the story twice more: in 1935, with Gene Raymond starring and William Hamilton and Edward Killy directing; and in 1947, with Phillip Tracy starring and Lew Landers directing (see AFI Catalog of Feature Films, 1931-40).
