Seven Keys to Baldpate

Author William Magee (Richard Dix) is bet by a friend that he cannot write a complete novel in 24 hours. The bet is five thousand dollars, but Magee says he needs absolute quiet to complete the task. The friend thus arranges for Magee to spend from midnight to midnight at a remote summer inn in upstate New York called Baldpate. It is winter so the place is closed and abandoned except for the caretakers. Before he leaves for Baldpate, Magee sees a beautiful woman, meets her, and they arrange to eat breakfast together there when he returns from his task.

At Baldpate the wind whistles, the snow blows, and the place is silent as Magee works in his room upstairs. The caretakers have assured Magee that there is only one key to Baldpate and that he has it, thus he will not be disturbed. But then he hears a noise downstairs. It is a man talking on the phone to another man about hiding some bribery money in the safe there. It turns out the man has a key to Baldpate too. But he's not the last to arrive or have a key. Throughout the night strange characters arrive, most with nefarious motives. One who seemingly does not is the girl Magee met in New York that he arranged to have breakfast with. She shows up claiming to be a reporter, and she - in fact all of these people - have keys to Baldpate. What goes on here? Watch and find out.

What really impressed me about this film and caused it to rise above an amusing but non-essential of 6/10 was the natural style of acting by everyone involved. In a year - 1929 - when a big studio like MGM was still making silent films, the players here have the acting style of those in a screwball comedy of circa 1940. If not for the women parading around in the skullcaps and ostentatious fox skins typical of the 1920s, without knowing anything else I would have guessed it to have been made much later than it was. Ironically, director Reginald Barker had a long resume of directing silent films and did not do that many sound films, but this good effort was one of them. I'd recommend this, especially for fans of Richard Dix.