Seven Keys to Baldpate (1917 film)
| Seven Keys to Baldpate | |
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Lobby poster with likenesses of George M. Cohan and Elda Furry
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| Directed by | Hugh Ford |
| Produced by | George M. Cohan |
| Written by | Earl Derr Biggers (novel) |
| Based on |
Seven Keys to Baldpate by George M. Cohan |
| Starring | George M. Cohan Anna Q. Nilsson |
| Cinematography | Ned Van Buren Lewis W. Physioc |
| Distributed by | Artcraft Pictures |
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Release date
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| Country | United States |
| Language | Silent (English intertitles) |
Seven Keys to Baldpate is a 1917 American silent mystery/thriller film produced by George M. Cohan and distributed by Artcraft Pictures, an affiliate of Paramount. The film is based on Cohan's play of the novel by Earl Derr Biggers. Cohan himself stars in this silent version along with Anna Q. Nilsson and Hedda Hopper, billed under her real name Elda Furry. One version of the play preceded this movie in 1916 and numerous versions followed in the succeeding decades such as the early RKO talkie starring Richard Dix.
Seven Keys to Baldpate is an extant film with much home video availability.
As described in a film magazine, George Washington Magee (Cohan) bets a companion $5,000 that he can write a bestseller in twenty-four hours. He goes to an isolated summer hotel in the mountains, receives the only key to the place, and sets about his task. Soon he is interrupted by complications as guests arrive, unexpected and uninvited, each with their own key to the deserted hotel. Two hundred thousand dollars gets deposited in the hotel safe, a young woman is shot, and, while the author holds the crooks at bay waiting for the police to arrive, they cook up a scheme to turn the tables on George. The woman's body disappears from the room, and the crooks are marched off to prison by U.S. Secret Service men. The caretaker returns the following night and congratulates the author on his success, and a lady reporter capitulates under the smiles of the industrious writer.
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