Seven Sinners (1936/Network U.K. Import DVD Set/PAL/Region 2)

 

Picture: C     Sound: C     Extras: D     Film: B-

 

 

NOTE: This PAL Region Two DVD is only available in the U.K. from our friends at Network U.K. and can be ordered exclusively from them at the links below.

 

 

Sidney Gilliat and Frank Lauder are best-known for working with Alfred Hitchcock, but they have some interesting work on their own and Albert de Courville’s Seven Sinners (1936) is a solid British Mystery film that holds up well for its short length and age.  Having written Bulldog Jack (in the Bulldog Drummond mode, but a satire) and Hitchcock films like Jamaica Inn and The Lady Vanishes, he also penned the 1972 adaptation of Agatha Christie’s Endless Night (1972).

 

In this, a man (Edmund Lowe) finds a man he was just talking to at a costume party dead, then when he brings back help, the body disappears.  It then reappears on a train he is on, once that train has wrecked and killed some of its passengers.  Then a series of seemingly unrelated train wrecks happen and he suspects, along with a new lady friend (Constance Cummings) that they are no coincidence.

 

This is a good, tight thriller everyone should see and one you get adjusted to the age, it works very well.  I saw this a very long time ago and am glad to see it resurface.  Serious film and mystery fans should think of it as a must see.

 

The 1.33 X 1 black and white image is very soft and if it were any worse, would rate lower, but this is not an HD transfer and this film needs some restoration work and deserves it.  The Dolby Digital 2.0 also is aged as expected, but some cleaning of the sound would be nice.  There are no extras, but this film deserves some.

 

 

As noted above, you can order this British PAL DVD import set exclusively from Network U.K. at:

 

http://www.networkdvd.net/

 

or

 

www.networkdvd.co.uk

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo