Clarissa Mora The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

Arianna Moses Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

Sanjeev Waters A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

Bob This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Leofwine_draca SEVEN THUNDERS is a long-forgotten wartime effort that shines a light on one of the darkest events to befall Vichy France. The story is set in the slums of Marseilles, where one particular district provides a haunt for Jews and British hiding out from their Nazi oppressors who are always on the hunt for them. The upshot being that the slums were eventually dynamited, by the Nazis as depicted in this movie.This film is something of a ponderous effort that could do with a bit more suspense in order to keep the slow pace from flagging. The huge tableau of characters means that it's difficult to get to know any one in particular, or indeed sympathise with the individual. Stephen Boyd has something of an action man role, brawling with a Nazi goon on a rooftop in one stand-out action scene, and the rest is a muddle of romantic moments, plot twists, and some mild horror elements. James Robertson Justice is cast against type as a sinister doctor with a fine line in murder and disposing of the bodies of his victims in the quicklime he keeps in the cellar!

mark.waltz This sick themed war drama has a psychotic doctor exploiting the situation with Nazis by killing refugee wannabees and potential prisoners of war by having them convert all their money into gold with the promise of getting them out of France. James Robertson Justice (the sweets factory owner from "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang") is the nasty "Beast of Marseilles" who tells one Jewish undertaker desperate to meet his family over in England that he is saving him from the tortures of a concentration camp. While all of this is going on, the Nazis introduce much terror to the residents, including a lecherous fat soldier who after twice trying to rape the young heroine ends up having a date with the concrete below when he falls off a roof after having a fight with her lover.Generally unpleasant and slow-moving, this seems an odd story to be telling more than a decade after the end of the war. Stephen Boyd is the young hero fighting both the Germans and the evil Justice who enjoys his murderous ways as a painter would be uncovering his new artwork. This is an "A" version of the type of film that Tod Slaughter would have menaced in a decade before. The only thing that is of interest in this really is the manner in which the villain is exposed and ultimately dealt with.

nixonkg-1 Many films have ambiguous titles, but why "Seven Thunders"? Was this the title of the book from which this film was derived? Can anyone explain? Did I miss something in this slow and ponderous film? The whole storyline did not ring true. Where were the escapees going to from Marseilles? Spain would seem the obvious choice. Was this in fact an actual escape route for Allied POWs from Italy? The film was interesting from the fact that a lot of it was shot on location, but overall it was a very disappointing use of a talented cast! Interesting to see Stephen Boyd in an early screen role. Sad that his career appeared to peter out and that he died young.

Robert J. Maxwell Steven Boyd and his friend, Tony Wright, have escape from a German POW camp during World War II and have made their way to Marseilles, where they find temporary shelter in the shabby apartment of a sympathizer. The apartment is shabby because it's in the Old Quarter of Marseilles, and ALL of the Old Quarter is made up on tiny crooked streets and decrepit buildings.Boyd and Wright are initially intent on getting out of Marseilles and back to their own lines but things get a little complicated when Boyd takes up with a sassy blond a la gamin and Wright strikes up a friendship with a middle-aged married lady who is, like Wright himself, a Londoner. The Nazi occupiers mostly avoid the Old Quarter because it's corrupt and dangerous. Too many soldiers sneak off to the whorehouse or decide to desert or simply disappear. Boyd and a fat, ugly, unambiguously mean Nazi soldier have a clumsy fist fight on the slate roof top and somebody falls to his death. Not even THAT scene is well handled. The decision is made by the Gestapo to remove all the residents and blow up the Old Quarter with dynamite. How can Boyd, Wright, and the blond escape? DO they escape when the buildings start to blow? Guess.That's narrative thread Number One, and it's neither exciting nor suspenseful. There's a lot of banter and flirting. An air of pointlessness seems to hang over the story of Boyd and Buddies. Why don't they get on with it? Narrative threat Number Two occupies much less screen time but is far more interesting, a kind of horror story embedded in this otherwise dull production. An elderly Jewish dentist is marooned in Marseilles. He roots around and finds an entrepreneur, James Robertson Justice, who promises to see that he reaches a free country, and there will be no charge for the service. But the dentist must convert all his currency (quite a lot, actually) into gold and bring it with him for safe keeping.The old dentist does as he's told and shows up at the appointed time with a bag full of savings in Justice's apartment. All along, Justice has been brusque but now he offers his guest a glass of cognac in celebration of the occasion. Finally relaxed, the dentist asks conversationally what Justice does for a living. Fregonese's camera dollies in to make sure we realize how important this revelation is when Justice replies, "I am a murderer." Justice then explains that, having drunk the wine, the old Jew is expiring even now. He's the 96th victim. He'll be buried in the cellar in a pit of lime and will be forgotten shortly, while Justice will keep the gold and be eight thousand pounds richer. With an evil grin, Justice asks if he might hasten the dentist's inevitable demise and offers him more of the poisoned wine. A chilling scene.But the two narrative threads hardly touch one another. Boyd and troupe do the expected -- barely -- while Justice dies without adumbration in a stupid car accident.A lot of people seem to have enjoyed this rambling tale with its slight point, so you might want to give it a try.