EDGAR WALLACE SERIES (1960 - 1965)

THE EDGAR WALLACE SERIES of B-movies were another product of Merton Park Studios and

like the previous series, THE SCALES OF JUSTICE, it was produced by Jack Greenwood. Back in the early 1980's I interviewed Jack Greenwood for an article I hoped to send the The Edgar Wallace society. I told Greenwood that my absolute favourite of the series was THE MALPAS MYSTERY directed by Sidney Hayers. Greenwood informed me that this particular film was the only one of the more than forty films in the series (counting ACT OF MURDER which was not really an entry in the series) that he had not produced! This didn't exactly get the interview off to a good start so although he answered most of my questions he wasn't exactly forthcoming and the article was not a success and was never submitted.

The series was very watchable and the rotating bust of writer Edgar Wallace and the theme music "Man of Mystery" (made into a hit by The Shadows) were always welcome extras at the cinema. Unlike the earlier Merton Park series which had been 30 minutes running time the Wallace series ran for about an hour. The strength of the series was that they had good stories - robbery stories like SOLO FOR SPARROW to locked room murder mysteries like THE CLUE OF THE NEW PIN (one of the best) and my own favourite, the aforementioned THE MALPAS MYSTERY which had something of the flavour of the German Wallace "Krimi" films being made simultaneously in West Germany. Casts included all the usual British B movie suspects like Jack Watling, Geoffrey Keen, Michael Coles, Allan Cuthbetson and Michael Gough (who did three films) and among the supporting actors one can spot young Michael Caine as an Irish crook in SOLO FOR SPARROW.

PAYROLL (1961)

Okay, it wasn't the great heist film I remember but it is an extremely good heist movie with lots of interesting points and a few faults. On the plus side is the bleak Newcastle Upon Tyne setting which is perfectly captured by the bleak black and white photography. The cast is uniformly excellent with Michael Craig interestingly cast against type as the ruthless leader of the gang and Billie Whitelaw as the wife of one of their victims who decides to take the law into her own hands. Other gang members include the ever watchable Kenneth Griffith, Tom Bell and Barry Keegan. Francoise Prevost is particularly good as the totally mercenary wife of the man who sells info to the gang and her scene towards the end of the movie in a garage washroom deserves applause. There are a few plot holes but nothing too serious and William Lucas, an actor I always enjoyed on television and in British B-movies tends to overact during his most stressful moments in the film as Prevost's husband. The armoured car robbery itself is excellently handled. If you enjoy old English thrillers you'll like this. Sidney Hayers was an uneven director but given the right material as with NIGHT OF THE EAGLE and here he could deliver. Rating ***

A Great Heist Movie

This is not a review....that will come soon. While watching the documentary OIL CITY CONFIDENTIAL I was intrigued to see that they had edited into the film footage from a 1961 film called PAYROLL directed by Sidney (NIGHT OF THE EAGLE) Hayers. I first heard about this film at school when one of my teachers, who had seen it at the cinema the night before, told us how much he enjoyed it and gave us a detailed account of the heist that is the central setpiece of the movie. I went to see it a few days later and loved it. For years it seemed to have vanished but seeing those clips again made me check it out and there it was available on DVD quite cheaply at Amazon. It's now winging its way towards me and I'm quite excited about seeing it again. I remember that it was considered very violent and brutal for its day and this opinion seems borne out by the reviews in IMDb. And its got Billie Whitelaw in it!