Never Mention Murder **½ (1964, Dudley Foster, Maxine Audley, Peter Butterworth, Michael Coles, Pauline Yates) – Classic Movie Review 3,681

Dudley Foster stars as a creepy murderous chief surgeon in the tense, gripping and worthwhile 1964 Edgar Wallace crime thriller Never Mention Murder.

Director John Nelson Burton’s 1964 British second feature mystery film Never Mention Murder is based on a story by Edgar Wallace, and stars Maxine Audley, Dudley Foster and Michael Coles, and is part of the series of Edgar Wallace Mysteries films made at Merton Park Studios.

The 1964 British crime film Never Mention Murder stars Dudley Foster, who is extremely effective as Philip Teasdale, a creepy chief surgeon who hires sleazy, greedy private detective Felix Carstairs (Brian Haines) to follow his wife Liz (Maxine Audley), who turns out to have a lover, cabaret entertainer Tony Sorbo (Michael Coles).

Teasdale sets about to avenge himself on his wife by poisoning Sorbo and giving him totally unneeded heart surgery so he will die during the operation.

Teasdale substitutes drugs for Sorbo’s anti-smoking pills while Sorbo and his wife Zita (Pauline Yates) are performing their mindreading act at a hotel. Sorbo promptly has a heart attack and is taken to hospital where Teasdale prepares to operate, planning to kill Sorbo on the operating table.

Then the private detective returns to blackmail the surgeon, in director John Nelson Burton’s tense, gripping and worthwhile little 1964 Edgar Wallace crime thriller from Britain’s Merton Park Studios.

Philip Stone notably plays the police inspector. Also in the cast are Patrick Newell, Peter Butterworth, Henley Thomas and Pauline Chamberlain.

It is written by Robert Banks Stewart.

The cast are Maxine Audley as Liz Teasdale, Dudley Foster as Philip Teasdale, Michael Coles as Tony Sorbo, Pauline Yates as Zita, Brian Haines as Felix Carstairs, Peter Butterworth as porter, Philip Stone as the police inspector, Henley Thomas as Merrick, Moya O’Sullivan as theatre sister, Donald Oliver as anaesthetist, Katie Fitzroy as nurse, Jean Dallas as nurse, Patsy Smart as nurse, Bill Horsley as Philip, Patrick Carter as barman, Patrick Newell as barman  and Pauline Chamberlain.

Never Mention Murder Theatrical is directed by John Nelson Burton, runs 55 minutes, is made by Merton Park Studios, is distributed by Anglo-Amalgamated, is written by Robert Banks Stewart, based on a story by Edgar Wallace, is shot in black and white by James Wilson, and is produced by Jack Greenwood.

Release date: November 1964.

It is one of a long-running series of 48 popular low-budget (£22,000) support feature films based on Edgar Wallace novels, made and released between 1960 and 1965 in British cinemas. In Britain it was seen on ITV, Channel 4 and Bravo from the late Sixties through to the Nineties, and shown on American TV The Edgar Wallace Mystery Theatre, with its 60 minute running time cut to fit a one-hour slot with commercials.

In July 2012 Network DVD began to release the complete series on DVD, uncut and in its original aspect ratio.

Dudley Foster (7 August 1924 – 8 January 1973) also starred in the Edgar Wallace Mystery Ricochet (1963). He committed suicide by hanging, aged 48, a week after his father’s death.

Michael Coles (12 August 1936 – 26 April 2005) appeared in three Edgar Wallace Mysteries in 1961-1964: Man Detained, Solo for Sparrow and Never Mention Murder.  His film roles include Dracula AD 1972 (1972), The Satanic Rites of Dracula (1973) and Sweeney! (1977).

The Edgar Wallace Mysteries include: Urge to Kill (1960), Clue of the Twisted Candle (1960), The Malpas Mystery (1960), Marriage of Convenience (1960), The Clue of the New Pin (1961), Man at the Carlton Tower (1961), The Fourth Square (1961), Man Detained (1961), Attempt to Kill (1961), Clue of the Silver Key (1961), Never Back Losers (1961), Partners in Crime (1961), The Sinister Man (1961), Time to Remember (1962), Playback (1962), Solo for Sparrow (1962), Locker Sixty-Nine (1962), Backfire!, (1962), Incident at Midnight (1963), Return to Sender (1963), Ricochet (1963), Accidental Death (1963), Five to One (1963), The Verdict (1964), We Shall See (1964), Act of Murder (1964), Never Mention Murder (1964), Dead Man’s Chest (1965) and Change Partners (1965).

Playback (September 1962).

The Edgar Wallace Mysteries

There were 48 films in the British second-feature film series The Edgar Wallace Mysteries, produced at Merton Park Studios for Anglo-Amalgamated and released in cinemas between 1960 and 1965.

• Urge to Kill (March 1960)
• Clue of the Twisted Candle (September 1960)
• The Malpas Mystery (October 1960)
• Marriage of Convenience (November 1960)
• The Man Who Was Nobody (December 1960)
• Partners in Crime (February 1961)
• The Clue of the New Pin (February 1961)
• The Fourth Square (June 1961)
• Man at the Carlton Tower (July 1961)
• Clue of the Silver Key (August 1961)
• Attempt to Kill (September 61)
• Man Detained (October 1961)
• Never Back Losers (December 1961)
• The Sinister Man (December 1961)
• Backfire! (February 1962)
• Candidate for Murder (February 1962)
• Flat Two (February 1962)
• The Share Out (February 1962)
• Number Six (April 1962)
• Time to Remember (July 1962)
• Solo for Sparrow (September 1962)
• Playback (September 1962)
• Locker Sixty-Nine (September 1962)
• Death Trap (October 1962)
• The Set Up (January 1963)
• Incident at Midnight (January 1963)
• The £20,000 Kiss (January 1963)
• On the Run (February 1963)
• Return to Sender (March 1963)
• Ricochet (March 1963)
• The Double (April 1963)
• To Have and to Hold (July 1963)
• The Partner (September 1963)
• Accidental Death (November 1963)
• Five to One (December 1963)
• Downfall (January 1964)
• The Verdict (February 1964)
• We Shall See (April 1964)
• The Rivals (May 1964)
• Who Was Maddox? (June 1964)
• Face of a Stranger (September 1964)
• Act of Murder (September 1964)
• Never Mention Murder (November 1964)
• The Main Chance (November 1964)
• Game for Three Losers (April 1965)
• Change Partners (July 1965)
• Strangler’s Web (August 1965)
• Dead Man’s Chest (October 1965).

© Derek Winnert 2016 Classic Movie Review 3,681

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Maxine Audley (1923–1992).