The Malpas Mystery ** (1960, Maureen Swanson, Allan Cuthbertson, Geoffrey Keen, Ronald Howard, Sandra Dorne, Alan Tilvern) – Classic Movie Review 10,226

Maureen Swanson stars in the 1960 crime film The Malpas Mystery, a lively and involving, if fairly routine, British B-movie Edgar Wallace thriller adaptation.

Director Sidney Hayers’s 1960 second feature crime film The Malpas Mystery is a lively and involving, if fairly routine, bland and mildly acted British black and white B-movie Edgar Wallace thriller adaptation, with careful film-making but plenty of silly dialogue to stump the capable actors.

Allan Cuthbertson stars as criminal Lacey Marshalt, whose lover Dora Elton (Sandra Dorne) pretends to be a robber’s vanished prodigal daughter. The strange plot thickens when Dorne’s stepsister Audrey Bedford (Maureen Swanson) turns up just released from jail after a wrongful conviction for stealing gems. Lacey’s mysterious neighbour Mr Malpas makes strange noises at night and is never seen, but Audrey gets a job offer from him.

The screenplay by Paul Tabori and Gordon Wellesley is based on Edgar Wallace’s 1924 novel The Face in the Night. Wallace’s plot is satisfyingly complicated and intriguing, and at least director Hayers keeps the film moving briskly and provides a creepy, suspenseful atmosphere.

The Malpas Mystery is an Independent Artists production made at Beaconsfield Studios in exactly in the same style as the simultaneously filmed Merton Park studio Wallace adaptations. Although made by Independent Artists at Beaconsfield studios, it was included in the Merton Park series of Edgar Wallace Mysteries.

It was released on the ABC circuit on 17 September 1961 supporting Raising the Wind (1961).

The Malpas Mystery turned out to be a one-off. It was planned for 30 of the Edgar Wallace Mysteries films to be produced by Independent Artists at Beaconsfield Studios, while 20 were to be made at Merton Park Studios. However, The Malpas Mystery is Independent Artists’ only film in the series, and more than double the planned 20 films were made at Merton Park.

The cast are Maureen Swanson as Audrey Bedford, Allan Cuthbertson as Lacey Marshalt, Geoffrey Keen as Torrington, Ronald Howard as Dick Shannon, Sandra Dorne as Dora Elton, Alan Tilvern as Gordon Seager, Leslie French as Witkins, Catherine Feller as Jinette, Richard Shaw as Kornfeldt, Sheila Allen as Frau Kornfeldt, Anthony Bate as Police Constable, and Edward Cast as Laker.

Russian edition of the book.

The Malpas Mystery is directed by Sidney Hayers, runs 70 minutes, is made by Langton Productions and Independent Artists, is released by Anglo-Amalgamated Film Distributors (1960) (UK) and Schoenfeld Films (1967) (US), is written by Paul Tabori and Gordon Wellesley, based on the novel The Face in the Night by Edgar Wallace, is shot in black and white by Michael Reed, is produced by Julian Wintle and Leslie Parkyn, is scored by Elisabeth Lutyens, and is designed by Eric Shaw.

Since 1971, Beaconsfield Film Studios, Buckinghamshire, which opened in 1922, has been the home of the National Film and Television School.

Maureen Swanson was born on 25 November 1932 in Glasgow.

Maureen Swanson, aka Maureen Ward, Countess of Dudley (25 November 1932 – 16 November 2011)

It is the last film of Maureen Swanson, Scottish leading lady of Fifties British films, who retired after her marriage on 24 August 1961 to William Humble David Ward, 4th Earl of Dudley. They had seven children. She died on 16 November 2011, aged 78. She was the aunt of Rachel Ward.

She acted in Moulin Rouge (1952), Valley of Song (1953), Knights of the Round Table (1953), Third Party Risk (1954) and Orders Are Orders (1955). Then Rank signed to a long-term contract, appearing in A Town Like Alice (1956), Jacqueline (1956), Up in the World (1956), The Spanish Gardener (1956) and Robbery Under Arms (1957).

The Edgar Wallace Mysteries

There were 48 films in the British second-feature film series The Edgar Wallace Mysteries, mainly 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)
• 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 2020 Classic Movie Review 10,226

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