Candidate for Murder ** (1962, Michael Gough, Erika Remberg, Hans von Borsody, John Justin) – Classic Movie Review 13,329

Michael Gough and Erika Remberg.

The 1962 British second feature Edgar Wallace Mystery crime thriller film Candidate for Murder features Michael Gough, Erika Remberg, Hans von Borsody, and John Justin.

Director David Villiers’s 1962 British second feature Edgar Wallace Mystery crime thriller film Candidate for Murder features Michael Gough, Erika Remberg, Hans von Borsody, and John Justin. Based on a story by Edgar Wallace, it is part of the long-running series of Edgar Wallace Mysteries films made at Merton Park Studios.

Michael Gough stars as Donald Edwards, who hires German professional killer Kersten (Hans von Borsody) to come to England to murder his actress wife Helene (Erika Remberg) because he believes she is unfaithful. Helene and her barrister lover Robert Vaughan (John Justin) somehow discover the plot and try to stay alive.

Candidate for Murder is an unconvincing, sometimes quite bad episode, very stagey, quite slow moving and with exaggerated performances, particularly by Michael Gough and Erika Remberg, who don’t spark off each other, though, to be fair, Gough and Borsody share a weird screen chemistry. John Justin wafts through it smoothly enough, though he has the air of a man who has seen better things, better movies, well classier movies: he starred in The Thief of Bagdad for heaven’s sake. It really is fusty and musty, one of the very few episodes that is, but nevertheless it still has its plus points, quite a few actually.

There is a police inspector (Jerold Wells), very briefly, looking for the reported missing wife, but the film is unusual for the series in that there’s no focus on police investigating murder most foul.

On the plus side, the Edgar Wallace plot is quite original, and some parts of Lukas Heller’s script are strong in terms of dialogue and scenes, there are one or two good, unusual pieces of well-shot outside filming, the jazzy score by Charles Blackwell is fine, and the handsome, suave assassin Kersten is an interesting, ambiguous character, and not badly played either.

The noirish bleak, cynical tone is on its side too. The end credits play over a shot of a dead body lying in the mud.

Anneke Wills plays Helene’s young servant/ helper Jacqueline, whom Gough’s character treats imperiously and contemptuously. Gough and Wills met on this film, and they married in 1965, despite a 25-year age difference. They had one son, Jasper, and divorced in 1979.

Release date: February 1962.

Erika Remberg and Hans von Borsody were both Austrian. Borsody was born in Vienna, but when he was three, his family moved to Berlin and obtained German citizenship.

Robin Phillips (the tall guest at the party) became a noted actor and film and theatre director.

John Justin (24 November 1917 – 29 November 2002)

John Justin was born John Justinian de Ledesma in Knightsbridge, London, the son of a well-off Argentine rancher. Justin called his film career ‘a mistake’. He is best remembered as Ahmad in the 1940 version of The Thief of Bagdad.

The cast

The cast are Michael Gough as Donald Edwards, Erika Remberg as Helene Edwards, Hans von Borsody [Hans Borsody] as Kersten, John Justin as Robert Vaughan, Paul Whitsun-Jones as Phillips, Vanda Godsell as Betty Conlon, Jerold Wells as police inspector, Anneke Wills [Annika Wills[ as Jacqueline, Victor Charrington as barman, Ray Smith as chauffeur, Norma Parnell as guest at party, Odette Nash as guest at party, Gabriella Licudi as guest at party, Pamela Greer as guest at party, Richard Bidlake as guest at party, Mike Hall as guest at party, and Robin Phillips as guest at party.

© Derek Winnert 2024 – Classic Movie Review 13,329

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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.

Crossroads to Crime (1960) and Seven Keys (1961) were not shot as part of the series but were later included. Urge to Kill (1960) may not originally have been intended as part of the series.

1. Urge to Kill (March 1960)
2. Clue of the Twisted Candle (September 1960)
3. The Malpas Mystery (October 1960)
4. Marriage of Convenience (November 1960)
5. The Man Who Was Nobody (December 1960)
6. Partners in Crime (February 1961)
7. The Clue of the New Pin (February 1961)
8. The Fourth Square (June 1961)
9. Man at the Carlton Tower (July 1961)
10. Clue of the Silver Key (August 1961)
11. Attempt to Kill (September 1961)
12. Man Detained (October 1961)
13. Never Back Losers (December 1961)
14. The Sinister Man (December 1961)
15. Backfire! (February 1962)
16. Candidate for Murder (February 1962)
17. Flat Two (February 1962)
18. The Share Out (February 1962)
19. Number Six (April 1962)
20. Time to Remember (July 1962)
21. Solo for Sparrow (September 1962)
22. Playback (September 1962)
23. Locker Sixty-Nine (September 1962)
24. Death Trap (October 1962)
25. The Set Up (January 1963)
26. Incident at Midnight (January 1963)
27. The £20,000 Kiss (January 1963)
28. On the Run (February 1963)
29. Return to Sender (March 1963)
30. Ricochet (March 1963)
31. The Double (April 1963)
32. To Have and to Hold (July 1963)
33. The Partner (September 1963)
34. Accidental Death (November 1963)
35. Five to One (December 1963)
36. Downfall (January 1964)
37. The Verdict (February 1964)
38. We Shall See (April 1964)
39. The Rivals (May 1964)
40. Who Was Maddox? (June 1964)
41. Face of a Stranger (September 1964)
42. Act of Murder (September 1964)
43. Never Mention Murder (November 1964)
44. The Main Chance (November 1964)
45. Game for Three Losers (April 1965)
46. Change Partners (July 1965)
47. Strangler’s Web (August 1965)
48. Dead Man’s Chest (October 1965)