Playback ** (1962, Margit Saad, Barry Foster, Victor Platt, Nigel Green, Dinsdale Linden) – Classic Movie Review 13,170

The interesting if improbable 1962 British black and white crime thriller film Playback stars Margit Saad, Barry Foster and Nigel Green. It is part of the epic 48-film Edgar Wallace Mystery film series.

Director Quentin Lawrence’s interesting if highly improbable 1962 British black and white crime thriller film Playback stars Margit Saad, Barry Foster, Nigel Green and Dinsdale Linden. It is written by Robert Banks Stewart, based on a short story by Edgar Wallace, and is part of the epic 48-film Edgar Wallace Mystery film series, released in UK cinemas between 1960 and 1965.

Margit Saad stars as a glamorous German immigrant woman Lisa Shillack, living with her usually absent wealthy husband Simon (George Pravda) in a Chelsea mews in London, who seduces a young police constable (Barry Foster) and lures him into her spider’s web and talks him into an elaborate scheme.

The plot’s quite good, well good enough, but the best thing about the entire film is the acting of Barry Foster, Nigel Green (compelling as the creepy country club casino owner) and Dinsdale Linden (eager fellow young police constable), especially Foster who has to hold the whole edifice together, even when it’s slightly toppling over. He charts his character’s downhill path carefully and conscientiously, with quite a bit of nuance. What a grand actor Barry Foster was!

It’s a tall story. A series of far-fetched details and lack of proper explanation in the exposition of the plot partly take down credibility and audience involvement, though the police station and its personnel are credible and involving (mainly thanks to the actors again, especially Victor Platt as Inspector Gorman and Jerold Wells as Inspector Parkes). And there is a conspicuous lack of real excitement and surprises, though there is tension and a teasingly weird noirish atmosphere, and it moves along swiftly and engagingly enough in its short runtime of 62 minutes.

It was made at Merton Park Studios.

The sets are designed by Peter Mullins.

The end credits are shown over a picture of Wandsworth Prison, South West London, where the last UK execution took place in September 1961.

Cast: Margit Saad as Lisa Shillack, Barry Foster as Dave Hollis, Victor Platt as Inspector Gorman, Dinsdale Landen as Joe Ross, George Pravda as Simon Shillack, Nigel Green as Ralph Monk, Jerold Wells as Inspector Parkes, Grace Arnold as Miss Wilson, Donald Tandy as Police Sergeant, Kenneth Fortescue as first tennis player, Peter Stephens as first drunk, Barry Warren as second tennis player, Billy Milton as second drunk, Peter Thomas as Constable Wilkie, Edgar Driver as porter, Edward Davies as waiter, Dickie Owen as waiter, June Murphy as first waitress, Tamara Hinchco as second waitress, Arch Taylor as doorman, and Monti DeLyle as croupier.

Playback is directed by Quentin Lawrence, runs 62 minutes, is made by Merton Park Studios, is distributed by Anglo Amalgamated is written by Robert Banks Stewart, based on a short story by Edgar Wallace, is shot in black and white by Bert Mason, is produced by Jack Greenwood, and is scored by Bernard Ebbinghouse.

German actress Margit Saad

German actress Margit Saad.

German actress Margit Saad (30 May 1929 – 7 August 2023) died in Munich, aged 94. She worked largely in German films and TV from 1951 to 1982, but in 1960 she appeared in The Criminal, followed by The Rebel (US Call Me Genius, 1961) with Tony Hancock, Playback (1962), and The Magnificent Two (1967) with Morecambe and Wise.

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)Fac
• 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 2024 – Classic Movie Review 13,170

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