The Rivals ***½ (1964, Jack Gwillim, Erica Rogers, Brian Smith, Howard Greene, Tony Garnett) – Classic Movie Review 13,307

The suspenseful and twisty 1964 British Edgar Wallace Mystery crime thriller film The Rivals stars Jack Gwillim, Erica Rogers and Brian Smith.

Director Max Varnel’s suspenseful and twisty 1964 British second feature Edgar Wallace Mystery crime thriller film The Rivals stars Jack Gwillim, Erica Rogers, Brian Smith, Tony Garnett, Barry Linehan and Howard Greene.

It is an essential part of the 48 film series of Edgar Wallace Mysteries films made at Merton Park Studios, and is based on a story by Wallace. The rather weak title disguises a particularly strong entry in the series.

Eddy McQuire (Howard Greene), Kim Harris (Erica Rogers) and Steve Houston (Brian Smith) are a London small-time crime trio of car thieves, who steal a car in which they are surprised to find in the glove compartment a beret with a brooch, and a ransom note demanding £75,000 directed to Rolf Neilson (Jack Gwillim), a Swedish millionaire whose daughter Christina Neilson (Donna Pearson) has just been kidnapped. They realise they have unwittingly stolen the abductors’ car and decide to take advantage of the situation and collect the $75,000 money in cash from the millionaire, without needing the daughter. The nasty abductors, meanwhile, are desperately on their trail.

The acting is slightly variable though most of it is very good (among them Erica Rogers who is excellent Kim Harris, Philip Latham as the lawyer, Jack Rodney as greedy Mick O’Leary), the story is certainly tremendously good thanks to Edgar Wallace and his inventive situations and plotting, and the rather adult film moves swiftly and tensely along to a surprisingly violent and satisfying finish. Jack Gwillim does much lip-smacking and Barry Linehan enjoys himself extravagantly as the boss of the abduction gang, Paul Kenyon.

The views of London’s South Bank along the Albert Embankment are precious, and there are plenty of period cars and artefacts of the day (phone boxes! walkie talkies!) for a nostalgia fest.

There’s no investigating police inspector, and no mystery. It’s another straight thriller atypical of the series, though welcome, with a jazzy score and ‘modern’ attitudes to give it a mid-Sixties trendy feel. It is very efficiently directed and edited, with smart black and white photography. The production is pretty darned good too for low-budget Merton Park Studios, and a humble B movie.

The Rivals is not so humble, then, after all.

Howard Greene as Eddy McQuire.

The cast

The cast are Jack Gwillim as Rolf Neilson, Erica Rogers as Kim Harris, Brian Smith as Steve Houston, Tony Garnett as Jimmy Vosler, Barry Linehan as Paul Kenyon, Murray Hayne as Alex Nichols, Howard Greene as Eddy McQuire, Philip Latham as Lawrence, Maria Lennard as Phillipa Martin, Jack Rodney as Mick O’Leary, and Donna Pearson as Christina Neilson, and even Rex One One Five is credited as Alsatian dog.

Release date: May 1964.

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 2024 – Classic Movie Review 13,307

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com