The Sinister Man ** (1961, Patrick Allen, John Bentley, Jacqueline Ellis) – Classic Movie Review 12,042

A body in the Thames; an ancient artefact missing. Clive Donner’s neatly done 1961 British crime thriller film The Sinister Man is based on a novel by Edgar Wallace.

Director Clive Donner’s neatly done 1961 British crime thriller film The Sinister Man is based on a novel by Edgar Wallace, and stars Patrick Allen, John Bentley and Jacqueline Ellis.

John Bentley plays a copper, Superintendent Wills, who investigates when a corpse is found floating in the River Thames, and gets the help of Ms Elsa Marlowe (Jacqueline Ellis) in bringing to justice the killer or killers of an Oxford archaeologist, victim of a blow by a karate expert. The Oxford professor had been studying an all-important archaeological artefact known as the Kytang Wafers, which has gone missing.

With its neat mystery to appreciate and good cast to relish, this is at the top end of the range for the series of Merton Park Studios 1960s filler thrillers based on Edgar Wallace novels, released in British cinemas as second feature films between 1960 and 1965. They were later sold to American TV and screened as The Edgar Wallace Mystery Theatre.

The Sinister Man is directed by Clive Donner, runs 60 minutes, is made by Merton Park Studios, is released by Anglo-Amalgamated Film Distributors, is written by Robert Banks Stewart and Philip Mackie, based on a novel by Edgar Wallace, is shot in black and white by Bert Mason, is produced by Jack Greenwood and Jim O’Connelly, is scored by Charles Blackwell, and is designed by Peter Mullins.

Also in the cast are Eric Young, Arnold Lee, John Glyn-Jones, Brian McDermott, Gerald Anderson, Yvonne Buckingham, Wilfrid Brambell, Edward Atienza, Michael Deacon, Keith Faulkner, William Gaunt, John Horsley, Burt Kwouk, Robert Lee, Leslie Nunnerley, Malcolm Russell and Yvonne Shima.

The film is included in Volume 2 of The Edgar Wallace Mystery series, released by Network on Region 2 DVD in 2012.

The cast are John Bentley as Superintendent Wills, Patrick Allen as Dr. Nelson Pollard, Jacqueline Ellis as Elsa Marlowe, Gerald Anderson as Major Paul Amery, Edward Atienza as Clerk, Wilfrid Brambell as Lock keeper, Yvonne Buckingham as Miss Russell, Michael Deacon as Angus, Keith Faulkner as Lock keeper’s assistant, William Gaunt as Mitch Hallam, John Glyn-Jones as Dr. Maurice Tarn, Peter Hager as Warden, John Horsley as Pathologist, Burt Kwouk as Captain Feng, Arnold Lee as Soyok, Robert Lee as Nam Lee, Brian McDermott as Detective Sergeant Stillman, and Don McKillop as Reporter.

Clive Donner (21 January 1926 – 6 September 2010) notably directed The Caretaker, Nothing But the Best, What’s New Pussycat,  Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush, Luv (1967), and Alfred the Great (1969)

© Derek Winnert 2022 Classic Movie Review 12,042

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