Who Was Maddox? ** (1964, Bernard Lee, Jack Watling, Suzanne Lloyd, Finlay Currie) – Classic Movie Review 13,189

Bernard Lee stars as Superintendent Meredith investigating blackmail and murder most foul in the 1964 British crime mystery thriller B film Who Was Maddox?, another minor but tasty Edgar Wallace filler thriller. 

Director Geoffrey Nethercott’s 1964 British crime mystery thriller B film Who Was Maddox? stars Bernard Lee as Superintendent Meredith investigating blackmail and murder most foul in another minor but tasty Edgar Wallace filler thriller. Bernard Lee stars with Jack Watling, Suzanne Lloyd and Finlay Currie, and Richard Gale supports as Maddox. So, ok then, who was Maddox?

A publisher is framed for the murder of his company’s chairman, but the real killer is being blackmailed by a man who is also blackmailing the publisher’s wife.

Who Was Maddox? is well set up and decently, complexly plotted but lacks spark in its delivery. It’s a bit talky, and slow to start until Bernard Lee turns up as Superintendent Meredith to investigate and sparks the film up. From there on, it is engrossing and gripping enough. But there are one or two weak performances, and one or two bland ones, and disappointingly the amusing old Finlay Currie disappears way too early on. So Bernard Lee is left having to carry it more or less on his own, though little known Richard Gale is okay as sleazy journalist Maddox.

Superintendent Meredith arrests publishing director Jack Heath (Jack Watling) for the murder of the company’s chairman, Alec Campbell (Finlay Currie), the day after a jewel robbery at his home, but Meredith thinks Heath is being framed. Heath’s wife Diane (Suzanne Lloyd) admits the robbery was faked, and says she is being blackmailed by a man called Maddox.

It is one of the series of 48 Edgar Wallace Mysteries films made at Merton Park Studios.

The quick witted screenplay by Roger Marshall is based on a convoluted mystery story by Edgar Wallace.

Cast: Bernard Lee as Superintendent Meredith, Jack Watling as Jack Heath, Suzanne Lloyd as Diane Heath, Finlay Currie as Alec Campbell, Richard Gale as Maddox, James Bree as Reynolds, Dora Reisser as Anne Wilding, Ivor Salter as Mr White, Christa Bergmann as Gretta, Billy Milton as Chandler, Lawrence Davidson as Warburton, Dallas Cavell as Porter, Daphne Goddard as Mrs Lever, and Michael Stainton as Sgt Landis.

Who Was Maddox? is directed by Geoffrey Nethercott, runs 62 minutes, is made by Merton Park Studios, is released by Anglo-Amalgamated, is written by Roger Marshall, is shot in black and white by James Wilson, and is produced by Jack Greenwood.

Release date: June 1964.

Bernard Lee plays Superintendent Meredith in Clue of the Twisted Candle, Clue of the Silver Key, The Share Out, and Who Was Maddox? and Inspector Mann in Partners in Crime.

Flat Two (February 1962) also features Jack Watling.

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)
• 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 13,189

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