The Malpas Mystery ** (1960, Maureen Swanson, Allan Cuthbertson, Geoffrey Keen, Ronald Howard, Sandra Dorne, Alan Tilvern) – Classic Movie Review 10,226

Director Sidney Hayers’s 1960 film The Malpas Mystery is a lively if fairly routine, bland and mildly acted British B-movie Edgar Wallace crime thriller adaptation, with careful film-making but plenty of silly dialogue to stump the capable actors.

Allan Cuthbertson stars as criminal Lacey Marshalt, whose lover Dora Elton (Sandra Dorne) pretends to be a robber’s vanished prodigal daughter. The strange plot thickens when Dorne’s stepsister Audrey Bedford (Maureen Swanson) turns up from jail after a wrongful conviction for stealing gems. Lacey’s mysterious neighbour Mr Malpas makes strange noises at night and is never seen, but Audrey gets a job offer from him.

Wallace’s plot is intriguing and at least director Hayers keeps the film moving and provides a creepy atmosphere.

The Malpas Mystery is an Independent Artists production made at Beaconsfield studios in exactly in the same style as the simultaneously filmed Merton Park studio Wallace adaptations.

The screenplay by Paul Tabori and Gordon Wellesley is based on the novel The Face in the Night by Edgar Wallace.

The cast are Maureen Swanson as Audrey Bedford, Allan Cuthbertson as Lacey Marshalt, Geoffrey Keen as Torrington, Ronald Howard as Dick Shannon, Sandra Dorne as Dora Elton, Alan Tilvern as Gordon Seager, Leslie French as Witkins, Catherine Feller as Jinette, Richard Shaw as Kornfeldt, Sheila Allen as Frau Kornfeldt, Anthony Bate as Police Constable and Edward Cast as Laker.

The Malpas Mystery is directed by Sidney Hayers, runs 70 minutes, is made by Langton Productions and Independent Artists, is released by Anglo-Amalgamated Film Distributors (1960) (UK) and Schoenfeld Films (1967) (US), is written by Paul Tabori and Gordon Wellesley, based on the novel The Face in the Night by Edgar Wallace, is shot in black and white by Michael Reed, is produced by Julian Wintle and Leslie Parkyn, is scored by Elisabeth Lutyens, and is designed by Eric Shaw.

Since 1971, Beaconsfield Film Studios, Buckinghamshire, which opened in 1922, has been the home of the National Film and Television School.

It is the last film of Maureen Swanson, Scottish leading lady of Fifties British films, who retired after her marriage on 24 August 1961 to William Humble David Ward, 4th Earl of Dudley. They had seven children. She died on 16 November 16, aged 78. She was the aunt of Rachel Ward.

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 10,226

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