Edgar Wallace was a British crime writer, journalist and playwright, who proceeded to write 175 works of fiction between 1898 and 1932.

In 1959, Nat Cohen together with Stuart Levy, directors of distributor Anglo Amalgamated (United Kingdom), attained the movie legal rights for the complete collection. Over the subsequent four years (1960 - 1964) 40 Tales of Edgar Wallace stories were filmed. Because they have been shown as The Edgar Wallace Mystery Hour US TV and as well been used in the UK as late night tv shows, many TV audiences believe that the Edgar Wallace mysteries had been made for television.

 

However, the Edgar Wallace Mysteries  were originally produced for the cinema screen, mainly shown prior to the main feature film as B Movies.

 

Produced at Merton Park Studios in South West London, the mystery films had been of the low-budget shot in the space of 2-3 weeks in the studios and surrounding area primarily British actors who were paid on a daily basis quite a lot of actors began their career with Merton park studios and moved to greater and better things.

 

The people responsible for producing the Edgar Wallace Mysteries went to Jack Greenwood who had worked on very similar productions such as the Scotland Yard series (1953-1961) introduced by by Edgar Lustgarten. The Edgar Wallace films are also remembered for their atmospheric starting theme music, depicting a man of misery on the slow turning bust of Edgar Wallace himself, even though less than half of the films originally opened like this it sure did make you settle down in your seat.

 

The first Edgar Wallace Mysteries film to go in the film tin was The Clue of the Twisted Candle, starring Bernard Lee, this, like all of Wallace’s tales, had to be modernised to bring it  in line for the 1960s target audience as most of the mysteries were written around 1916 and not all the stories were originally written Edgar Wallace mysteries.

 

The last movie to be filmed under the Tales of Edgar Wallace was Face of a Stranger in 1964. Many British stars appeared throughout the series including Harry H. Corbett, Paul Daneman, Jack Hedley, Patrick Allen, Michael Gough, Alfred Burke, John Le Mesurier, Jack Wattling, Rosemary Leach, Dawn Adams and others, many appearing in more than one film.

 

The Nat Cohen and Stuart Levy contract was also shared with German company Rialto who also obtained film rights from the Edgar Wallace Mysteries. Judging by eBay these still appear to be very popular.

There is a box set of the Edgar Wallace Mysteries available in German but not here in the UK, only to pre-order in the link below.

They are sometimes broadcasted on the classic movie channel Bravo and people in online forums are eagerly anticipating a box set release.

If you get the chance to watch an Edgar Wallace Mystery you will be in for a treat there’s nothing quite like a car chase in which a Triumph Herald is at full throttle giving chase to a Morris Oxford with the police in hot pursuit in classic black police cars with their bell which incidentally almost sounds  like my alarm clock. Pure nostalgia. I just love it.

I think I have all the mysteries but you never know, they seem to keep popping up! I also have other old classic films which I shall be adding to the site soon!