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Clue of the New Pin
UK 1961
produced by Jack Greenwood for Merton Park Studios
directed by Allan Davis
starring Paul Daneman, James Villiers, Katherine Woodville, Bernard Archard, Clive Morton, Wolfe Morris, David Horne, Leslie Sands, Ruth Kettlewell, Maudie Edwards, Alex Gallier, Stephen Zammit, Julian Forbes, Tony Wall, Arch Taylor, Julie Shearing
screenplay by Philip Mackie, based on the novel by Edgar Wallace, music by Ron Goodwin
Merton Park Studios' Edgar Wallace Mysteries
review by Mike Haberfelner
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TV reporter Holland (James Villiers) wants to interview eccentric rich
guy Trasmere (David Horne) - but doesn't get much more than some rude
words and a tour through his super-secure vault. But at least he makes
friends with Trasmere's disgraced nephew Lander (Paul Daneman). The next
day, Trasmere is found dead in his locked vault, with the sole key to the
place next to him, so one might think there was no way the killer could
have gotten out. Still, a suspect is soon found, Brown (Clive Morton), who
tried to blackmail Trasmere, and who was to meet him for dinner just about
the time of the murder. Thing is, Brown has vanished - but later calls
Lander, insisting on a meeting. Once they meet, Brown puts his cards on
the table, he knows that Trasmere wanted to disinherit Lander, now the
sole heir to his fortune, and had already drafted a will to these
specifications, which has now conveniently disappeared. Furthermore, Brown
hasn't killed Lander but found his dead body and fled in a panic, but
suspects Lander to be the killer - upon which Lander kills Brown, locks
him in the vault, and with the help of a thread and a pin gets the vault's
key inside. Once Brown is found, Scotland Yard start to suspect Lander,
but with the murder being as inexplicable as it is, they can't do more
than putting him under investigation. Jane (Katherine Woodville), a woman
torn between Lander and Holland, tells Lander she knew his uncle wanted to
disinherit her - so Lander escapes police observation to meet up with her
in his uncle's vault, to ask her to marry him, just so she can't testify
against him. She refuses of course, and ... Meanwhile, Holland has
figured out how the killer might have gotten the key back inside the vault
after locking it, and calls Scotland Yard Superintendent Carver (Bernard
Archard), who with that piece of evidence is confident he can arrest
Lander - only to learn he has escaped observation. Holland and Carver
immediately know he must have gone back to his uncle's mansion, and of
course they save Jane just in time ... There are obvious holes
in this story, and much of it seems too far-fetched and gimmicky to ring
exactly true, and of course, the locked-room approach to mystery feels
terribly outdated at least today, but watching this through the glasses is
still fun. And despite giving away too much too soon, the film at least
puts an emphasis on just entertaining the audience. And as for the
far-fetchedness of the story, one really has come to expect that from
Edgar Wallace adaptations over the years, it's really more one of their
charms than flaws. Now this is no piece of greatness in any sense, but fun
for sure.
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