Urge to kill

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Movie
Original title Urge to kill
Country of production United Kingdom
original language English
Publishing year 1960
length 59 minutes
Rod
Director Vernon Sewell
script James Eastwood
production Jack Greenwood ,
Jim O'Connolly
camera John Wiles
cut Geoffrey Muller
occupation

Urge to Kill (translated "urge to kill") is a British crime film directed by Vernon Sewell in 1960 . It was produced by the film company Merton Park Studios . The script was written by James Eastwood and stylistically builds on the novels by Edgar Wallace , without having a specific novel. The film was the first part of the Edgar Wallace Mysteries , a series of 47 Edgar Wallace film adaptations made by Merton Park Studios between 1960 and 1965; it was never shown in Germany.

action

The film tells the story of Hughi, a mentally retarded orphan in an English port city. When a girl is found murdered and maimed, Hughi is suspected of murder. Charles Ramskill, the real murderer and lodger at Hughi's guardian Aunt B, tries particularly hard to cast suspicion on Hughi. He kills a second girl while Hughi is out and leaves her raincoat with the murdered woman. After the police officer in charge, Superintendent Allen, refuses to arrest Hughi, the townspeople call a town hall to judge Hughi. Aunt B is also present at the meeting. Meanwhile, Ramskill is with his fiancé Lily Willis and tries to kill her as well and blame Hughi. During interrogation by Allen, he loses his alibi and reveals details of the deeds that clearly identify him as a murderer.

Reviews

In their Das Edgar Wallace Lexikon from 2004, Joachim Kramp and Jürgen Wehnert cite a review of the Monthly Film Bulletin from May 1960. According to this, the “potential horror” here “is treated with little sensationalism”. The killer's dialogues are “so overemphasized that everyone recognizes him” and the dialogues as a whole “tend to repeat the obvious.” The motivation for the second murder is also unclear and “the mistakes that reveal the killer are unbelievable exaggerated and contradicting the killer's earlier “cleverness”.

supporting documents

  1. ^ "Urge to Kill." In: Joachim Kramp, Jürgen Wehnert: The Edgar Wallace Lexicon. Life, work, films. It is impossible not to be captivated by Edgar Wallace! Verlag Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2004; P. 660. ISBN 3-89602-508-2 .
  2. ^ Critique from Monthly Film Bulletin 5/1960, quoted from "Urge to Kill." In: Joachim Kramp, Jürgen Wehnert: Das Edgar Wallace Lexikon. Life, work, films. It is impossible not to be captivated by Edgar Wallace! Verlag Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2004; P. 660. ISBN 3-89602-508-2 .

Web links