The Partner

I like Yoko Tani but the scriptwriter gave her very little to do as a Japanese actress shooting a movie. She does get top billing. The scene when she is on the phone and her smartass punk boyfriend chews on her ear is unintentionally hilarious. There are several loose ends never resolved and that was annoying. The Edgar Wallace Mystery cops are their usual sluggish, non-dynamic selves.

After four years or so, the Merton Park Edgar Wallace series was beginning to run out of steam by the time this entry was made. It's based, apparently, on Wallace's 1926 novel The Million Dollar Story. A tax avoidance scheme by a film producer leads to murder and the theft of £300,000, but the story, not helped by a mainly dull cast, fails to generate much interest. Best performance by far comes from Scottish character actor Ewan Roberts whose Inspector Simons has a nice line in repartee. Anthony Booth appears to be trying some method acting, but succeeds only in being irritating. The real star however is Merton Park Studios itself and we see glimpses of the exteriors and sound stages on which so many 'B' features were shot.