Allan Cuthbertson

The Edgar Wallace Mysteries was a British second-feature film series, produced at Merton Park Studios for Anglo-Amalgamated. There were 46 films in the series, made between 1960 and 1965.

The films were loose adaptations of Edgar Wallace’s books and stories. Very few used his original titles, and there was no attempt to set them in the period in which Wallace wrote, probably to obviate the need for elaborate costumes and sets. A 1962 article in Scene magazine quotes £22,000 as the budget for an episode then in production.

Most of the series featured a uniform title sequence, in which a shadowed bust of Edgar Wallace revolves slowly against a backdrop of swirling mist, to the accompaniment of the “Man of Mystery” theme written by Michael Carr. “Man of Mystery” was later recorded by The Shadows and became a no. 5 hit record in the UK.

The series has achieved lasting popularity through repeated showings on television. In Britain it was seen on ITV, Channel 4 and Bravo at various times from the late Sixties through to the Nineties. It was shown on U.S. television as The Edgar Wallace Mystery Theatre, with episodes cut to fit hour-long commercial TV slots.

In July 2012 Network DVD began to release the complete series on DVD, uncut and presented in its original widescreen cinema aspect ratio.