Death Trap (1962)

Death Trap is a competent 1962 entry in the British Merton Park Studios Edgar Wallace cycle.

Paul Heindrik (Albert Lieven) is a ruthless but successful middle-aged investment banker. His feckless stepson Derek (Kenneth Cope) is in over his head financially and is desperately trying to persuade his stepfather to bail him out, but so far it’s no dice.

Paul’s Jean Anscomb (Barbara Shelley) has been listening in on Paul’s conversations and going through his briefcase.

Her disreputable friend Ross Williams (John Meillon) is just out of prison where he’d been sent after embezzling clients’ money from Paul’s firm. Maybe he was set up and maybe he wasn’t but he has convinced himself that Paul owes him. He is about to spot an opportunity for blackmail.

A woman, Carol Halston (Mercy Haystead), turns up at Paul’s office. A few weeks earlier her sister Moira died of an overdose of sleeping pills. The inquest brought in a finding of accidental death. Carol isn’t entirely convinced. The day before she died Moira withdrew seven thousand pounds from her bank. No trace of the money can be found, although several of the characters have come up with definite theories.

So we have a bunch of people who are all ethically challenged to some degree. Some might be involved in serious crimes. Some may simply be a bit foolish.

And then a man is deliberately run down by a car. He is linked to Paul Heindrik and to these other characters. That makes two sudden deaths. One is definitely murder, the other might possibly be.

The viewer knows more than the police but there’s a lot of important stuff that we don’t know, and the motives remain a mystery.

This movie does a fine job of keeping us guessing about the characters. We know that one of them is a criminal but we honestly don’t know about any of the others. Their behaviour might invite suspicion but they might be innocent.

There’s some decent suspense. There’s a killer who is highly likely to kill again and a character we have come to be fond of is in very real danger.

Detective Inspector Simons (Leslie Sands) is one of those thorough coppers who doesn’t take anything at face value and he’s very quick when it comes to spotting connections.

Merton Park Studios never had any problems assembling very competent casts for these movies. It’s Barbara Shelley, looking rather glamorous, who delivers the star power. All the cast members deliver suitably ambiguous performances.

Look out for a young Barbara Windsor in a small role, looking cute wearing nothing but a towel!

Director John Llewellyn Moxey had a prolific career in both British and American TV and helmed several of these Edgar Wallace B-films including the very good Face of a Stranger (1964), Downfall (1964) and the excellent Ricochet (1963). He was a very competent artisan.

John Riddick wrote the well-constructed script for Death Trap as well as scripting others of the Wallace films including The Partner (1963), The Double (1963) and the very fine The Rivals (1963).

Death Trap is included in Network’s Edgar Wallace Mysteries Volume Four DVD set. It gets a very nice transfer.

Death Trap is well-crafted and enjoyable. Highly recommended.