If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

Blistering performances.

It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film

"Urge to Kill" is one of the first films that became part of the series of loose adaptations of Edgar Wallace. Released in 1960, the story concerns the murders of local young women who have been strangulated by an unknown assailant. Suspicion falls upon a mentally disabled lad - predictable enough. This isn't the sort of film which is tailored for any particular actor as no one really dominates the plot. There are some effective scenes to be sure but this film is merely business as usual. Amongst the cast, the most familiar face is Wilfred Brambell - two years away from - "Steptoe and Son." He is completely different to his Albert Steptoe character in this movie.

In a small town someone is strangling young women. Attention centres on a boarding house for the culprit but who? The mumsy landlady, the scripture quoting salesman, the spruce young man, the mentally challenged boy? The murderer is revealed too soon so that takes some of the the tension out of the narrative. It is based on a novel by by Gerald Savory and the play 'Hand In Glove' by Gerald Savory and Charles K. Freeman so using the latter it is mostly confined to one set but there is some location shooting.Acting wise it is decent enough with good performances from Ruth Dunning, Howard Pays and Anna Turner with able support from Wilfrid Brambell and top billed Patrick Barr as Superintendent Allen. The redoubtable Rita Webb has a small role. The educationally subnormal young man is played by Terence Knapp who played the same role a year earlier in an ABC television adaptation of the play. The film is moderately entertaining. One wonders what the television version was like.

While walking home from the movies late at night a young woman is murdered. We don't see the murderer, but we can tell that the victim knows her killer. The murder is particularly gruesome with the girl getting sliced and diced with a broken bottle. The main suspect is a local mentally challenged lad, Terence Knapp, whose hobby just happens to be collecting bits of broken glass. The lad lives in a boarding house where of course the mandatory selection of suspicious characters dwell. The religious retired teacher, the housekeeper, the homely woman and the ladies' man etc. The police question the lad but release him because of lack of evidence. Several days later another girl is killed. Now the locals believe the police are missing the boat and plan to settle the score themselves. There are several death threats and a large rock through the front window. The police grab up Knapp again for a fresh round of questions. The Chief Inspector, Patrick Barr, decides the boy is not the killer and again releases him. Barr then starts a more intensive questioning of the boarding house's other tenants. The seemingly obvious red herring about the ladies' man, Howard Pays, turns out to be neither red, nor a herring. Twenty minutes in and we know who the killer is. Pays has a major problem when dealing with the opposite sex. He kills them. Now we get to watch as Pays makes several attempts at setting up poor Knapp. He then tries to work in another murder but is interrupted by Barr. The Inspector has finally tumbled to Pays act and puts the grip on him before he can escape.Roaring along from start to finish in just 58 minutes it is nowhere as silly as it might sound. I found the film, taken from a stage play by Charles Freeman, fairly entertaining in that low budget sort of way .Besides Barr, Knapp and Pays, the cast includes Ruth Dunning, Wilfred Brambell, Anna Turner, Chris Trace and Yvonne Buckingham.The director was UK veteran Vernon Sewell. His work include the noir, "Latin Quarter", "Radio Cab Murder", "Spin A Dark Web", "Uneasy Terms" and the top flight "Strongroom" and "The Man in the Back Seat". The latter film makes my personal top 25 film noir.All in all, it is a watchable little time-waster for a cold winter night. And it is winter here!

Presented in some countries as an Edgar Wallace Mystery, this tale rarely rises above the ordinary and obvious. In a boarding house run by mumsy Auntie B we find her nephew Hughie, a 'mental case', and a smooth suited chap, as well as a former teacher (Wilfred Brambell, pre Steptoe.Someone is murdering young girls: of course, Hughie is suspected because he collects broken glass and the victims are usually slashed - but is he really responsible? The solution is obvious early on so there's no real suspense. Still it is watchable, if not essential.Performances are generally OK; stalwarts like Patrick Barr as chief copper appear - and the story attempts to put a little grit into the situation. But the heart isn't really in it, and this film feels resolutely middle-class.