Episode 11, "The Headless Hat" begins well, with an opening knife murder aboard ship in Marseilles, where Colonel March is supposedly vacationing. Eric Pohlmann makes his second straight appearance as Inspector Goron of the Surete, here supported by local Inspector Thoreau (Marne Maitland), in possession of the only clue left behind by the culprit, a sailor's cap ("looking for the head that fits this hat"). The Colonel is staying at a hotel run by Mrs. Sargent (Betty Paul), who not only reveals her friendship to the deceased, but also that she knows the killer's identity, a former member of the French Resistance during WW2 (Scotland Yard's interest lies in the smuggling of British currency). Once the setting shifts to the hotel, everything bogs down in endless talk, a shame since Pohlmann complements Karloff nicely and helps the entry crawl to an unspectacular conclusion. Later seen in "The Silent Vow," Marne Maitland, like Pohlmann a future veteran of THE AVENGERS and the James Bond series, is truly wasted in a nothing part assisting Goron. Curiously, Ewan Roberts is credited in his usual role as Inspector Ames but does not appear, while Eric Pohlmann, in the third of his five episodes, features prominently but goes unbilled (his next appearance as Goron came in episode 23, "The Silent Vow").
Review of The Headless Hat
