Eight Eddie Drake mysteries were edited into four second feature films released theatrically by Butchers Film Service Ltd. and Jack Phillips Distributors to minor UK cinemas between February 1954 and February 1956. Titles in order of release were The Brass Key, Eddie Drake Investigates, Pattern for Murder, and Murder Ad Lib. All given A certificates by the British Board of Film Censors. Children under 16 could not be admitted unless accompanied by an adult. Mediocre TV show enlivened by the versatile talents of both the accomplished Haggerty, and the beautiful Patricia Morison. So often was Haggerty wasted in minor uncredited parts. Whenever his familiar face filled the screen some may not have known the name, but we recognised the man, and knew that however small the role, he would steal that particular scene.
2 Reviews
A Three Wheeled Car Named Dave!!!
kidboots1 March 2013
Warning: Spoilers
....was the gimmick designed to make this hard boiled detective show stand out from the crowd - but it didn't work. Sure it isn't the most stylish or lavishly made TV show but anything that features beautiful Patricia Morison is worthy of a second look. She plays Dr. Karen Gayle, a criminal psychologist, who is writing a book based on the cases of Eddie Drake. Her part was added when the program was revived in 1952 (her segments come at the start, the middle and the end and would have been easy to insert). The series, which was made in 1949 by CBS but never aired on that network, was adapted from a radio series, "The Cases of Mr. Ace" featuring George Raft (what a combination he and Morison would have made).
In the episode featured in the DVD "Best of TV Detectives", "Shoot the Works", Drake is asked to retrieve an expensive watch for a society lady who comes on to Eddie like a steamroller!!! She lost it in a gambling stickup and as the show goes on he comes across various characters including Nixy (a young Whit Bissell) who admits to being the casino robber - before he is killed from an open window. The episode has a surprise ending (definately for viewers in 1952) and it was nice to see Theodore von Eltz, who always seemed to be the heavy in so many poverty rowers from the early 1930s, play a conventional clueless Lieutenant.
In the episode featured in the DVD "Best of TV Detectives", "Shoot the Works", Drake is asked to retrieve an expensive watch for a society lady who comes on to Eddie like a steamroller!!! She lost it in a gambling stickup and as the show goes on he comes across various characters including Nixy (a young Whit Bissell) who admits to being the casino robber - before he is killed from an open window. The episode has a surprise ending (definately for viewers in 1952) and it was nice to see Theodore von Eltz, who always seemed to be the heavy in so many poverty rowers from the early 1930s, play a conventional clueless Lieutenant.
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