It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

This movie for me is very much a sweet and sour affair. One the one hand I think Steptoe and Son is the finest comedy ever but also I think if it would never have happened we could and should have seen Harry H Corbett as one of Britains finest actors. This gem of a movie takes all the naivety of days gone by with the age old story of a bad man who thinks the world is changing for the worse and depravity rules. Blitzed into just 60 odd minutes this was obviously made as a B movie but is a world above anything it was made to run alongside. If this was remade today it would have to be a gruesome 18 cert affair probably filmed in the seedy parts of London and involve drugs and prostitutes ( Harry Brown springs to mind)but the way they get the message across without so much as a grain of smut is incredible. Absolutely fantastic piece of movie making and seems as relative today as it was when made over 50 years ago.

Although done so much better in "Peeping Tom"(1960), "Cover Girl Killer" was an early attempt to delve into the sleazy adult entertainment world with sex magazines, strippers plying their trade and the unusual casting of Harry H. Corbett, an actor known more for his comedy roles. With his pebble glasses, odd isn't the word for his look but it showed that British films wanted to at least tackle some unsavoury contemporary themes and on the strength of this film, Corbett was given a few off-beat roles before he hit pay-dirt with "Steptoe and Son".The glasses were just part of his disguise as a nerdy photographer who lured buxom models to duplicate their cover poses from "Wow" magazine without being in the least suspicious. Meanwhile the flaky young magazine owner decides to boost his flagging sales (somehow no models want to be "Wow" cover girls now!!) by running a series on the "Cover Girl Killer". Lovely Christina Gregg played one of the victims - Miss Torquay. Gregg was beautiful in the Jean Simmons mode and really refined her acting technique from this early role as a shrill talking girl new to the modelling game. It's such a pity she didn't have a bigger career. Her part, small as it is, does further the narrative. All the other murders are done with a lethal injection of morphine but she starts to panic when the killer begins a tirade of "you are frightened to be alone with me but you parade your body before the world" etc, so she is strangled.Like all those "my brain is bigger than the whole of Scotland Yard" criminals, he visits the police - as a concerned landlord who is convinced he has let one of his flats to the notorious killer. With models prepared to be on a "Wow" cover completely dried up, the police organize for June, the magazine owner's girlfriend to be the cover girl bait but "the man" is one jump ahead and hires a lookalike to be a decoy - while the police think they have their man, "the man" is free to strike again!!Butcher's Films were started during the Boer War and was the oldest company still in film production after the Second World War. It's most popular film was "The Monkey's Paw" and while during the 1950s it had gone into television, by the early 1960s it had all but ceased production.

Cover Girl Killer (1959) ** (out of 4) A disturbed man (Harry H. Corbett) objects to sexuality being used on the cover of magazines so he begins to kill the women who grace those covers. The magazine's owner (Spencer Teakle) decides to help the police by having his girlfriend (Felicity Young) appear on the next issue and sure enough the maniac comes after her. Considering some of the elements in this British shocker you can't help but walk away feeling very disappointed. There's some interesting stuff going on in this film but sadly director Terry Bishop does absolutely nothing with it and in the end this 61-minute "B" picture seems to run twice as long. The biggest problem is the actual screenplay because we spend so much time with the police and the magazine editor that you can't help but roll your eyes for a number of reasons. One is the fact that the characters are all very dull. Another problem is that the actual investigation doesn't lead to any drama or tension. The biggest issue is the fact that throughout the film we do spend a little time with the killer and he's such an interesting character that it becomes rather frustrating when we go away from him and settle back with the boring characters. Corbett does a very good job at playing this rather disturbed and creepy guy. I thought the actor did a fine job at showing how weird this guy is but he was also good enough to show how intelligent he was. The supporting players aren't nearly as impressive, although Young isn't too bad as the "next" victim. I guess it's important to note that this film was made and released a full year before both PSYCHO and PEEPING TOM. Whereas those two films actually crossed the line in an attempt to do something new and fresh, this film here clearly just wanted to be another "B" picture and that's really a shame because the subject matter was an interesting one. There are bits and pieces of good stuff here but sadly they never come together. There's even talk about Jack the Ripper and how the two killers are connected but that's about it. COVER GIRL KILLER isn't a bad movie but at the same time you can't help but wish it had tried to be better.

Cover Girl Killer is one of the better low budget British crime dramas made in this period and I taped it when ITV screened it during the early hours some time ago.Young girls who appear on the front of Wow! magazine each month are found murdered. The prime suspect is a strange looking bloke with thick glasses and wears a wig as well. Police are assigned to investigate and he is caught at the end.The cast includes a pre Steptoe and Son Harry H Corbett as the killer and Felicity Young, Spencer Teakle and Charles Lloyd Pack.Cover Girl Killer is worth catching if you get the chance. Quite an obscure picture.Rating: 3 stars out of 5.