Cover Girl Killer (1959)

A bikini-clad pin-up is found dead by the Serpentine in the same place, pose and get-up as when she appeared on the cover of "Wow!" magazine. When the police find the same fate befalling ... See full summary »

Director:

Terry Bishop

Writer:

Terry Bishop

Stars:

Harry H. Corbett, Felicity Young, Spencer Teakle

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Harry H. Corbett	...	The Man
Felicity Young	...	June Rawson
Spencer Teakle	...	John Mason
Victor Brooks	...	Inspector Brunner
Bernadette Milnes	...	Gloria Starke
Christina Gregg	...	Joy Adams
Tony Doonan	...	Sergeant
John Barrard	...	Lennie Ross
Charles Lloyd Pack	...	Capt. Adams
Alan Edwards	...	Hodgkins
Dermot Kelly	...	Pop
Denis Holmes	...	Actor
Julie Shearing	...	Rosie
Tony Thawnton	...	Doctor
Paddy Joyce	...	Stagehand

Storyline

A bikini-clad pin-up is found dead by the Serpentine in the same place, pose and get-up as when she appeared on the cover of "Wow!" magazine. When the police find the same fate befalling other girls featured on the front page they realise a highly intelligent madman is on the loose.

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Plot Keywords:

murder | thick glasses | british noir | off screen murder | dead model | 

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Genres:

Crime | Thriller

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Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Company Credits

Production Co:

Jack Parsons Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

61 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Quotes

Inspector Brunner: Everybody knows that barking dogs don't bite... but does the dog?

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Connections

Featured in Twisted Sex: Volume 24 (2009)

User Reviews

the hostess with the most on show

A weirdo approaches the stage door of the Casbah Club, in 1950s Soho, and is transfixed by a portrait of Miss Gloria Starke (Bernadette Milnes, who pops up in the opening scene of Cover Story, a Sweeney episode, fifteen years later - if you're interested, like).

This is a film by Butchers Film Distributors (at least, I think it is – IMDb lists it as Jack Parsons Productions) and it's a film on a different level, theme wise, to almost every other second feature of its era. Cover Girl Killer is a film about a voyeur (in this most voyeuristic art form) who becomes a serial killer in order to "give man back his dignity, to free him from the prison of lustful images which foul his mind and pollute his sanity." The killer, played by Harry H Corbett, and billed only as The Man, feels imprisoned by society's values (which he finds morally abhorrent) and can only become "free" by killing girls who take off their clothes for Wow! Magazine. "I assure you, miss, your nudity means nothing to me", says Corbett, before dispatching one of them, Christina Gregg, who often popped up as the vulnerable type.

I've always had a problem with Corbett in a straight roll (Harry not Ronnie); his acting is just ludicrously mannered – really bad, oo I can act, look at me, amateur dramatics. Here, fortuitously, he's playing such an oddball that he's actually quite effective. Of course, the killer doesn't think he's doing anything wrong. "The borderline between what we call insanity and a hyper sensitive intellect is not always very clear, inspector", he tells Inspector Brunner (Victor Brooks), after turning up in his office, pretending to be Mr. Fairchild, property developer. Why he does this is not clear. Maybe, it's an ego thing and he wants to pit his wits against the police.

The most interesting scene is when the killer approaches Lennie Ross, (Theatre, Screen and TV agent, 3rd floor), for an actor to play the killer in the cover girl case. "Surely sex and horror are the new gods in this polluted world of so called entertainment?" (This line later featured in a UK number 1 smash for Frankie Goes To Hollywood, pop pickers.) Here, Cover Girl Killer really gets to the heart of the matter; reflecting on itself as we watch plans for a film version of the film we are actually watching.