Cover Girl Killer (1959)

The Worst Film Ever

It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

A psychotic killer, billed simply as 'The Man' (Harry H Corbett), is targeting the fashion models who appear on the front page of Wow magazine. Each body is discovered wearing the same costume, in the same pose and the same setting as they featured in the publication. Inspector Brunner (Victor Brooks) reluctantly agrees to allow the magazine's owner, John Mason (Spencer Teakle), run a series of articles covering the investigation. But, Mason is none too happy when the inspector succeeds in persuading his girlfriend, the showgirl June Rawson (Felicity Young), to be Wow's next cover girl in a bid to lead the murderer into a trap. However, he is a man of great cunning and spots it a mile off so June's life is put in serious danger...Like so many of the Butcher's studio's late fifties and sixties 'B' pictures, this was a regular feature on late night television (ITV) in the 1990's. I was attracted to it because of Harry H Corbett's casting as a serial killer and I set my video accordingly. Like millions of people, I was so used to seeing him play the long suffering son of Wilfred Brambell's rag and bone man in the timeless sitcom Steptoe And Son that I just had to see what he would be like playing a dramatic role in a straight thriller. After seeing it, I reached the conclusion that what he did he did magnificently neatly portraying his character's cunning, resourcefulness, intelligence and the way he tried so hard to conceal his unstable personality that looked as though it could break at any given moment. There's a great moment where he goes to see the inspector in disguise as a wealthy landlord who claims to have rented a property to the killer. "What did you think of him?", asks Brunner. Sensing the opportunity for a bit of self flattery, he replies "a man of high intelligence, well educated and of very decided views" to which Brunner replies "Well, he can be all of those things and still be a psychopath." At this stage, he only narrowly avoids giving himself away as the look on his face would have done had the inspector not had his back to him messing around with a filing cabinet. Hurt, he replies "The borderline between what we call insanity and a hypersensitive intellect are not always clear, inspector." The psychology regarding his motives for his crimes is arguably simplified - well, it is only a second feature, after all - but it is neatly summed up when he tells his intended victim that the inspector views him as a psychopath and says "If wanting to give man back his dignity to free him from the lustful images, which foul his mind and his sanity is madness - well, I suppose he's right." Yet, understandably, the actor did seem rather miscast but I thought that audiences who saw this prior to Steptoe And Son becoming a household name probably didn't think so because the star had not yet become so firmly identified in that part. In any case, fans of Harry H Corbett are bound to love it and, in fact, his atypical casting here adds to the fun.In every other respect, Cover Girl Killer is streets ahead of many British b-pics since it was directed by the talented Terry Bishop who generates some nail-biting suspense - especially at the climax. Brunner succeeds in getting June to pose as Wow's cover girl, but the killer does not fall for it and sees the police surrounding the theatre as he goes to make his move. So, he retreats and hires an out of work actor to impersonate him on the pretext that he is getting an audition at the theatre. The police arrest him thinking that their plan has gone like clockwork, but June is now in grave peril since he returns to the place late that night cornering her in her dressing room. But, will her boyfriend be sharp enough to realise that this poor, unfortunate actor is not the man? Spencer Teakle and Felicity Young are both more than competent in their roles as the young couple and anybody who saw them together in Butcher's The Gentle Trap (1960) as a safecracker and his girlfriend-accomplice will see the remarkable contrast with their very different roles here, which will make it easy for you to judge their acting talents. Victor Brooks is utterly convincing in his dogged police inspector part (he was a policeman in many a b-movie) and Gerald Gibbs' b/w cinematography heightens the tension with a good sense of place and atmosphere.Available on DVD with Terry Bishop's Life In Danger.

For a B-movie made on an obviously low budget, this is great stuff. Made on the cheap, in black and white and as a supporting feature, COVER GIRL KILLER is a short, simple story of the police's attempts to catch a murderer and his attempts to elude capture. It's as simple as that. Blessed with quirky performances, occasionally ripe dialogue and a lightning-fast pacing that eliminates any extraneous plot strands, this is as good as a B-movie can get.Here, Harry H. Corbett plays "The Man", who believes that by murdering glamour models he is making the world a better place. Corbett would later go on to become one of Britain's best-loved comedians in the television show STEPTOE AND SON. For those critics who view him as a one-note, second-rate comic actor, I would suggest that they check out his subtle performance here, free of any of the gurning that later populated his roles. Corbett excels as the softly-spoken, quietly convincing murderer who, through his intelligence alone, has the upper-hand on the police force all the way through until bad luck spells the end for him at the film's conclusion.Spencer Teakle is the unlikely leading man, an odd-looking chap whose face seems to be in a perpetual state of amusement. Teakle's bizarre character is just one of the many highlights of this movie. Victor Brooks is the caricatured police Inspector, a world-weary chap who prefers sitting in his office and drinking coffee than actually going out and solving the case. Hammer stalwart Charles Lloyd Pack threatens to steal the show as a doddering, wheelchair-bound war veteran who reminisces about the old times.All of the actresses playing the '50s-era glamour models are convincing in their portrayals of vain, money-hungry, bubble-headed and supremely unintelligent women; every one is subservient to men, apart from the strong-willed lead Felicity Young, who predictably ends up melting in the hero's arms at the film's end. The glamorous, slightly sleazy (of course, to today tame) side of the film sees the actresses decked out in row upon row of skimpy costumes and bikinis; Young spends the end of the film being menaced in a bunny girl outfit! Seen today, this film has dated a lot and offers a perspective of things in the old-fashioned days, when murders were off-screen and left to the imagination. It's certainly a curiosity piece and is worth watching for the moral undertone and some of the dialogue alone, such as the following hilarious snippet from Corbett; "... surely sex and horror are the new gods in this polluted world of so-called entertainment!" he snaps during one of his disgusted outrages - and who can't deny that this is a thinly-veiled comment on the output of Hammer Studios back in its golden period? One of those amusing films which exploits what it sets to condemn at the same time, COVER GIRL KILLER is an interesting precursor to the more famous PEEPING TOM, and is a rarity worth catching for those who like their horror old-fashioned and proud of it. Check out the disguise that Corbett wears when carrying out the murders - his ill-fitting toupee and pebble-lensed spectacles make for a unique, unforgettable appearance! A thoroughly enjoyable little B-film.

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.

Nineteen years before Mary Millington crossed paths with a misogynist murderer bearing a grudge against bust models in The Playbirds, B-movie actress Felicity Young (Play it Cool) had to deal with the late Fifties counterpart in this enjoyable Butcher's Film Distributors programmer. Set in the era of Soho Strip-tease, smoky coffee bars and rock and roll, The Cover Girl Killer opens to its titular character, a bogeyman by way of a Soho dirty mack leering at a non-stop follies marquee. Dressed in a raincoat, pebble glasses and a wig The Cover Girl Killer is played by future Steptoe, Harry H Corbett who remains unrecognisable from his later TV incarnation. Motivated by the `unsavoury obsessions of his twisted mind' and a need to `give back man his dignity to free him from the prison of lustful images that foul his mind and his sanity' the anti-smut Cover Girl Killer poses as a photographer in order to murder models who have appeared on the cover of Wow, a typical late Fifties cheesecake magazine. Canadian Spencer Teakle (a Butcher's mainstay) inherits music hall stripclub `the Kasbar' and the magazine Wow, both the source of the Cover Girl Killer's rage. Attempting to woo June, one of the showgirls by posing as a journalist, Teakle is unaware that The Cover Girl Killer is luring Gloria his showgirl `with the most on show' to her death. A leopard skin themed photoshoot ends with Gloria being found dead and bikini clad, in a kinky fashion she's posed identical to her sexy cover shot. Initially invistigated as the murderer Teakle helps the police, who are constantly outwitted by `the man' (as he is billed in the credits). Going through the back issues of Wow for his next victim The Cover Girl Killer locates last month's model Miss Torquay 1959 (Christina Gregg another Butcher's player). Contracted to shoot a Sun Cream commercial, when Miss Torquay emerges in a bikini the Cover Girl Killer can control himself no longer, meaningfully stating `your nudity means nothing to me' before strangling her. Running just over an hour The Cover Girl Killer is rarely dull- the police actively encourage Teakle's Harrison Marks wannabe to publish his exotica in order to catch the killer. The Cover Girl Killer poses as Mr Fairchild an outrageous bowler hat wearing toff alter-ego to throw the police off his trail, the police subsequently put June on the cover to trap Corbett's well respected man, the detective in charge drinks a lot of tea, The Cover Girl Killer goes to a showbiz impresario with plans to make a movie version of his killings `I'm all for the good old X-certificate if you can get it'. Given that Wow is portrayed as the cutting edge that 1959 had to offer The Cover Girl Killer's climax, with the Cover Girl Killer dressing June in lingerie, chasing her around a studio and forcing her onto a four poster bed to reinact her front cover must have seemed raw stuff indeed. Some of the dialogue is wonderful, you can almost imagine the hack screenwriter sitting in a Soho office on a wet afternoon turning out headline dialogue like `surely sex and horror are the new Gods in this polluted world of so called entertainment'. As the Soho Bogeyman Corbett is never anything less than surprising, making up for some of the other less than credible performers. Corbett's career was bookmarked by exploitation, for after fame cameos in Adventures of a Private Eye and the Fiona Richmond vehicle Hardcore Corbett demanded high fees for limiting roles. Soft spoken, sinister and creepy his performance in the Cover Girl Killer suggests he did deserve better. Cover Girl Killer is a delusion from the mind of righteous filmmakers who believe themselves worthy of greatness but can only score sensational tack. It's full of acid comments on the illiteracy of readers of cheesecake magazines (and by association viewers of films with titles like The Cover Girl Killer). At times the film totally identifies with the killer's ideology especially in its depiction of the victim's husbands and fathers- sad broken men whose inability to keep hold of their women lead to their loved one's demise. This fashioning schizoid edge however says more about the filmmakers than it does the audience, never is the film more true than its depiction of it's chicken in a basket showbiz crony which draws impossible to ignore comparisons with Butchers themselves who were known for paying people as low as 35p to £2.50 for scripts. Butchers Film continued grinding on in the polluted world of so called entertainment making countless B pictures up until the late Sixties. Like their counterparts Tigon they freewheeled throughout the Seventies distributing foreign sex films like Erika, The Fabulous European Strip-Tease and The Sex Artist. One of their last releases was Norman J Warren's 'alien rape' movie Inseminoid. For years considered a lost film but kept alive on the strength of Corbett's appearance and historically being one of the earliest slasher films, The Cover Girl Killer now enjoys a second life as a stable of late night television, guaranteeing that the Ghost of the Cover Girl Killer will haunt insomniacs and the curious for many years to come.