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Orson Welles Great Mysteries: Volume One [DVD]

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The Leather Funnel starring Christopher Lee, Simon Ward and Jane Seymour; story by Arthur Conan Doyle The Inspiration of Mr. Budd starring Hugh Griffith; story by Dorothy L. Sayers; directed by Peter Sasdy

The series is an anthology of mystery stories. Each episode is introduced by Orson Welles, the only regular actor in the series, whose appearances were confined to the introductory and closing sequences. [2] In the opening titles, Welles appears shown in silhouette walking through a hallway towards the camera, smoking a cigar and outfitted in a broad-brimmed hat and a huge cloak. When he actually appears on-screen to introduce the episodes, his face is all that is shown, in extreme close-up and very low lighting. A young man talks with the uncle of the girl he wants to marry, and is told a strange story about a curious funnel made of leather. While falling asleep next to the device, he has a presentiment that it was once used as an instrument of torture. (Based on a story by Arthur Conan Doyle) Orson Welles was fronting a series for Anglia called The Great Mysteries - a forerunner to Anglia's Tales of the Unexpected. Captain Rogers starring Donald Pleasence and Willoughby Goddard; script by Harry Green; story by W.W. Jacobs Orson Welles Great Mysteries is a British television series originally transmitted between 1973 and 1974, produced by Anglia Television for the ITV network. [1]

The Ingenious Reporter starring Geoffrey Bayldon, Ronald Radd and David Birney; script by Carey Harrison

This 26-part anthology series of half-hour tales of mystery and suspense from Anglia Television included stories by such well-known authors as O Henry, Wilkie Collins and WW Jacobs, with a specially written excursion into the supernatural by the author of Quatermass, Nigel Kneale. His visit to Norwich was very, very brief. The show was all footage that had been filmed elsewhere which we bought and just filmed Orson’s parts to introduce them. Even by the standards of half-hour television drama these stories are rather simple, with just one little sting in the tail. Sometimes the payoff isn’t quite as satisfactory as one might have hoped, and too often it’s too easy to see the payoff coming. At the end of the semester, college professor Richard Lumsden is getting ready for vacation - and retirement. However he is interrupted by an angry parent of a student, blaming him for his son's suicide after he was expelled for stealing. The man makes it clear he wants to murder Lumsden and frame his death as a suicide, and the professor engages his to-be-murderer in a battle of wits to convince him he cannot make it look believable for the police... (Based on a story by Maisie Sharman A Spanish officer, captured by the French during the Peninsular War, is imprisoned near the country house of an elderly aristocrat with a bored young wife - whose lover he becomes, with deadly consequences. (Based on a story by Honoré de BalzacFor retired film editor Steve Peart news "Awesome Orson" was coming to the Anglia Studios was a momentous event. Jerry Norton arrives to London from America, following instructions by the actress he wants to marry, arriving at a hotel room... and finding a murdered man inside. The police arrives as he tries to leave, and soon he finds out he is the main suspect - in the murder of the husband of the woman he wanted to marry! (Based on a story by Bruce Graeme) This was time when British television was starting to up the ante as far as violence was concerned, and to a lesser extent becoming a bit more daring in regard to sexual content. Orson Welles Great Mysteries is however very subdued in its treatment of such matters. The violence is mostly offscreen. The general approach is low-key. Compared to Brian Clemens’ Thriller anthology series, which began to air at around the same time, it seems rather genteel. This is however part of its charm. It’s content to be subtle and to rely on suggestion.

For some bizarre reason Network have decided to release only thirteen of the twenty-six episodes in a two-disc DVD set. Whether the other thirteen ever see the light of day remains to be seen. The transfers are reasonably good. However, Stephen Peart, who was working at a different department at Anglia TV at the time, said the reality of his “disappearance” was more likely simply down to boredom. Last year, Network Distribution brought out volume one of the collection, featuring tales starring such luminaries as Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee and Donald Pleasence.

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This is the kind of show that the Talking Pictures TV channel has been resurrecting lately, but with no sign of it popping up on there yet, buying the series would make a good investment for anybody interested in offbeat 1970s series. Fans of British horror should enjoy it too – some of the stories have a supernatural or creepy element to them and both star and are directed by stalwarts of the genre. Ambitious reporter Harry Langley pretends to be the murderer of unidentified woman, to boost sales with a special report from prison. But once arrested, the authorities seem to be convinced that he is indeed the killer - because the victim has been identified as his fiancee! The Faulkners were an odd family - two spinsters living in a large mansion, served by one maid, with their only relative being their young brother, married but living elsewhere. When one night one of the sisters suddenly disappears without a trace - leaving her clothes behind - everyone is puzzled, but the remaining sister refuses to call the police, thinking on the family's good name - as there has been cases of insanity in the family before. A private detective hired finds nothing, and a few months later the other sister disappears in the same manner, too. The police are now alerted and begin to investigate - and soon it is revealed these two were not the first disappearances in the family. After the wife of a famous artist is stabbed to death, the police investigate four people connected to the case and present in the building when the murder happened - the artist himself, his gallery manager, his old friend and fellow artist, and the latter's wife. From their recollection emerges the image of a shrewd and manipulative woman, who ingrained herself into the artist's life, destroyed his previous marriage and drove the wife to suicide, and then completely took over his life and financial situation, alienating him from his friends. It seems everyone had a reason to kill her, but perhaps, it wasn't any of them who held the knife...

In the end, I think he just got so bored, so did his filming and got out - there were no second takes, he just up and left.”A british millionaire's spoiled little girl loses her ragdoll, and buying her new dolls does not make her happy, so the parents put out an ad for a 25Ł return award money for the doll. Having been buried by the family dog, the doll is found by a drunken tramp, who takes it with him to a pub, pretending it is a high class lady, to the amusement of the audience. Two lowlifes frequenting the pub realize the doll is worth money, and force the tramp at knifepoint to return it, planning to take the money from him later. But, his uncanny knowledge of the paintings in the house impresses the lady of the house enough that she has him driven home by car, so he avoids the robbers.

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