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A question for the experts before the board closes:

The Edgar Wallace Mysteries series had a version of Man of Mystery as it's theme tune. Originally, it was a slow orchestral arrangement, which was subsequently changed to a slow guitar led arrangement. This in turn was quickly change to a more upbeat guitar arrangement which more closely resembles The Shadows hit.

So my question: I'm assuming The Shadows single was a cover of the theme tune, but was it a cover of the orchestral version which in turn influenced the programme makers to change their arrangement to reflect the popularity of the single, or was it a straight cover of the series guitar lead "beat" version? In other words, which guitar led version came first?

Cliff

I think The Shadows' version came first; at the time the original cinema Edgar Wallace theme was flute-led...quite slow and moody - but this was changed to a guitar-led 'beat' version following the success of The Shadows' hit. I don't know who had the idea for The Shadows to record it

My understanding is that Michael Carr wrote the theme specifically for the TV series. When The Shadows played it live, Hank slowly turned on the spot, mimicking the rotation of the bust of Edgar Wallace in the opening sequence. The original was credited to the Bernard Eddinghouse Orchestra.

It's always surprising how bits of popular culture become distorted over the years by the operation of "Chinese Whispers". And one wonders whether something of the sort has happened with the Edgar Wallace Mysteries films. A lot of people in the UK say it was a TV series. It wasn't. It was a series of cinema films - intended for use as B features - made by Anglo-Amalgamated and supplied to the ABC cinema chain to fill out their programmes. I first saw one of them at the Majestic Cinema in Liverpool, supporting "The Young Ones" (this would be February or March 1962).

There were nearly fifty of them made in total. The confusion may have come about for two reasons. One is that the whole catalogue was sold to one of the three USA television networks as "Edgar Wallace Mystery Theatre". The other is that from about 1968, they have been recycled on British TV (mainly ITV at first) as "Tales of Edgar Wallace". They are still being used in the schedules of Talking Pictures TV.

But... they were not made for TV, any more than "The African Queen" or "Duck Soup" were.

See (for an interesting short read): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_Wallace_Mysteries

Yes, you're right - a series of films to support the main feature in a similar vein to the Scotland Yard series (though they were much shorter in length)

Cliff

Moderne wrote:I think The Shadows' version came first; at the time the original cinema Edgar Wallace theme was flute-led...quite slow and moody - but this was changed to a guitar-led 'beat' version following the success of The Shadows' hit. I don't know who had the idea for The Shadows to record it

I believe that Michael Carr was a friend of theirs, or at the very least a professional acquaintance, so maybe he suggested it...? Good move on his part if he did!

drakula63 wrote:I believe that Michael Carr was a friend of theirs, or at the very least a professional acquaintance, so maybe he suggested it...? Good move on his part if he did!

I imagine that Michael Carr and Norrie would have gone back a few years, too!

Bill

drakula63 wrote:

Moderne wrote:I think The Shadows' version came first; at the time the original cinema Edgar Wallace theme was flute-led...quite slow and moody - but this was changed to a guitar-led 'beat' version following the success of The Shadows' hit. I don't know who had the idea for The Shadows to record it

I believe that Michael Carr was a friend of theirs, or at the very least a professional acquaintance, so maybe he suggested it...? Good move on his part if he did!

That is exactly what happened. Bruce, in an edition of the "We Say Yeah" podcast from mid-2023, said that Man Of Mystery was suggested to him personally by Michael Carr after being invited to the local pub. Later, Carr also suggested Kon-Tiki at the pub, though this time, he had an acetate disc as a demo of the tune.

Hear it all at: https://www.podbean.com/site/EpisodeDownload/PB14372632FJTT

Wasn't the demo of Kon Tiki played by Joe Brown?

This is one sort of conversation I'm going to miss. This is gold. Thanks, fellas.

Not everything that can be discussed has been.