Between the years 1953 and 1961 a total of 39 films introduced by Edgar Lustgarten were shot at Merton Park studios in London. The first 26 films, made between 1953-1957, were produced by Alec C. Snowden whilst the final 13 films, made between 1958-1961, were produced by Jack Greenwood.
Below is a list of all the 39 films with active links to any Front of House stills that I have in my Collection.
Blazing Caravan,The (1954)
Number in series: 4
Alexander Gauge, Edgar Driver, Alan Robinson, Betty Carter, Jack McNaughton
Directed by Ken Hughes
A charred body found in a blazing caravan is identified as that of George Routledge, a travelling salesman, but police scientists discover that the man was already dead before the flames got to him.
Number in series: 20
Ballard Berkeley, Philippa Hyatt, Robert Sansom, Duncan McIntyre
Directed by Kenneth Hume
Police looking into the murder of an insurance agent, Grant, are baffled by the report from their ballistics department.
Number in series: 3
Gerald Case, Jack Lambert, Robert Cawdron, Clifford Buckton, Harry Hearne
Directed by Ken Hughes
Children playing by a stream find the body of a man whose features have been battered beyond recognition.
Number in series: 16
Hugh Moxey, Gordon Needham, Jane Welsh, Charles Mortimer, John Rae
Directed by Montgomery Tully
Scotland Yard is called in when the body of an unknown drowned man is stolen.
Number in series: 21
Russell Napier, Carl Jaffe, Sylvia Marriott, Roger Delgado, Vernon Greeves
Directed by Montgomery Tully
The apparent suicide of a young artist whilst staying with a friend, turns into a complex web of blackmail and murder.
Number in series: 28
Russell Napier, Ivan Craig, Jean Lodge, Julian Strange
Directed by Montgomery Tully
When a man's body is dredged up from the Thames mud, it is identified by the dead man's sister. But his widow says it isn't her husband.
Number in series: 29
John Warwick, David Lodge, Tim Turner, Arthur Comez, John Stuart
Directed by Montgomery Tully
A farmer finds a young couple battered to death on his land and calls Scotland Yard.
Number in series: 5
Russell Napier, Edwin Richfield, George Manship, Vincent Ball, Gene Anderson
Directed by Ken Hughes
An old lady discovers a stabbed body. A blind man is bending over it. Hearing the woman scream, he turns and stumbles into the night.
Number in series: 17
Russell Napier, Paula Byrne, Melissa Stribling, Raymond Young, Arthur Gomez
Directed by Montgomery Tully
A man is found slumped dead in a chair at London Airport. In his pocket is a photograph of a showgirl, addressed to "My Dear George".
Number in series: 32
Geoffrey Keen, Leonard Sachs, Cyril Chamberlain, Edward Cast, Jane Rieger
Directed by Gerald Bryant
Police face a blank wall when it comes to tracing the men who robbed a bank.
Number in series: 1
Victor Platt, John le Mesurier, Hilda Barry, Vincent Ball, Bartlett Mullins
Directed by Ken Hughes
When a human skeleton is found under the rubble of a bombed school during World War Two, it is presumed to be that of a victim of enemy bombing. Police scientists, however, prove that the dead woman had been strangled.
Number in series: 34
Russell Napier, Jill Hyem, Howard Pays, Derek Sydney, Peter Welch
Directed by Gordon Hales
In a ditch off the busy A5, the body of a young girl is found. It seems possible that she was a hitchhiker killed by a passing vehicle. But when police find blood under the girl's fingernails, a hit-and-run accident turns into a case of murder.
Number in series: 3
Gordon Bell, Jack Melford, Jane Welch, Julian Somers, Edward Forsyth
Directed by Paul Gherzo
An ingenious attempt to hoodwink Scotland Yard and evade a murder charge.
Number in series: 31
Russell Napier, Jill Ireland, Mary Laura Wood, Gordon Needham, Diane Aubrey
Directed by Geoffrey Muller
A couple on a horror ride in an amusement park discover a corpse in the tunnel.
Number in series: 35
Russell Napier, Howard Pays, Tom Godfrey, Wilfred Brambell
Directed by Peter Duffell
An investigation into a gruesome case of a woman who has been murdered and then dismembered.
Number in series: 22
Ronald Adams, Basil Henson, Colette Wild, Bernard Fox, Julian Strange
Directed by Montgomery Tully
Villagers celebrating Guy Fawkes night look on in horror as their "guy" topples from the bonfire, knocking off the mask, to reveal a charred face.
Number in series: 33
Russell Napier, Lisa Daniely, John Stone, Norman Johns, Howard Pays, Jack May
Directed by Geoffrey Muller
As the last train pulls into a London tube station, a porter discovers a dead man clutching a revolver.
Number in series: 6
Colin Tapley, Stanley van Beers, Terence Yorke, Frank Forsyth, Richard Shaw
Directed by Montgomery Tully
An old crippled paper seller disappears after attending an identity parade.
Number in series: 19
Russell Napier, Dorothy Bramhall, Bettina Dickson, Gordon Needham, Noel Dyson
Directed by Montgomery Tully
Workmen on a lonely road discover a human body in a barrel of tar.
Number in series: 23
Hy Hazell, Denis Castle, Gordon Needham, Robert Reardon, Derek Sydney
Directed by John Knight
A police patrol car comes across the body of a Post Office worker who has been shot and a mail van is missing.
Front of House Stills (Set of 8)
Number in series: 2
Tristan Rawson, Evelyn Moore, Axel Moller, Michael Bird, Paul Morgan
Directed by Ken Hughes
A young man vanishes and the police are called in to investigate. Then one night, the missing man's mother is terrified by a vivid dream of her son's violent death at a lonely farmhouse.
Number in series: 14
Peter Arne, Jill Bennett, Ewen Solon, Brian O'Higgins, Dervis Ward
Directed by Ken Hughes
When a womaniser is found dead with no marks on his body, the presence of a small revolver is the only thing to suggest foul play. Detectives discover that he had been friendly with a Mrs Sheldon. They also find out that he was named as a co-respondent in a divorce suit. The husband in the suit, a Mr Bowman, seems to have an alibi, but his wife, a judo expert, had the knowledge to inflict a deadly blow.
Note: The judge, Sir Travers Humphries PC, helps with the narration in this film.
Number in series: 13
Robert Raglan, John Warwick, Christine Adrian, Carol Marsh, Howard Lang
Directed by Paul Gherzo
Suspicion falls on a poacher when a man's body is found, shot through the head.
Note: The gun and ballistics expert, Robert Churchill, helps with the narration in this film.
Number in series: 36
Russell Napier, Genine Graham, Maurice Good, Harriette Johns, John Salew
Directed by Peter Duffell
The discovery of the mummified body of a woman, entombed in the wall of a derelict basement, sends Scotland Yard on a nationwide search to find the unknown murderer - a search that leads to another gruesome find.
Number in series: 24
Russell Napier, Julian Strange, John Serret, Andre Maranne, Alex Gallier
Directed by Montgomery Tully
The body of a young woman is washed up on the beach at an English seaside resort.
Number in series: 10
Gerald Case, Selma Vaz Diaz, Shay Gorman, Andrea Malandrinos, Guy Deghy
Directed by Ken Hughes
A maid at the residence of Arthur Beasley disturbs a safebreaker at work, and is killed before she can raise the alarm. Beasley himself catches a glimpse of the man - enough to see a livid scar on his face.
Number in series: 9
Kenneth Henry, Ken Marshall, Peter Penn, Dorothy Bramhall, Peter Bathurst
Directed by Ken Hughes
When British businessman, Edward Philips arrives in Japan, his luggage contains the mutilated body of a woman.
Number in series: 18
Russell Napier, Marianne Stone, Edward Cast, Alan Robinson, George Pravda
Directed by Montgomery Tully
Police are puzzled as to how an expert in explosives managed to get himself blown up.
Number in series: 27
Tim Turner, Phil Brown, John Warwick, Edwin Richfield, Roberta Huby
Directed by Montgomery Tully
The driver and guard of a security company van are killed during a £50,000 payroll robbery.
Number in series: 37
Geoffrey Keen, Stanley Morgan, Norma Parnell, Michael Nightingale
Directed by Peter Duffell
Two horsemen out for a morning trot approach a water jump. As one of the riders jumps he falls from his horse - dead. A seemingly obvious case of accidental death. But the results of the post-mortem are startling.
Number in series: 11
Ivan Craig, Kenneth Henry, Namara Michael, Jean Lodge, Molly Weir, Patricia Driscoll
Directed by Montgomery Tully
Spring, 1938. Frederick Stafford, a businessman, confesses to police that he has accidentally killed his wife in a struggle.
Number in series: 38
John Welsh, Delphi Lawrence, Stanley Morgan, Carl Jaffe, Mary Jones, Harold Goodwin
Directed by Allan Davis
A well-known safe cracksman is found dead beside a rifled safe. An examination of his body reveals that he died from a blow to the skull, and not the explosion that opened the safe. But why was he murdered?
Number in series: 12
Frank Leighton, Robin Wentworth, Theodore Wilhelm, Tom Clegg, May Hallett
Directed by Paul Gherzo
In a room in a squalid house in London's dockland, the body of a girl is found. The landlady tells police that she found the girl's Czech fiance bending over the body with a knife in his hand. When tracked down, however, the man insists that he is innocent. His story causes the police to make further enquiries.
Number in series: 8
Russell Napier, Derek Aylward, Lee Sinclair
Directed by Ken Hughes
A cat burglar who becomes known to the police and public alike as Blondie commits robbery after robbery without a single change in her routine. But she oversteps the mark when she batters an owner who discovers her presence.
Number in series: 25
John Warwick, Patricia Marmont, Howard Marion Crawford, Jenine Graham
Directed by David Paltenghi
A lawyer drowns a widow for her insurance money.
Number in series: 30
Russell Napier, John Stone, Denny Dayviss, Garrard Green, Gordon Bell
Directed by Geoffrey Muller
A night worker raises the alarm when he sees a disused building on fire. Inside, firemen find a charred body distinguished only by a glass eye.
Number in series: 15
Cyril Chamberlain, Vernon Greeves, Vanda Godsell
Directed by Montgomery Tully
A police inspector proves that a woman caused the death of her husband who was a fairground rider.
Number in series: 26
Russell Napier, Julian Strange, Alan Robinson, Michael Mellinger
Directed by Montgomery Tully
At 8.30 in the morning, an express train on its way to Waterloo thunders through the small country station of Branton. A body is thrown from the train onto the platform.
Number in series: 39
Harry H. Corbett, Simon Lack, Shelagh Fraser, Clinton Greyn, John Cazabon
Directed by Allan Davis
Over a quiet country field a plane flies, then mysteriously explodes in mid-air. The dead pilot is identified as a businessman, whose partner now comes under suspicion of murder.
