To date, the Tod Slaughter movies still unavailable are : - Darby and Joan - a 1937 feature directed by Syd Courtenay. For years I contacted multiple archives in UK and USA without result. I even never saw a single still of this movie, nor a poster or pressbook. But it was released by MGM-British !!! so some materials... MUST exist somewhere...
- Soldiers Without Uniform - a 1941 featurette, probably directed by Widgey R. Newman. It was passed for certificate by the BBFC on Dec. 16, 1941 and got an "U", without cuts. The producing company was Associated Independent Producers of Great-Britain, and it was scheduled for a release by General Film Distributors. Among the cast were also Ellen Pollock and Ian Fleming. I never found trace of a real release, and nobody at the BFI seems to know what happened to this featurette.
- The Vengeance of Magnus Vann - This admitedly appetizing title was announced by Ambassador / Bushey in the 1946/47 edition of the British Film Yearbook, edited by Peter Noble. But it was never made, apparently, although some sources continue to mention it among Tod's credits...
- The 1952 series of featurettes, also produced by Ambassador / Bushey and probably entitled "Inspector Morley Investigates" or maybe "Inspector Morley, ex-Scotland Yard, Investigates". They were planned for TV but never aired. Six of the episodes were theatrically released in UK as two "features", the first one, KING OF THE UNDERWORLD, in 1952 and the second one, MURDER AT SCOTLAND YARD, two years later. Another episode, originally filmed as "Death at the Festival", was also released, as a short movie, under a new title, MURDER OF THE GRANGE. The people who made the title change simply "forgot" to mention Tod in the new credits !!! this episode was shown on BBC twice in recent years but was never shown on TV before that. Well, "King of the Underworld" is unavailable on video but some private collectors have a 35mm print and the separate episodes on 16mm. For "Murder at Scotland Yard" I never saw any of the three episodes. But you must know that OTHER episodes of the same series were made, and I saw one of them, "The Red Flame", courtesy of an American collector who found a 16mm print some years ago. Other titles in the series: "Dark Passage", "Murder in the Strand", "The Showdown", etc. To date I'm unable to tell how much were made as nobody seems to know where are the Bushey / Ambassador archives. But I have b&w stills of any of the episodes I mentioned above.
- Forecast Unsettled - made-for-TV, 30mns approx, it was an episode of The Lilli Palmer Theater and wasn't a "live performance" but filmed, as it was shown on TV - in UK and USA - some weeks AFTER Tod's death. Can possibly exist in some US vault. The segment was directed by Don Chaffey. Tod played a character named "Robinson Wills".
The following movies are in official archives :
- Bothered By a Beard - 1946, directed by E.V.H. Emmett, a documentary featurette about the story of shaving through the ages. Tod appears in a Sweeney Todd segment, his victim being played by Antony Baird. Exists at the BFI.
- A Ghost for Sale - also 1952 and from the same producers than the TV series, the same director (Victor M. Gover) and the same three principals (Slaughter, Patrick Barr, Tucker McGuire). This featurette used large extracts of "The Curse of the Wraydons", 1946, from the same studio and director, and is a ghost story unrelated to the main TV series. Exists at the BFI
- Puzzle Corner # 14 - a 1954 quizz movie, Tod recites a monologue with a razor in his hand and audiences are invited to guess what is the play from which the monologue was taken. To date nobody guessed (I'm joking). I think one official archive must have it as I have a video copy, but I'm unable to remember who sent it to me, probably Rank as they own the General Film Distributors old movies...
Movies SHOWN on British TV but currently unavailable on video :
- The Curse of the Wraydons (USA: Strangler's Morgue) - 1946
- The Greed of William Hart (USA: Horror Maniacs)- 1948
In fact, they ARE available in the USA, but cut to ribbons. Channel Four, many years ago, has broadcast the uncut versions, respectively 96 and 76 mins at 25 frames per second (in Pal).I was lucky enough to record them on VHS, and recently I recopied them on DVD and the result is much better than the US "official" editions...
