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

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

There are some surprisingly long well-informed reviews of this seemingly rather undistinguished 1959 British B. Those who might have seen it at that time are now all senior citizens. But for a few, perhaps a very few, such elderly gentlemen it evokes memories of their formative years like nothing else.If you had been a young person with an interest in photography you would have been aware of the publications safely tucked away on the top shelves of the newsagents shops - as appear in this film. Soho was then as now an exotic location well known for the fleshly pleasures including foreign foods. Indeed it was a basket of exotica quite unique in the entire UK. Oddly at the same time, it was the home of army surplus radio gear - all displayed on stalls outside the shops. It thus drew serious studious radio amateurs old and young to briefly share its busy notorious pavements with its more permanent and mostly female residents as well as passing rather furtive older gentlemen in raincoats and often bowler hats whose visit might only be slightly longer than that of the innocent old and young radio enthusiasts.By the standards on the 1950s, the above would be quite unsuitable for any kind of family publication or family conversation as it alludes to what was common knowledge but then a taboo topic in family contexts. Such were the dim and distant 1950s - made vivid again by this film whose makers clearly knew their market.Did I see it at the time? I'm not sure - it would have been at least an A possibly an X certificate. Yet Felicity Young seems oddly very familiar. Why was she so memorable? Not just because she was very good looking. I think because she was a classy ostensibly "nice" girl who did - remove her clothes, not all of course. In a world then firmly divided between nice girls who didn't and not nice girls who did, Felicity Young produced a thrilling confusion in a younger impressionable mind - apparently.It is a strange thing that less can be more. In such restricted times, very little could seem very much more.

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.

This movie for me is very much a sweet and sour affair. One the one hand I think Steptoe and Son is the finest comedy ever but also I think if it would never have happened we could and should have seen Harry H Corbett as one of Britains finest actors. This gem of a movie takes all the naivety of days gone by with the age old story of a bad man who thinks the world is changing for the worse and depravity rules. Blitzed into just 60 odd minutes this was obviously made as a B movie but is a world above anything it was made to run alongside. If this was remade today it would have to be a gruesome 18 cert affair probably filmed in the seedy parts of London and involve drugs and prostitutes ( Harry Brown springs to mind)but the way they get the message across without so much as a grain of smut is incredible. Absolutely fantastic piece of movie making and seems as relative today as it was when made over 50 years ago.

Despite only lasting an hour, this film about a serial killer who has a grudge against cover girls - a la The Lodger and Jack the Ripper - rarely flags and has an energy which lifts it above other B movies of the time. It also has Harry H Corbett, best known these days for Steptoe and Son, proving he could act in a serious role. He is genuinely creepy, chilling and calculating.In some respects this film also reminds me of Peeping Tom, also about a psychopathic murderer of high intelligence who kills by ritual. While that film was a straight A, 'Cover Girl Killer' does not pale in its company, and it proves its worth as a late night regular on TV.