{{Short description|1961 British film by Robert Tronson}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox film | name = Man Detained | image = Man Detained.jpg
| caption = | director = Robert Tronson | producer = {{ubl|Jack Greenwood|Jim O'Connolly}} | writer = Richard Harris | based_on = {{based on|''A Debt Discharged'' |Edgar Wallace}} | narrator = | starring = {{ubl|Bernard Archard|Elvi Hale|Paul Stassino}} | music = Bernard Ebbinghouse | cinematography = Bert Mason | editing = Robert Jordan Hill | studio = Merton Park Studios | distributor = Anglo-Amalgamated | released = {{Film date|1961|10}} | runtime = 59 minutes | country = United Kingdom | language = English | budget = | gross = }} '''''Man Detained''''' is a 1961 British second feature ('B')<ref name="Chibnall">{{Cite book |last1=Chibnall |first1=Steve |title=''The British 'B' Film'' |last2=McFarlane |first2=Brian |publisher=BFI/Bloomsbury |year=2009 |isbn=978-1-8445-7319-6 |location=London |pages=237}}</ref> crime film directed by Robert Tronson and starring Bernard Archard, Elvi Hale and Paul Stassino.<ref name="BFIsearch">{{Cite web |title=Man Detained |url=https://collections-search.bfi.org.uk/web/Details/ChoiceFilmWorks/150042801 |access-date=26 January 2024 |website=British Film Institute Collections Search}}</ref> The screenplay was by Richard Harris, based on the 1916 Edgar Wallace novel ''A Debt Discharged''.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Goble |first=Alan |title=The Complete Index to Literary Sources in Film. |date=1999 |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |isbn=9783598114922 |publication-date=1999 |pages=246}}</ref> It is part of the series of Edgar Wallace Mysteries films made at Merton Park Studios from 1960 to 1965.
== Plot == Frank Murray breaks into the office safe of photographer Thomas Maple. Maple hushes up the fact that £10,000 was taken. When Murray is arrested the police find that the stolen money is counterfeit. Maple is murdered by crime boss James Helder, who had been having an affair with Maple's wife Stella, whom he then abandons. Seeking revenge, Stella alerts Detective Inspector Verity. Helder kidnaps Maple's secretary Kay Simpson because she knows too much. Verity arrests Helder and rescues Kay.
==Cast== * Bernard Archard as Detective Inspector Verity * Elvi Hale as Kay Simpson * Paul Stassino as James Helder * Michael Coles as Frank Murray * Ann Sears as Stella Maple * Victor Platt as Thomas Maple * Patrick Jordan as Brand * Clifford Earl as Detective Sergeant Wentworth * Gerald Lawson as old man * Jean Aubrey as Gillian Murray * Gareth Davies as police constable
== Production == The film's sets were designed by the art director Peter Mullins.
== Critical reception == ''The Monthly Film Bulletin'' wrote: "Taut and vivid addition to the Edgar Wallace series, coolly played by Elvi Hale as the secretary who is a bit too clever for her own good. There are few surprises, but the presentation is quite sound and the thing bowls along at a smart pace."<ref>{{Cite journal |date=1 January 1961 |title=Man Detained |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/1305829039 |journal=The Monthly Film Bulletin |volume=28 |issue=324 |pages=171 |id={{ProQuest|1305829039}}}}</ref>
''Kine Weekly'' wrote: "The picture, the latest Edgar Wallace thriller, cleverly pours a quart of intriguing and exciting crime entertainment into a pint pot. Elvi Hale makes a cool and courageous Verity, Paul Stassino convinces as the evil Helder, and Michael Coles has his moments as the happy-go-lucky, light-fingered Murray. The supporting types, too, spring to life. There are no false starts and the ingenious plot is kept moving at a brisk pace."<ref>{{Cite journal |date=26 October 1961 |title=Man Detained |volume=533 |issue=1961 |pages=23 |id={{ProQuest|3127058523}} |magazine=Kine Weekly}}</ref>
==References== <references/>
==External links== * {{IMDb title|1728163}}
{{Edgar Wallace}}
Category:1961 films Category:British crime films Category:1961 crime films Category:Films set in England Category:Merton Park Studios films Category:Films directed by Robert Tronson Category:Films based on British novels Category:Edgar Wallace Mysteries Category:1961 English-language films Category:1961 British films Category:English-language crime films Category:British black-and-white films