Review of The Witness Vanishes

1939's "The Witness Vanishes" turned out to be a disappointing finale to Universal's Crime Club series, one of the three included in the famous SHOCK THEATER package issued to television in 1957. Lucius Marplay (Barlowe Borland) was the successful publisher of the London Sun until the birth of his beloved daughter Joan, after which his four partners began to take over the paper during his absence, eventually leading to his permanent ouster. Twenty years pass before Marplay makes his escape, vowing revenge against the quartet who put him away, each man's fate carefully scripted over the years. Ingeniously, the Sun publishes each man's obituary before they die, all just moments prior to their demise, until only publisher Mark Peters (Edmund Lowe) is left to face Marplay at his country estate. Wendy Barrie plays Marplay's adult daughter, who gets a secretarial job at the Sun, hoping to catch up with her missing father (other secretaries are played by Anne Nagel and Phyllis Barry). The intriguing premise is quickly undone by the increasingly improbable, split-second timing of events, and Lowe's somnambulistic performance in the central role (which also sank "Chandu the Magician") delivers the most fatal blow. The other Crime Club entries are all superior to this one, from the story "They Can't Hang Me," by Robertson White.