Review for Scales of Justice (The): The Complete Collection

For anyone enjoying the superb Merton Park studios ‘Edgar Wallace’ Collections (also released by Network) then you’ll undoubtedly want to embellish that collection with ‘Scales of Justice’. Again, superb production values and absolutely pristine transfers make this a delight for fans of this material.

Originally airing as support pictures in cinemas (in common with the Edgar Wallace pieces), though eventually doing the rounds elsewhere as TV shows, ‘The Scales of Justice’ shorts are every bit as compelling as many features of the time.


Each story was top and tailed by the slightly morose Edgar Lustgarten, the world’ sleast likely ‘presenter’ but something of an authority on legal history. Despite tight budgets and deadlines, they attracted great casts of recognisable jobbing British talent who turned in some memorable performances.


I didn’t ever see any of these in cinema’s first hand (having aired in the early to mid-sixties you’d need to be in your mid-fifties at least for that) but I daresay the wonderful theme by The Tornadoes would bring back some nostalgic joy (a twangy guitar band in the mould of The Ventures and The Shadows whose biggest instruemental hit, ‘Telstar’ you would know if you heard it).


Each episode was based on a true story, often involving a heinous crime of some description. This set contains all 13 movies all starting with a 2 minute title sequence outlining the importance of the principles of law, where not only was justice to be done but that it was ‘seen to be done’. A fair point and a great way to set up each case, which always start in the court before mixing through to Eric Lustgarten’s introduction, and then reeling back to play out the sorry tale before returning to court for the verdict and a final summary by Eric.


The set represents tremendous value for money with 13 mini-features which will definitely bear repeated views, along with the superb Edgar Wallace outings. Curiously, they flip to colour by the tenth outing, with Black and White all but running out of steam in cinema by 1965. An absolutely essential purchase for lovers of British cinema of the period.


Here’s what you get, hopefully enough without nudging into the realms of ‘spoilers’!


1. The Guilty Party (1962) (Zena Marshall, Anthony Jacobs, Derek Francis, Jack Gwillim, Wensley Pithey, Kenneth Thornett, Lionel Harris) Edward Sinclair and his wife Thelma live surrounded by wealth and luxury. But Sinclair is weighed down heavily by debts.

2. A Woman's Privilege (1962) (Bernard Archard, Ann Lynn, Patrick Wymark, Ernest Clark, Noel Hood, Pamela Greer, Gerald Cross, Anthony Bushell ) On a cruise to cheer herself up after a broken romance, Shirley Fawsett meets older man Joe Ashton. The result is a court case where she sues him for breach of promise.


3. Moment of Decision (1962) (Ray Barrett, Pat Healy, Marjie Lawrence, Lisa Madron, Mike Sarne, Michael Aspel, Norman Claridge, John Knight) A nurse loses a baby she is caring for. But who is really responsible for its kidnapping?



4. Position of Trust (1963) (Derrick Sherwin, Imogen Hassall, Edward Atienza, Peter Barkworth, Geoffrey Chater, Cyril Luckham, Robert Lankesheer, Lionel Harris) The wild son of a powerful industrialist plans an illicit weekend away from his fiancée with a pretty French girl called Yvonne. The weekend begins promisingly but on the first morning a man barges into their hotel bedroom in Brighton. He announces that he is a private detective - acting for Yvonne's husband.

5. The Undesirable Neighbour (1963)(Vanda Godsell, Bridget Armstrong, Anthony Newlands, Ronald Hatton, Garfield Morgan, Gordon Hales) When a young married couple move into a new home the wife is popular with the local men and starts the gossips buzzing.


6. The Invisible Asset (1963) (Kenneth J. Warren, Ronald Leigh-Hunt, Annette Carell, Gabriella Licudi, Stanley Morgan, Kenneth Benda, Peter Bathurst, Philip Latham, Norman Harrison) In a city restaurant the owner blackmails his most influential customers by using a hidden microphone on a special table.

7. Personal and Confidential (1965) (Ellen McIntosh, Robert Cartland, Harry Littlewood, Howard Lang, Geoffrey Toone, Jeffrey Segal, Windsor Davies, Patrick Carter, Don McKillop, Geoffrey Nethercott) Found in the briefcase of the man in Room 755, who fell, or was pushed, from a seventh storey window is a red file, marked "Top Secret".

8. The Hidden Face (1965) (Christine Finn, Richard Butler, Alex Macintosh, Robert James, Gretchen Franklin, Vernon Dobtcheff, Peter Stephens, David Garth, Patrick Dromgoole) Jane Penshurst writes a book attacking MP Milsom. When Milsom shoots himself, his son, William, seeks revenge.

9. The Material Witness (1965) (Noel Travarthen, Reginald Marsh, Sally Nesbitt, Harry Locke, Hector Ross, John Horsley, Steve Peters, Geoffrey Nethercott) A young man is the personal assistant to a company executive who has little time for him.

10. Company of Fools (1966) (Barrie Ingham, Jacqueline Jones, Maurice Kaufmann, Garfield Morgan Peter Duffell) Colour Five strangers from varied walks of life comqe together to investigate the life of a man who has caused them all serious financial losses and to exact their own private revenge.

11. The Haunted Man (1966) (Keith Barron, James Ellis, Alexandra Bastedo, Isobel Black, Tenniel Evans, Dallas Cavell Stanley Willis) Actor Bill Kenton, injured trying to prevent a raid on a shop, returns to his career, to find that he cannot remember his lines. Forced to leave the theatre, he becomes a man obsessed with finding the thieves.

12. Infamous Conduct (1966) (Dermot Walsh, Bridget Armstrong, Ewen Solon, Richard Warner, Terry Wale, Richard Martin) Struck off the medical register, surgeon, Anthony Searle meets Dixon, a bank robber on the run and Dixon wants a "face job".

13. Payment in Kind (1967) (Justine Lord, Maxine Audley, Brian Haines, Derrick Sherwin, Gwen Cherrell, Henry McGee, Peter Bathurst, Peter Duffell) The dedicated wife of a struggling businessman falls behind on the hire purchase payments and the debt collector suggests "payment in kind".

Buy and enjoy!