A Frightening Double Feature

Monster Of London City (1964)
It may be the 1960s in London, but the spirit of Jack The Ripper seems to be very much alive as a series of brutal killings have Scotland Yard baffled. By a macabre coincidence, a new play about Jack The Ripper has become a major hit in the West End. While the murders create an uproard for Scotland Yard to catch the killer, the play is causing a Parliament to try and get it shut down, believing it is inspiring the murders. The prime suspect is the star of the Jack The Ripper play, whose past includes drug addiction and some time in a sanitarium! Both the police and a private investigator try to find the killer. Is it Sir George, the man who wants to shut down the play and has a secret of his own to hide?

Secret Of The Red Orchid (1962)
Wealthy people are getting noted form "The Patrons of the Rich" offering "protection" for a large sum. If they do not pay or go to the police, they are brutally murdered. Inspector Weston of Scotland Yard is joined by Captain Allerman of the FBI (Christopher Lee!!??!!!) who is sure that the man behidn the brutal protection racket is a Chicago gang boss he helped get sent out of the United States. But there are two gangs involved, each one trying to take over the London crime scene. The threat of a gang war looms. The body coutn mounts. Machine guns chatter their deadly symphony. Will the racket be smashed? Will the gangsters whipe each other out? Will Parker the butler find another job after his employers keep getting bumped off?

Based on Edgar Wallace's novel "When The Gangs Come To London", Secret of the Red Orchid was Christopher Lee's second appearance in the "Wallace krimis." Watch for the scene where "Two-Gun Lee" deals with a gang's hitman!

-- Eric Hoffman