Edgar Wallace presents The Four Just Men

This fast paced thriller has patriotism running through it beginning to end, in a tale that sees four ‘just men’ fight wrongdoers who are beyond the arm of the law. Their goal: maintain order to uphold democracy, fight tyranny, and generally protect British interests.

Based on a novel by Edgar Wallace, and originally released several months prior to the outbreak of hostilities in 1939, The Four Just Men was re-released in 1944 with a new coda reflecting the current wartime position. Featured here in a brand-new transfer from original film elements of the 1944 re-issue, the film is showcased in its as-exhibited theatrical aspect ratio.

The story starts in a military prison in Regensberg, in 1938. In the condemned cell, James Terry (Frank Lawton) awaits execution, together with another condemned soul in a cell next to him. The two converse via Morse alphabet, which they use by means of banging cups against water pipes. Terry tries to find out details of the person who is scheming a plot to sabotage the Suez Canal and the consequent sinking of a British ship. However, before he can get the full details, the other man is lead to his execution (luckily, we get to see only the axe in close-up…).
In order for the story to unfold, the terminally ill Terry cannot possibly be executed as well, and so it is that by script intervention, he gets spirited out of the prison. He is able to reveal two clues to his fellow members of the Four Just Men: two vital clues pointing towards a dastardly plan to bring down the whole of the British Empire!

Back in England, the remaining just men only have one name to go by, but on that hint they try to foil sabotage. They suspect that the glamorous Myra Hastings (Lynda Sherwood), the wife of a man in a high government position, has teamed up with one Frank Snell (Basil Sidney). In an empty lipstick case, she hides top-secret information which she gets from secret documents, rather foolishly kept by her husband in the same drawer as she keeps her jewellery. These she forwards to Snell, who then smuggles the information to foreign agents.

One day, Myra receives visit from Humphrey Mansfield (Hugh Sinclair), one of the four just men (of course, no one is supposed to know who they actually are), pretending to be an inspector. He threatens Myra with investigating the whole entire household, and above all, her husband. Later on, she phones Snell panic-stricken, and comes to visit him in his place. Worried that Myra might crack under the threat from the visitor, he pushes her to her death in a lift shaft.
Enter sassy and ambitious crime reporter Arm Lodge (Anna Lee), who intends on making this her own case. At the crime scene, she meets the dashing James Brodie (Griffith Jones), who is one of the four. Instantly attracted to Arm, he pretends to have his own interest in the case, and help Arm to get her cover story. What he really wants, however, is prevent Arm from investigating further… so she won’t find out the real identity of the four just men. Suffice to say, the two fall in love… eventually. Well, can’t have a crime thriller without a love story!

Things reach fever pitch when Mansfield and remaining man of the quartet, Leon Poiccard (Francis L. Sullivan), sends a ‘death sentence’ to Snell. It’s now up to the four guardians of justice to foil the ultimate evil plan to destroy Britain’s mighty power and to do so, they must act quick.

Well acted, and with the right balance of suspense, drama and comedy, The Four Just Men makes for timeless entertainment.

Bonus material is a Stills Gallery.