Francis Durbridge: Paul Temple und der Fall Marquis

Nice to see no imagination was spared for Bombay Waterfront, aka Paul Temple returns.

John Bentley reprises his role as Paul Temple, the author of detective stories and part-time detective. His wife Steve is played by a different actress than in Calling Paul Temple. This time it's lovely Patricia Dainton.

This series is based on radio shows, and I'm wondering if they were all identical, but with different names and a different Mcguffin.

As far as I can tell, the story is the same: a serial killer now named The Marquess, a mysterious foreigner who may or may not be involved, warning notes, car crashes, some old castle or shack in the woods, a bunch of suspects, and danger for Paul and Steve.

What I liked were the cozy English cottages and the archaic equipment used by the firemen.

At least with this one, I knew whodunnit.

The fourth and final adaptation of the Paul Temple radio plays, PAUL TEMPLE RETURNS sees the vacationing sleuth living up the high life in New York, where he now makes a living from his work as a crime writer. However, the powers that be call him back to Britain after a sinister figure known only as the Marquis begins to carve his way through the upper ranks of society.

It's a well paced, Edgar Wallace-style storyline and one that's a lot more fun than the last Paul Temple film I watched, SEND FOR PAUL TEMPLE. The main character and his associate Steve remain a bit boring, but the supporting cast are better here, and overall the budget seems a bit bigger too. Certainly there are some strong moments in the murder scenes and an exciting rooftop atmosphere which is dripping with atmosphere.

The supporting cast also incorporates number of past and future horror greats, including the Man in Black himself, Valentine Dyall, as one of the policemen. Horror fans will be chiefly impressed by the inclusion of Christopher Lee in a sinister turn as one of the main suspects, a professor whose collection of Egyptian artifacts neatly precursors his later role as THE MUMMY. Robert Urquhart (THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN) is here too as yet another suspect, and the dependable Ronald Leight-Hunt plays a copper.

The indefatigable Maclean Rogers directs John Bentley in their third movie about mystery writer and police consultant Paul Temple and his wife Steve, as played by Patricia Dainton. It's based on a radio play by series originator Francis Durdrige, Paul Temple Intervenes, broadcast in October and November of 1942. It seems some bad guy known as 'The Marquis' has been killing a bunch of people. Bentley and Dainton stick their noses in. Will they figure out who he is or will they get bumped off themselves? With both Valentine Dyall and Christopher Lee in the cast, there seems to be plenty of people to suspect.

It's a pretty good movie from Nettleford, with the leads looking like they're having fun. Longtime cameraman Geoffrey Failthfull does his usual competent job, demonstrating that despite short budgets, B movie producer Nettleford was capable of producing entertaining, if undemanding movies

The temples (john bentley, patricia dainton) are hot on the trail of "the marquis", a murderer roaming the streets. He's even sent letters to the temples, daring them to catch him. Number one suspect is sir raybourne. That's the guest star christopher lee, who pops up in so many dark, mystery films. Lee also played saruman and some evil star wars characters. Of course, there's a running gag where the servant rikki from rangoon has been replaced by his brother sakki. And his cooking is just as bad. It's all okay. Nothing too special. Lots of suspects, and nothing too clever to tip us off as to who-dunnit. Directed by maclean rogers. Based on the story by francis durbridge. The original british title was "paul temple returns". A pretty rough copy of the film. The picture is okay, but there's a high pitched noise present for the first half of the film. And near the end, when they are in the warehouse, it's pitch dark for such a long time, with just nothing happening. Really brings the film to a halt. It's all just okay.

BBC radio made a serialize story, "Paul Temple Intervenes", and this film is based on this character. However, since only British audiences were familiar with it, the title "Paul Temple Returns" was changed to "Bombay Waterfront" for distribution in the United States.

Paul and his oddly named wife, Steve, are husband-wife crime fighters...sort of like a sober and less interesting version of Nick and Nora Charles. A person nicknamed 'The Marquise" is murdering people, and as that is rather nasty, the Temples decide to investigate.

There's nothing horrible about the film, though the end is weak. Otherwise, it's a typical B-sort of movie with the usual cliches. The worst cliches were at the end...where the killer is confronted by a group of folks...and they don't consider he might have a gun or might try to run. And, when Paul is battling the killer, his loyal wife just stands there and doesn't help. Perhaps the guy was heavily insured and Mrs. Temple was happy regardless who won the fight. All I know is that it's an agreeable time-passer, at best, and nothing more.

Dumb at end with gun and mrs. Temple then she just stands there.