Jagd auf Z

PAUL TEMPLE'S TRIUMPH is the third of four Paul Temple films, shot on the cheap at Nettlefold Studios and adapted from the radio plays by Francis Durbridge. This follows on from the stodgy SEND FOR PAUL TEMPLE and the acceptable CALLING PAUL TEMPLE and was followed by PAUL TEMPLE RETURNS, which is my personal favourite of the four.

These films are hampered by a low budget and Maclean Rogers's indifferent execution, but for fans of the era they provide a few thrills. Once again the usual go-to guy, John Bentley, essays the role of Temple with Dinah Sheridan his reliable partner Steve. The plot of this one begins with the kidnapping of a scientist and the subsequent investigation turns up a sinister criminal gang with murder in mind.

PAUL TEMPLE'S TRIUMPH was considered to be a lost film for a while, much like the two TOFF adaptations also starring Bentley. It lacks a decent supporting cast (PAUL TEMPLE RETURNS had the likes of Christopher Lee in support) but it still manages a few good twists along the way, including one ahead-of-its-time shocking moment. And the short running time means that this is one quota quickie that never outstays its welcome.

Andrew Leigh has been working on his secret formula -- what does it do? Shut up, he explained -- when a couple of henchmen show up, threaten his daughter, and eat his biscuits without asking. They're working for the Z organization, a bunch of spies who sell their secrets to the highest bidder. Somehow, John Bentley and Dinah Dinah Sheridan as mystery writer Paul Temple and his wife Steve wind up at the hotel where the spies and police chasing spies congregate. Can Temple and company stumble their way to success in less than eighty minutes? It is to laugh.

It's based on one of the radio show's serial that originally aired in November and December of 1939, doubtless changed from Nazi agent to something that suggests The 39 Steps without much humor. With Jack Livesey, Jenny Mathot, and Leo de Pokorny in his final screen performance.

Number three of Nettlefold's 'Paul Temple' potboilers is a garrulous and uninvolving affair until about the halfway mark, when it picks up considerably and the women start wearing the trousers (in the case of Dinah Sheridan's 'Steve', literally).

Despite two of the previous reviewers evoking The Goons in their headings no one so far seems to have noticed that the actress playing the unfortunate Celia (in her only appearance in a feature film), Anne Hayes, continued her run of bad fortune the following year when she became the first Mrs Peter Sellars.

John Bentley is Paul Temple and Dinah Sheridan is his wife Steve, who are searching for a missing nuclear scientist believed to be kidnapped by a sinister organisation.

This is a densely plotted B film, with plenty of interior scenes that highlights its low budget despite the furs worn by some of the female cast. Still there are shady types hanging around every corner, some even with doped cigarettes. Ah the peril of smoking nicotine.

Despite the short running time, I still found it somewhat flabby and disengaging. Dinah Sheridan was delectable though.

A typically fast moving mystery thriller, once thought lost, from one of Francis Durbridge's radio serials 'News of Paul Temple'. Crime fighting duo, mystery writer Paul Temple and his vivacious wife and partner in detection, Steve, find themselves up against a gang headed by an individual known only as 'Z' after one of Steve's friends has been murdered following the kidnapping of her scientist father. It's one of those familiar sounding organisations that "steal state secrets and sell them to the highest bidder".

As in the earlier CALLING PAUL TEMPLE (see my review), John Bentley and Dinah Sheridan are ideal as Durbridge's answer to Nick and Nora Charles. Bentley was perhaps only surpassed in the role by Francis Matthews, star of the BBC series of twenty years later, that was stymied by some abysmal scripts. Again, there's a delightful chemistry with the lovely Dinah Sheridan, who is the most perceptive, lively and charming of Steves. It's a shame she did not stay on for the final entry of the series, PAUL TEMPLE RETURNS, but by then she was in demand for more prestigious productions. There is the usual abundance of red herrings and coincidences and it's not difficult to notice the cliffhangers that closed each radio episode.

Temple can't be doing too badly from his mysteries, as he drives an Aston Martin, a car that wouldn't have been seen too often on the roads of the austerity Britain of 1949/50. Location shooting includes a glimpse of the New Forest as well as Northolt Airport, then being used for commercial flights. Busy character actress Beatrice Varley, who often played downtrodden and lowly women, was far more assertive in this series, holding up men at gunpoint in the first, SEND FOR PAUL TEMPLE, while here she's a no nonsense hotel owner with something to hide. Her husband is played by another stalwart, Ben Williams, who seemed to turn up somewhere in every British film of the 1940s and 1950s. Carry On favourite Peter Butterworth makes the most of a small part as a Post Office engineer. Good entertainment from a bygone age.