Paul Temple Returns

With Scotland Yard puzzled by a serial killer, and with himself already being warned off by the perpetrating "Marquis", amateur sleuth "Paul Temple" (John Bentley) and his wife "Steve" (Patricia Dainton) are drafted in by "Sir Graham" (Peter Gawthorne) to help "Insp. Ross" (Ronald Leigh-Hunt) with the investigation. Pretty swiftly, with the body count starting to mount, they begin to become embroiled with the enigmatic Egyptologist "Sir Felix" (Christopher Lee), some ancient papyri and a vial of something mysterious. With no shortage of candidates and events become ever more menacing, the couple have to get their thinking caps on before their heads no longer need them. There's an amiable degree of chemistry between Bentley and Temple and with a few red herrings straddling their path, the mystery unfolds steadily for just over an hour of rope climbing, dark passages and burning hay bales. I didn't love the factotum "Sakki" (Dan Jackson) so much - a sort of Mantan Moreland without the mischief or the charm and the ending is all a bit rushed, but it's a passable afternoon watch for budding criminologists.

This film, released in America as BOMBAY WATERFRONT, is the last of the four feature films made between 1946 and 1952 which were based upon the stories of Frances Durbridge and featured her character, the detective Paul Temple. Anthony Hulme played Temple in the first film (SEND FOR PAUL TEMPLE, 1946, see my review) and John Bentley played the character in the succeeding three films, including this one. Temple's wife 'Steve' was played in succession by Joy Shelton, Dinah Sheridan (twice), and Patricia Dainton here. The third film in the series, PAUL TEMPLE'S TRIUMPH (1950) is unavailable, having never been released on video or DVD. The other three are readily available on DVD in digitally remastered form. CALLING PAUL TEMPLE (1948, see my review) is a rather limp and unsatisfactory film. This one is much better. The atmosphere is mysterious and effective, despite the low budget. John Bentley is an engaging, if somewhat lightweight, hero. One of the finest performances in the film is by the seventy-something Peter Gawthorne, as Sir Graham Forbes, the head of Scotland Yard. The young Robert Urquhart, later a fine actor, is strangely ineffectual here. Christopher Lee, who had already appeared in many films, does well as usual. This story is based on Durbridge's radio serial PAUL TEMPLE INTERVENES, which was broadcast on the BBC in 1952. The story concerns a series of mysterious murders of people who appear to have no connection with one another. But eventually the common thread is discovered to be a secret papyrus recently excavated in Egypt by the character played by Lee, which contains the antidote for all narcotic drugs, and could destroy the world narcotics cartels if it became known. The unknown killer calls himself 'The Marquess', though the reason for the name is never given. There are many candidates for 'The Marquess', and it is made as difficult as possible for us to guess his or her identity. The film is very entertaining if you like this kind of thing. There are numerous interesting shots of the London streets as they were in 1952, particularly at night.

I knew vaguely of British thriller writer Francis Durbridge, but was unaware that he had created a husband-and-wife team of sleuths obviously modeled on Nick and Nora Charles of "The Thin Man" fame and which had a similar run of 'vehicles' on the big screen; even so, the characters here (at least judging by this one film) lacked the foibles, the banter and the canine assistant – which is basically what had endeared the prototype to audiences – but, then, these were made within the framework of the then-prevalent "quota quickies".

Incidentally, I only came upon this as yet another early role for Christopher Lee: watching him in his few (albeit pivotal) scenes, it is evident that it was only a matter of time before his star quality was recognized – it would merely take the right set of circumstances and collaborators! Anyway, the film provides standard thrills, with the life-threatening devices in this case involving deliberate road accidents, electric fences and even a snake on the loose (not unlike the Edgar Wallace-derived "Krimis" Lee would himself add to his resume during the next decade – indeed, I should be checking two of those out presently!), not to mention numerous suspects (Lee as a suavely bearded, bespectacled and pipe-smoking archaeologist is one of them, of course…and another is Robert Urquhart, a fellow actor in the horror icon's breakthrough movie THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN {1957}!). That said, I was able to figure out the guilty party well before the end!

For the record, this was the fourth and final entry in the Paul Temple movie series (three had the same director and leading man – John Bentley, at times bearing a striking resemblance to the young Sean Connery!): he had originated on radio and would be resurrected on TV but, as I said, this particular figure has not stuck with the public consciousness simply because he exhibited no character traits to distinguish him from the flood of cops and private investigators that have populated the genre over the years (the fact that the central couple had a complacent Indian servant at their constant beck and call certainly did not help matters)! Finally, the U.S. retitling – BOMBAY WATERFRONT, despite its definite connection to the plot – only served to make the whole seem even less appetizing! In any case, I enjoy this entry well enough to acquire another one in the series soon after, SEND FOR PAUL TEMPLE (1946)

One of Edgar Wallace's trademarks was to have a gang of criminals led by an unknown person who went by such nicknames as "The Frog".In order to let us all in on the fun we would have a disguised glimpse if the head of the gang so that we could try and workout who was the ringleader.Here we are given no such help.We see a number of what are on the surface some unrelated incidents which of course in the end lead us to the head of the gang.I found that after the first couple of murders i became rather uninvolved and couldn't really care who was the chief villain.the film has a very decent cast but unless you are into this particular genre it is actually rather a bore.

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.