Hammer the Toff

Apparently, a toff is someone from the upper class. In this case, richard rollison. He is a detective in his spare time, just for the fun of it, and decides to help a young lady he meets on a train. When the killers shoot at them and miss. When "the hammer" starts knocking people off, toff gets the coppers involved. And then, as they follow the clues, they are just all over the place. In a boxing ring, on a boat. On a train. In a hotel. And is there more than one killer named hammer? It all gets pretty confusing, but we do finally make it to the end. If you don't think too hard about it. A citizen solves crimes... angela style. Directed by maclean rogers, for nettlefold films. See wikipedia dot org for more info on the history of nettlefold. That story is about as interesting as this plot!

HAMMER THE TOFF and its predecessor SALUTE THE TOFF were two big screen adaptations of works by novelist John Creasey. The Toff was a typical private detective type character, with a manservant and aristocratic pretensions. These films were lost for many years, but recently Renown Pictures have unearthed prints of both, and subsequently HAMMER THE TOFF was shown last week on the Talking Pictures TV channel.

This is a workable little movie with plenty of achievements on what is obviously a tight budget - Nettlefold Studios could afford no other type. John Bentley, who also essayed the role of Paul Temple in a number of screen outings, is a fairly stolid but reliable hero type, on the track of a murderer who turns out to be masquerading as a Robin Hood style character.

It's a fairly convoluted story but one which rewards close viewing, because HAMMER THE TOFF is the kind of film which has a bit of everything. There are some tense set-pieces, some romantic shenanigans with the lovely Patricia Dainton, alongside police interaction. Roddy Hughes steals every scene as the put-upon manservant, Jolly. There's a supporting role for Valentine Dyall and even a bit part for Charles Hawtrey if you watch closely. Certainly this is no remarkable film, and it's not a masterpiece either, but as B-movies go there are plenty worse out there, and it held my attention throughout.

I am pleased whenever a "lost" film is found.Mind you the BFIs definition of lost often means they don't happen to have a copy.Also it has to be borne in mind that just because a film is lost doesn't mean that it is going to be a rare masterpiece.This film is no more than a mundane B thriller.The tiff is clearly a copy of the Saint,but without the class.The plot of this film revolves around a criminal boss called continuously "the hammer".He is actually a robin hood character as Sally Patch vouchsafes.However it would appear that he is now committing nasty crimes such as murder and blackmail.Clearly he is innocent as John Bentley eventually provides.Now let's hope more lost films come to light.

Pete Cheyney's gentleman sleuth continues - in the words of an unbilled Charles Hawtrey - "his private war against crime", taking in his stride attempts on his life by goons in the employ of an arch villain after the usual secret formula.

Valentine Dyall returns as Inspector Grice of the Yard along with Roddy Hughes as Jolly, Wally Patch as Bert and John Powe (who died before it was released) as Flatty. John Bentley in the lead, however, gets a new bright-eyed and bushy-tailed leading lady in the form of Patricia Dainton, whose uncle is played by Ian Fleming. (No! not that one!)

This adaptation of the book by John Creasey (who wrote 600+ novels) is very faithful to the original. While there is certainly something very Saintesque in the Toff, Creasey makes the character his own, lifting the Robin Hood motif a notch above the others popular in that era.