Barbados Quest

This B-film from producers Robert S. Baker and Monty Berman is very much in the style of their later television success The Saint. Indeed, Tom Conway had played The Saint on American radio and was best known for The Falcon, an identical character, in a series of 1940s B-films he had inherited from his brother George Sanders, who had also donned the halo. Like those films, this British effort was distributed by RKO and sticks so closely to the formula that it is almost indistinguishable from a Falcon film, but with names changed and the setting switched to England, and the plot concerning stamps - forged, rare and stolen.

Conway is as good as ever as Tom 'Duke' Martin, with his Errol Flynn-like good looks and suave, twinkly-eyed demeanour - though, at 51, was beginning to show his age. As with the Falcon series, he has a stout, former crook for a comical sidekick, now played by reliable B-film regular Michael Balfour. Elsewhere, Brian Worth as Blake is conceited, vaguely sinister and reminiscent of a young Dennis Price, while John Horsley is excellent in another of his many detective portrayals.

However, while the counterfeit racket is a neat one and a car chase perks things up in the middle, the plot is somewhat convoluted and the viewer must keep track of which is the real stamp. The villain is more or less known from the outset and the interest comes from how Tom makes sense of it all, so there is little consistent suspense. I saw it twice before I understood everything, so can only imagine how cinema-goers felt on seeing it only once.

Such quibbles aside, this is a functional B-film and a must-see for fans of The Falcon. A sequel, Breakaway, was released the next year. Both films were a success, mostly due to the Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis comedies they were paired with, and a television series was apparently even mooted, though did not materialise.

"Murder on Approval" aka "Barbados Quest" from 1955 is evidently the second film about this character, Tom "Duke" Martin, a private investigator. In this one, Martin is hired by an American who believes that while in England, he paid $10,000 for an overprint of a Barbados stamp which he believes is fake. He wants his money back.

Martin flies to London and meets up with his Barney Wilson (Mark Balfour). Soon the two are up to their necks in fraud, murder, and robbery.

"Murder on Approval" doesn't have much of a budget, and Tom Conway in is a familiar Falcon/Saint type role -- a smooth, elegant ladies' man who gets in the way of a police investigation. Nothing new there. The attractive Delphi Lawrence plays the secretary of a wealthy woman who inherited a Barbados stamp.

Michael Balfour adds a little spice to the proceedings.

It's slow-moving and not very exciting.

Just okay.

In London, J. D. Everleigh purchases a rare stamp from Geoffrey Blake who claims to represent famous stamp trader Robert Coburn. He does bring along stamp expert Lord Valchrist to verify. Later, he finds the same stamp with his friend even though there should only be one available for sale. He starts to have doubts and hires private eye Tom Martin (Tom Conway) to investigate.

This is a British crime drama. It is very much the old style mystery detective. It may be an attempt to start a franchise. It is more a howcatchem since the bad guys are right there. I like the starting premise. It is all very average and not memorable.

Special investigator Duke Martin is in London to investigate the authenticity of a rare postage stamp called the Barbados Overplate. Someone is willing to commit murder to get his or her hands on the stamp, which puts a crimp in Duke's efforts to romance every beautiful woman he meets

The smooth Tom Conway stars in this undemanding and easy-going the Saint-type of programmer that has some light fistfights, sleuthing and wooing the ladies- the type of film Conway could do in his sleep. Of course, he has aged a bit from the Falcon days, but he still got the charm. He's great fun to watch, and makes this film quite watchable.

"Barbados Quest" (also called "Murder on Approval") is a low budget B-movie made in the UK. It stars the ever-suave Tom Conway (brother of George Sanders) as a guy much like the guy he played in the Falcon series in the 1940s...a private detective and problem-solver.

The film begins with a man buying an incredibly rare stamp...one of only four known in the world. However, soon after he learns two other people recently purchased one of these rare stamps....and it makes him wonder if his might be a forgery. But instead of calling the police, he contacts Tom Martin (Conway) and asks him to fly to London to investigate. Why? The man is worried that his reputation as an expert philatalist will be in jeopardy if folks learn he bought a forgery.

Once in England, Tom comes across all sorts of rogues who claim to know nothing about the stamp. However, over time it becomes obvious that there are plates for making more of these 'rare' stamps...and it's a group effort! Can Tom manage to get anyone to believe him? After all, the local police assume he's up to no good and won't help in the least.

This is a good B-movie with a solid story, a nice lead and decent dialog. Worth seeing though certainly not a must-see film.