The Sinister Man

Number 12 of the 51-picture Merton Park series definitely rates as one of the best, despite the fact that the identity of the killer is obvious right from the outset. Nonetheless, Clive Donner is a classily meticulous director who keeps audience interest at a high level not only by presenting an extraordinarily large amount of very effective actual location filming, but some occasionally inventive and always most capable studio material as well. These set-ups include quite a number of astonishingly forceful deep focus compositions—shots that also testify to the atmospheric skills of lighting cameraman, Bert Mason.

The players are far more interesting than the average entry too. Donner himself spent quite a lot of time actually testing all of casting director Ronald Curtis's recommendations for even the most minor roles!

The body of an archaeological Professor is found floating in the Thames, Police discover that his death is linked to three small fragments of old text, a text that has significant importance for a country, fearful or Chinese threat.

I'm struggling to agree with some of the negative reviews here, I'd suggest this is one of the better ones so far.

There are some plot holes and some silliness, but it was made back in 1961, the ending was a little daft, but as a whodunnit, it worked quite well, unlike most of the series, we were made to wait to learn who the killer was.

A very, very strong cast, and a particularly diverse one, which is somewhat unusual for the time. You have the likes of Patrick Allen, William Gaunt and the excellent Ric Young.

Watch out for Steptoe himself, Wilfrid Brambell, in a somewhat more toned down performance.

8/10.

A dead body is found in the river. It turns out that the dead man was a university academic, a professor of archeology.

He might had also been trading illegally with stolen oriental artefacts.

Superintendent Wills thinks that there might be a leak somewhere. A boat owner turns up dead when the police were investigating a lead about some tarpaulin.

The police reckon that the dead man's fellow academics might be linked to these deaths. Suspicion falls on the far eastern Johnny Choto as the man had actually died from a karate chop.

A pedestrian mystery with plenty of Far East actors who would have been happy to get employment at the time. It does heat up a bit at the end with some diplomatic shenanigans.

One of the university academic's is just too obvious as the culprit. The climax with some martial arts action looks embarrassing.

Despite the silly plot about two nameless Asian countries, this is worth watching. It employs a lot of Asian actors, including Bert Kwouk. But the story starts with the slow progress of what is clearly a corpse down the river. Two lock keepers pursuing their slow-paced job fish it out. The action moves to a boatyard and we're just getting to know the father and daughter who run it when we switch to an Oxford college and a roomful of dodgy-looking academics. Theirs is the central story and a lot is packed into the rest of the running time. Will the pretty girl with the distressingly frumpy wardrobe agree to marry the older man who has showered her with attention, flattery and kindness? She has other suitors including the blue-eyed, unsmiling fellow from the Champions. Eric Young is their Asian colleague, who likes to hold conversations with his back to the other speaker.