Dick Barton: Special Agent

I am not old enough to remember the original radio series.So i don't know if it was done tongue in cheek.this film seems to have an element of that.However the film is let down by a silly plot awful acting and almost invisible production values.It is probably one of the worst British films that i have ever seen.I haven't yet watched the other 2 in the series but they have to be an improvement on this load of tripe.It is a mercy for most of the actors that the credits only list a handful of the leading actors.Usually i find no difficulty in writing the mandatory 10 lines that are required for a review but the sheer awfulness of this film has left my usual nimble fingers frozen in sheer disbelief.

The premiss for this is quite good - a disparate gang of Nazi spies plotting to poison the London water supply. Only the eponymous special agent (Don Stannard) can track down the conspirators and thwart their plan... Well, aside from the instantly recognisable John Bath theme tune, this is really just a series of radio sketches with a camera in front of the actors. Indeed, all that is actually missing is the sound effects man with the coconut shells and the washboard. It flows like glue, and lumpy glue at that - and although the story itself is actually quite good, the execution here is really unremarkable. The last ten minutes redeem it slightly, at least things are happening, but otherwise it's a film to watch only if you are really bored.

ALMOST INSUFFERABLE...JUVENILE COMEDY-ADVENTURE...FROM POPULAR BRITISH RADIO

Very Early Hammer Cheapie when the Newly-Born Studio was Floundering About in a Number of Genres.

In this one Hammer Dumbs-Down Popular Radio Hero Barton to a Comedy-Adventure with Copious Amounts of Slapstick and Bad Mugging.

Certainly Made for a Juvenile Audience.

It's Lively, if Nothing Else, and Manages a Fast-Pace both in Montage and Dialog.

This Type of Speedy Line-Delivery is Reminiscent of Screw-Ball Comedies from Hollywood.

They also Borrow the Style and Tone of the Serials.

Most of the Action is Fisticuffs with a Couple of Car Romps and Bit on the Sea.

The Studio Saw the Error of Their Ways and the Sequels are Much Better.

Not Much to Offer Except Nostalgia for those that Lived Through the Early Years of the Brit. Hero.

Most of those Fans will be Disappointed with this Entry but can Look Forward to Better Movies Ahead.

The maiden episode of a short-lived trio of Dick Barton movies made by Hammer is a jaunty period piece from the days when the dastardly villains were still nazis rather than commies.

It's amateurish technique, period detail and use of actual locations today gains it considerable interest viewed purely as a documentary.

Based on the classic British Radio series this clunker of a movie is a series of bad choices (which they corrected for the next two movies), and one of the worst films Hammer Studios ever produced.

The plot of this film has to do with smuggling and Nazi spies in and around a small English Village. The villain is a German agent posing, as a Swedish scientist, complete with German accent. He has secret tunnels and hideouts in the village and is plotting great evil. He is aided by various people in the village all of whom are suspicious looking in the extreme. Good guy Dick Barton is sent to the town by his bosses, under cover of taking a vacation, to the village to find out whats going on.

This movie is bad, really bad. The film was aimed at kids and they dumb the whole movie down with over the top performances and really bad humor. Frankly this is more a misfiring comedy rather than the exciting action adventure of the radio. The direction is at best stiff with the actors not so much directed as arranged in tableaux, upon which the camera locks. It reminded me of a movie from the advent of the movies.

I'm dumb founded at this films awfulness.

I've given the movie a 2 instead of a 1 because there a few fleeting moments where the movie actually works, but they are high points in a very low movie and nothing you need concern yourself with. It would probably be best if you just skipped this movie and watched either of the other two Dick Barton films that followed.