Dick Barton Strikes Back

Dick Barton Strikes Back was the second of Hammer's Dick Barton films to be released, but was actually the last to be filmed. It's easily the best of the three films, director Godfrey Grayson getting the formula just right, eschewing the comedy of the first film and largely avoiding the silly contrivances that ruined both Dick Barton Special Agent and Dick Barton at Bay. This one ups the seriousness and level of action and is all the better for it.

The result feels very much like a proto-James Bond adventure, with it's suave British hero (once again played by Don Stannard), a very Fleming-style villain in Fouracada (Sebastian Cabot), and a diabolical plot that sees the bad guys using a powerful sonic weapon of mass destruction to help their un-specified country to achieve world domination. There's even a femme fatale who turns ally in the form of Tina (Jean Lodge), and several scenes in which the antagonists have an opportunity to kill Barton once and for all, but instead opt to put him in a perilous situation from which he has a chance to escape. It makes one wonder whether Ian Fleming was inspired in some part by Barton when creating Bond.

After plenty of deft detective work, the main clue being a piece of jaunty gypsy music heard at the location of each of Fourocada's test sites, Barton tracks down the sonic device to the top of the Blackpool Tower. The final act is an exciting race against time as Barton fights his way to the top of the tower, past various henchmen, to confront the mastermind of the whole dastardly scheme.

Far better than the other Barton films, Dick Barton Strikes Back would have been followed by more adventures for the special agent, if only star Stannard hadn't been killed in a car crash shortly after filming - a real shame, because this one saw the series going in the right direction, and further films could have catapulted Stannard to super-stardom.

6.5/10, rounded up to 7 for IMDb.

I was finally able to see this in a VERY nice three-film boxed DVD set of Dick Barton Hammer films from the late 40s. The first two (D.B. Special Agent, and D. B. At Bay) were both pretty bleak. So, I went into the final film with no great expectations. I was REALLY shocked by how good it was. The film is greatly strengthened by some incredible location filming, especially the extended scenes atop the Blackpool tower. My personal favorite moment was the bandleader directing a real packed dance hall full of revelers. It gave the "Dick must save the world!" storyline a bit of added significance to see a bit of documentary Humphrey Jennings-like texture thrown in. The story itself, about a new "sonic" weapon that can kill whole towns with pure sound, was clever too...Four stars! Oh, yes, and the villain has a harpsichord; this is always a nice touch!

There is just something about the theme music that forgives just about everything else with these entertaining, if unchallenging mysteries. This one sees the suave Don Stannard in the title role, on the trail of some dastardly villains bent on world domination using a mind-controlling frequency. Director Godfrey Grayson offers us quite a well paced intrigue with plenty of action, the double-dealing "Tina" (Jean Lodge) and a tense little conclusion that passes an hour easily enough. The production is basic, and in this particular story the audio effects of their device did prove to be actually quite annoying after a while. Luckily there is no real jeopardy whatsoever so that's soon sorted out. Though entirely predictable, I still quite enjoyed it.

Easily the best film in the Dick Barton trilogy, showing a cinematic professionalism the first two lacked. This was the last to be filmed but released second, sad to lose Don Stannard so young and promising in 1949. Apart from the Boys Own adventure storyline, and Barton speaking in capital letters, this was a good attempt at cheapo-noir, nice camera work and high production values being a constant source of surprise.

Gang of evil musical gypsies (can I put that nowadays?) led by ruthlessly evil Englishman (that always OK nowadays) have developed an evil sonic beam that will eventually be used to wipe Britain out and put it out of its misery. They experiment first by destroying thousands of people in two quaint English towns, the beam "instantaneously shrivelling their brains" - the carnage and the bodies seemed to have been cleared away by the authorities in less than a day. Sebastian Cabot as Fouracada the evil second in command who was marvellously over the top, is warned by Barton that "The Indemnity For Murder Is Not A Slight One" to no avail - I wish the film would have run another 3 hours just for their melodramatic battle of wills. The location shots of the stricken emptied town and later Blackpool and its Tower were very good and used efficiently. All I could remember of the film after last seeing it on TV in 1981 were the scenes in and up the Tower, I think that idea was a winner! During the climax the boss appeared to be using his suitcase in much the same way as a laptop would be - but he couldn't be - could he?

There are the usual silent stretches with background music for company as a reminder this was a cheaply made film, but Hammer did brilliantly well in disguising it.

this was the second film in the Dick Barton boxed set.It is better than Dick Barton secret Agent because it would be virtually impossible for it to be worse.The location shots are a big plus but the silly plot is almost terminal boredom.What is worse the noise emitted by the machine at the climax sounds like a police siren and goes on and on.It gave me a headache so i had to double the disc speed so i could not its incessant wailing on the soundtrack.the fight scenes are not very well orchestrated.It is rather strange that apart from the 3 leads no other actors names are shown with the front credits.Perhaps they asked that this be done to spare their blushes.I have one more to view.I hope it gets better.