Paul Temple Returns [Bombay Waterfront] *** (1952, John Bentley, Patricia Dainton, Peter Gawthorne, Valentine Dyall, Ronald Leigh-Hunt, Christopher Lee, Robert Urquhart) – Classic Movie Review 4,485

John Bentley again plays novelist-sleuth Paul Temple, who this time investigates a series of gruesome murders by a mysterious serial killer known as The Marquis, in the 1952 British thriller film Paul Temple Returns.

John Bentley again plays novelist-sleuth Paul Temple, who this time investigates, along with his sleuth wife Steve (Patricia Dainton), a series of gruesome murders by a mysterious serial killer known as The Marquis, in the 1952 British second feature crime mystery thriller film Paul Temple Returns (aka Bombay Waterfront). If you’ve got good actors, you usually (though admittedly not always) get a good show, and we have a bunch of choice ones here: Peter Gawthorne, Grey Blake, Valentine Dyall, Robert Urquhart, Christopher Lee, and Ronald Leigh-Hunt.

A series of seemingly unconnected murders is happening in London. We know the murderer’s nom de plume, as they leave a calling card at the scene each time, a telegram signed signed ‘The Marquess’. Scotland Yard is baffled, with only a single clue they can’t solve, and The Marquess sends messages to Paul Temple warning him to stay away from the case, led by Inspector Ross (Ronald Leigh-Hunt), who also warns Temple to back off. But he and his glamorous wife Steve can never refuse a good mystery and their good friend the police commissioner Sir Graham Forbes (Peter Gawthorne) is on their side, encouraging them to go sleuthing and report back directly to him.

Director Maclean Rogers drums up another pleasingly twisty and well-acted but slightly rickety and cheap-looking black and white British mystery thriller, based on the 1942 BBC radio serial Paul Temple Intervenes by Francis Durbridge, who also writes the screenplay, though the only on-screen credit is ‘based on the Paul Temple stories by Francis Durbridge’,

The performances and direction are capable and solid, with John Bentley and Patricia Dainton rather good as Paul Temple and Steve. It also features excellent support from Peter Gawthorne as Sir Graham Forbes, Valentine Dyall as Superintendent Bradley, Ronald Leigh-Hunt as Inspector Ross, and Christopher Lee as renowned archaeologist Sir Felix Raybourne. Both Inspector Ross and Sir Felix Raybourne are acting dodgily, and are prime suspects. The convoluted plotting and wealth of oddball characters ensures that the identity of the murderer is reasonably well disguised. It is a whodunit, after all.

Maclean Rogers’s direction is pacy and energetic, with flashes of imagination, especially in the outside filming. Sadly, there are some shameful and embarrassing comedy scenes when Sakki (Dan Jackson), the brother of the Temples’ previous Burmese servant Rikki turns up unexpectedly and takes over. The Temples patronise poor Sakki and are amused at his antics. It is hard to imagine that even in the UK in 1952 audiences would have found this amusing. The action scenes, on the other hand, are compellingly handled, with a very good start in the story’s third murder by the London docks and a very good fiery climax there too, all most noir and atmospheric. It wraps up too hastily and clumsily, promising more episodes.

But, disappointingly, this 1952 mystery movie, Paul Temple Returns [Bombay Waterfront], proved to be the fourth and final Temple film made by Nettlefold Films and distributed by Butcher’s Film Service, following Send for Paul Temple [The Green Finger] (1946) with Anthony Hulme as Paul Temple, Calling Paul Temple (1948) and Paul Temple’s Triumph (1950).

Patricia Dainton replaces the alluring Dinah Sheridan, who played Steve in the previous two Temple movies. Joy Shelton played Steve originally in Send for Paul Temple [The Green Finger] (1946). This is very confusing if you are following the series, especially as John Bentley replaced Anthony Hulme after the first film. It is weird to see John Bentley with a different wife in Patricia Dainton, and she is quite different from Dinah Sheridan, both physically and as a personality, but she is excellent, very brisk and capable, and shares good chemistry with Bentley. Dainton’s more down-to-earth personality perhaps works better than Sheridan’s patrician persona. It’s arguable. Both are appealing.

It is John Bentley’s third and final film as Temple. Besides him, all other actors are different from the previous three films. Peter Gawthorne takes over successfully as the new Sir Graham Forbes, the head of Scotland Yard, nice and craggy and wise. Jack Raine played him in the first two films, and Jack Livesey in the third instalment. It’s all very confusing. There are too many cast changes. Nevertheless, the series has legs, is well in its stride, and it’s a shame it stopped here.

Also in the cast are Ben Williams, Grey Blake, Arthur Hill, Robert Urquhart, Dan Jackson, Andreas Malandrinos, George Patterson, Sylvia Pugh, Dennis [Denis] Holmes, Michael Mulcaster, Gerald Rex, Elizabeth Gilbert and Vi Kaley.

Paul Temple Returns [Bombay Waterfront] runs 71 minutes, is made by Nettlefold Films, is distributed by Butcher’s Film Service (1952) (UK) and Beverly Pictures (1952) (US), written by Francis Durbridge, based on the BBC Radio serial Paul Temple Intervenes broadcast from October to December in 1942, is shot in black and white by Geoffrey Faithfull, is produced by Ernest G Roy, and is scored by Wilfred Burns, with Art Direction by George Paterson.

It is shot at Nettlefold Studios, Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, England, with some location shooting in London.

Release date: 24 November 1952.

Durbridge novelised the BBC radio serial in 1944.

Renown Pictures released all four Paul Temple films on DVD and they screen on Talking Pictures TV (UK).

The cast

The cast are John Bentley as Paul Temple, Patricia Dainton as Steve Temple, Grey Blake as Storey, Peter Gawthorne as Sir Graham Forbes, Valentine Dyall as Superintendent Bradley, Robert Urquhart as Slater, Christopher Lee as Sir Felix Raybourne, Dan Jackson as Sakki, Ronald Leigh-Hunt as Inspector Ross, Arthur Hill as Cranmer Guest, Ben Williams as Reddy Carson, Andreas Malandrinos as Sammy Wren, George Patterson as Abdullah, Sylvia Pugh as Secretary, Dennis [Denis] Holmes as Mobile Policeman, Michael Mulcaster as Police Sergeant, Gerald Rex as Rifle-range Attendant, Elizabeth Gilbert as Barmaid, Margaret Samuel as Rita Cartwright, and Vi Kaley as Old ‘Em.

© Derek Winnert 2016 Classic Movie Review 4,485

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