SHADOW OF TREASON

John Bentley and Anita West

SHADOW OF TREASON (1964). Director: George P. Breakston. 

When Steve (John Bentley of Salute the Toff) saves the life of singer and club owner Tina (Anita West) in Trieste, she hires him as her bodyguard. Apparently her late father was blackmailing certain traitors and one of them is afraid that his daughter has knowledge of their activities. Steve tracks down some of these people, including Nadia (Faten Hamamah) and her crippled father; Mario (Ferdy Mayne), and former Nazi Michel Duval (John Gabriel), who tries to form an alliance with Nadia. This whole bunch wind up on a trek through East Africa, searching through a cave for incriminating documents and blackmail money. 

Ferdy Mayne and Faten Hamamah

Shadow of Treason throws together war criminals, rampaging elephants, large, sinister snakes and big spiders and still manages to be one of the duller movies to come out of Britain. The two women become jealous of each other but the dissipated-looking Bentley hardly seems the type to inspire that much lust, not that the ladies are such raving beauties. Much of the story is confusing in any case. The liveliest scene has a hit man being stabbed by Nadia's father, who comes rushing at the man, knife in hand, in his wheelchair -- both wind up dead. Shadow of Treason tries very hard to be exciting and sexy but it's a losing battle. It has decent performances, a poor musical score, a flaccid pace, and insufficient direction. Hamamah appeared in a great many Arabic films while West had only a few credits in Brit pictures. 

Verdict: Makes the worst eurospy picture seem like the best of Bond. *1/2. 
 

BOMBAY WATERFRONT

Dainton, Bentley and Arthur Hill

BOMBAY WATERFRONT (aka Paul Temple Returns/1952.) Director: Maclean Rogers. 

Scotland Yard man turned mystery writer Paul Temple (John Bentley of Calling Paul Temple) and his wife, Steve (Patricia Dainton of The Third Alibi), get embroiled in the case of a mysterious figure known only as the Marquis, who has committed multiple murders for unknown reasons. Steve comes to suspect Inspector Ross (Ronald Leigh-Hunt) to the incredulity of his boss, while Paul is highly suspicious of the strange Sir Felix Raybourne (Christopher Lee of Alias John Preston) whose beautiful home is full of incense and other weird accoutrements. Others involved in the case include Storey (Grey Blake), whose fiancee was one of the victims, and Slater (Robert Urquhart), an actor who once appeared in one of Temple's plays and is now in the employ of the villain. 

Patricia Dainton with Christopher Lee

Bombay Waterfront is smooth and entertaining, with Bentley as good as usual as Temple -- his third and last time playing the character -- but Chris Lee, as expected, offers the most flavorful performance as Felix Raybourne. Grey Blake is also notable as the distraught Storey. Dan Jackson plays Sakki, the brother of the Temples' original Indian manservant. Arthur Hill has a very small role as a friend of the Temples. While the musical score is too often inappropriate, the picture does manage to build up suspense, and there are a few exciting scenes, although many will not be much surprised when the Marquis' identity is finally exposed.  

Verdict: Satisfying if unspectacular Paul Temple adventure. **3/4. 

SALUTE THE TOFF

Arthur Hill, John Bentley, Peter Gawthorne

SALUTE THE TOFF (1951). Director: Maclean Rogers. Colorized. 

Richard Rollinson, popularly known as the amateur sleuth the Toff (John Bentley), is importuned to look into the disappearance of a man named Jimmy Draycott (Tony Britton), whose secretary, Fay (Carol Marsh), is clearly in love with him. Draycott has a rival for her affections in reporter Ted Harrison (Arthur Hill). Inspector Grice (Valentine Dyall of The Horror of It All) just wishes the Toff would stay out of Scotland Yard's hair, but he manages to dig up information that Grice can't. Mixed up in the disappearance are several shady characters, including Mr. and Mrs. Lorne (Peter Bull and Shelagh Fraser), and the eldery Mortimer Harvey (Peter Gawthorne). The Toff's butler, Jolly (Roddy Hughes) is ever on hand to supply tea and crumpets, bits of information, and a good right hook when required. 

John Bentley as the Toff

The Toff was a creation of popular mystery writer John Creasey, who may have also written the script for this film. John Bentley was perfect casting, as he was in many of these British thrillers, sometimes playing good guys such as Rollinson or Paul Temple and sometimes not. It may seem odd to find Arthur Hill in this picture, but in his youth he went to England from Canada and had a good career on the British stage, as well as in films, before going to the U.S. where he appeared in many movies and starred as Owen Marshall, Counselor-at-Law on television. Salute the Toff is an okay UK crime picture which moves fairly fast but never quite erupts into anything especially memorable. Maclean Rogers also directed John Bentley in Calling Paul Temple.

Verdict: Undistinguished English thriller has a good cast and some good moments. **1/4. 

THE FLAW

John Bentley has a fatal flaw

THE FLAW (1955). Director: Terence Fisher.

Paul Oliveri (John Bentley) is a race car driver who sweeps a wealthy woman named Monica (Rona Anderson) off her feet. Paul marries Monica for her money, and makes sure his mistress, Vera (Tonia Bern), gets enough of it to live on. He also makes sure that Monica makes out a will leaving him everything. When Monica learns of the mistress from her solicitor and friend, John (Donald Houston), she decides to divorce him. So Paul concocts a scheme to get rid of John so that his body will never be found, and then murder Monica for her money. But while John is at Paul's mercy he tells him his plan has a fatal flaw ... 

John Bentley and Rona Anderson

The Flaw -- which could refer to sociopathic Paul's character flaws as well as the flaw in his murder plot -- is another of the British crime films directed by Terence Fisher before he became famous as a horror filmmaker. This one is somewhat better than others, but still no world-beater. John Bentley proves a more interesting actor as a bad guy than as a hero, although one can't quite say he's a George Sanders. I don't wish to generalize but I often find that British thrillers of this nature never quite have the oomph of American melodramas of similar theme -- maybe they're just not lurid enough -- admittedly there are exceptions to this rule. Rona Anderson and Tonia Bern look enough alike that at times you're not certain if Paul is talking to his wife or mistress, who doesn't show up very often anyway. There's one okay twist at the end and the song "Getting Away with Murder" that plays in a club sequence is catchy. 

Verdict: Too short a running time to make this especially compelling. **1/2. 

PROFILE

Thea Gregory, Kathleen Byron, John Bentley

PROFILE (1954). Director: Francis Searle.

Margot (Kathleen Byron) is married to an older man, Aubrey (Stuart Lindsell), who decides to publish a new magazine called Profile. He hires Peter (John Bentley of Calling Paul Temple) as the editor, a situation which is all to Margot's liking as she has a decided yen for Peter. Things get even more complicated when Aubrey's daughter, Susan (Thea Gregory), comes to work in the office -- where Margot hangs out every day -- and she and Peter begin falling for each other. Margot is not about to stand for that. Before long Peter is being accused of embezzlement and Margot is insisting he was actually framed by her husband. But is this really the case?

John Bentley and Kathleen Byron

Frankly, it's hard to care, because Profile is a dull picture. Had this same basic plot been employed by, say, Hugo Haas at an American studio, and a bit more melodrama and sexiness instilled in it, it may have amounted to at least an entertaining timepasser. Instead this just lumbers along without ever igniting. Other characters include Margot's sleazy ex-husband, Charlie (Gerard Green), the jealous artist Jerry (Ivan Craig), and Michael, the  butler (Lloyd Lamble). There's some very minor excitement when one of them falls into a printing press. The acting in this is professional but no one is really given a chance to shine. Francis Searle also directed The Gelignite Gang. 

Verdict: Another bad British nominal mystery. **.

FINAL APPOINTMENT

John Bentley and Eleanor Summerfield

FINAL APPOINTMENT (aka The Last Appointment/1954). Director: Terence Fisher. 

Reporter Mike Billings (John Bentley of Calling Paul Temple) tries to investigate when he learns that a solicitor, Hartnell (Hubert Gregg), has been getting threatening letters. Hartnell wants no part of this even when he is later reminded by Billings and Inspector Corcoran (Liam Redmond) that he was the lead prosecutor for a court-martial and is also told that three other men who served on the panel have been murdered -- on the same date over three years; Hartnell is certainly next. Now you would think most people would take the threat to their life seriously under the circumstances, but as this is a mediocre British mystery Hartnell instead acts like an ass. 

No concerns: Hubert Gregg

There are a couple of other suspects, of course, including two co-workers of Hartnell's who embezzled funds and are paying the money back to avoid a scandal. The man who was court-martialed is apparently dead, but his brother is still among the living. Final Appointment is briskly-paced under Terence Fisher's direction, and there's even a bit of suspense, although there are no big surprises at the finale. Billings has an irritating lady reporter girlfriend, Jennie (Eleanor Summerfield), who gets jealous at the drop of a hat, even going so far as to check out a secretary, Laura (Jean Lodge), that he is only trying to get information from; this leads into Jennie nearly getting taken hostage at the climax. Sam Kydd scores as another court-martialed soldier who comes to an unfortunate end. Fisher, of course, was at his best in the horror field [The Gorgon]. 

Verdict: So so British thriller without too many thrills. **1/4.