User Reviews

Dick Barton arrives at the airport to meet another special agent. The man avoids Barton, but later tells him that he's being followed by a man named Fourcada and tells him the place they should meet in an hour. Barton arrives at the place but does not see the agent, however he does see Fourcada. Barton and his aide "Snowy" White are captured and left to die in a manner that will look like an accident. Barton and Snowy escape just in the nick of time. That night, in the north of England an entire town dies suddenly and with out any sign of cause. Could the deaths be linked to Fourcada and his men? Can Barton and Snowy find out whats going on before more people die?

This is a rip roaring "boys own adventure" type story. It plays at times like a precursor to the Jon Pertwee Dr Whos or to the Quatermass serials and movies. Its hands down the best of the three films made with the characters from the the legendary British radio serial. Everything that the previous films lacked is here in spades. There is real danger, a great villain (Sebastian Cabot plays Fourcada in such a way as to lift him into the pantheon of great movie villains), a real mystery and a very real sense of place.

That last bit is very important. This was filmed on location across England and it helps the movie a great deal. When Barton wanders into the town where everyone has died mysteriously we feel its a real town because its a real town. When Barton fights to stop the villains from using their weapon to destroy yet another town we get a sense that there is something at stake because we see people on holiday in the background going about their lives unaware of the danger they are in (or the film crew playing make believe). The fact that we have real places, not just one or two but pretty much every location, instantly pushes this film up a couple of notches because Barton no longer is acting in a fictional vacuum.

The film is not perfect. There is little doubt that a couple of the twists and turns aren't that twisty. Its not fatal but it is slightly disappointing because most of this is so good. The "major" flaw, and its really me just quibbling, is the Barton character himself, who is much too good to be believed. Its a flaw that is in all the films, but is most readily apparent in this the one film that is most firmly rooted in the real world. The trouble is that Barton is too perfect. He always gets out of trouble and always looks damn near perfect doing it. He is damn near perfect in everything he does and so seems at times completely unreal. He is "the prefect British gentleman" always looking and acting exactly right. Its a the type of thing that satirists and comedians would rip to shreds. I mean look at the way Barton looks all the way through the climatic battle with the villains, he's perfect, even at the final fade out.

Still this is a really good movie. Its a wonderful mystery of the sort they don't make any more. Absolutely worth seeing if you get the chance.

(Weird bit of trivia- Don Stannard, the actor playing Barton died, not long after filming ended, in a car crash while riding with Sebastian Cabot the actor playing Fourcada, the villain of the piece.)

Dick Barton is the English gent, and Snowy is the Common Man - that's what he's doing there! I warmed to him, even if his jokes aren't very funny. He gets the "Cor blimey guv what a shower" type of dialogue.

I loved Fouracada (the villain)'s description of the lethal effects of unlimited electrical power and a GIANT TUNING FORK! He is indeed an effective villain as others have said.

And yes, the fight scenes are simply appalling! The sonic weapon wails for about ten minutes (I turned the sound down and the subtitles on).

Tragic that Don Stannard was killed in a car accident while travelling with Sebastian Cabot (Fouracada). Cabot survived - hopefully to play more criminal masterminds.