Dick Barton: Special
Agent (1948) – 5.0
I watched this more out of historical curiosity than anything. I was watching
a documentary about Hammer - Flesh and Blood - and it mentioned that Dick
Barton: Special Agent was the first film that Hammer produced. Before that
they had been only in distribution but after the war they saw that the movie
business was big business as everyone wanted to go to the theater. England
had a similar set-up to that of the USA - second feature or B films and they
went for that second feature market with a series of low budget films. It
was at the time a very small in house production company.
Dick Barton was a very popular radio show primarily for children and was
on every night for 15-minutes. With a built in audience they made three of
the Dick Barton films and they did very well. It was even going to be a longer
series but sadly the lead actor died in a car crash and they decided not to
go on. Which is really a shame because Don Stannard who I expect no one remembers
is quite good in a square jaw handsome Dudley Do-Right way. Another
name no one will remember as I show my age.
This is basically a serial styled film for 65 minutes with adventure and
comedy coming your way. But for kids. At that time. Barton strikes me as a
grown up Tintin getting into and out of one fracas after another. He even
has a human friend named Snowey. Taking the intended audience into account
this was reasonably entertaining. The action is fairly mediocre but there
is a fair sampling of it and the comedy though silly cracked me up a few times.
Barton and his two not overly bright friends go to a small fishing village
where post-War Nazis are up to no good. Not that surprising.
The villains are as much comical and incompetent as evil. The Nazis who
could not shoot straight. There are a bunch of them and they all hang out
at the pub where they all talk about killing Barton. Apparently, no one else
in the village drinks. They try and kill him with a sniper, a poison dart
and bacteria. My favorite scene is when Barton and his boys go out in a row
boat and tip it over by mistake - and all the Nazis are watching and just
break into uproarious laughter. And I think for Nazis who are trying to kill
thousands they at least have a sense of humor. All three films are up on
YouTube.
Dick Barton at
Bay (1950) – 4.0
Dick Barton is back in the third and final film in the series (I watched
them out of order for some reason) and this time he is fighting the damn Commies.
Serge and Boris and Anna who have come to England to destroy their air force.
Damn you to hell! Considering we have Russian spies, kidnapping and murder
this is rather a dull and frustrating outing. Barton may be good at fisticuffs
but he does a lot of stupid things here that should have gotten him killed
- but it's the old we will kill you later and leave you tied up alone error
that bad guys always make. You are Russians. Back home Stalin is killing
thousands in purges - just kill him. Serge at the beginning says to his men,
I only allow one mistake. But doesn't follow through. They make lots of mistakes.
If you say it, you have to do something. Comrade Stalin is watching.
Professor Mitchell has invented a machine that will blow up anything within
20-miles that has explosives. In his home. The good old days of one man and
his invention. And no security. The Russians hear about it and kidnap him,
his daughter and his invention. And tell him show us how it works or your
daughter will meet a nasty end. To their credit the daughter says don't tell
them dad and he doesn't. Meanwhile, Barton and his friend Snowey are tracking
them down but time is running out. The first one had some silly humor that
I appreciated - this has none - very cut and dried. Only the evil but sexy
Anna is of any interest. In the opening scene one of Barton's men is followed
down some dark alleys at night with two men after him. He gets into a phone
booth to call Barton - but keeps the light on - don't they learn anything
in spy school - and gets shot. Best scene in the film though like with Barton
I kept asking, don't you have a gun? The man murdered is none other than John
Steed aka Patrick Macnee.
Dick Barton Strikes
Back (1949) – 6.0
After such a mediocre outing in Dick Barton at Bay I was going to skip my
third film in the series (though the second chronologically) but the completest
in me would not allow it. They are only a tad over the hour mark so why not.
And I am glad I did. This has a little bit of the future Hammer about it.
The scene of a village of people screaming about to die in horror is well-done.
A device is wiping out entire towns with a high pitched sound that shrinks
people's brains and drains them of water. And the villain behind this diabolical
plan - good old Sebastian Cabot - the future Mr. French the Butler. I never
would have recognized him without his beard, less of his later tonnage and
an odd accent. He is quite good at being the bad guy. The urbane calm type.
This time out Secret Agent Dick Barton gets on the trail of men who killed
a fellow agent. Though he refers to himself as a secret agent, literally everyone
knows who he is. Boys come up to him and ask for his autograph. He has penny
dreadful novels about him. Him and his pal Snowey. When villages begin to
die en masse he suspects Fouracada, an Eastern European. Their goal is of
course to take over the world and they have a gypsy army to succeed. Barton
for all his confidence walks into three traps set for him. How not to kill
someone - leave them in a room with a window with gas letting out that will
explode when it touches a flame, walk him through a crowded fair ground and
best - put him in a locked room and shoot out the glass that contains poisonous
snakes. Fouracada laughingly says "Now you will know that not even am I a
genius but I have a sense of humor as well".
Kind of fun and if you ever have an hour to kill and want to see a Hammer
film before they were the Hammer we all know and love this is the best of
the three. And you will get a chance to see an Excuse Me Dance in a giant
ballroom where the women can grab a stray man and make him dance with you.
