Sun 1 Nov 2009
A Review by David L. Vineyard: PAUL TEMPLE – The Tyler Mystery.
Posted by Steve under Authors , Characters , Reviews[8] Comments
PAUL TEMPLE – The Tyler Mystery. Hodder, UK, hardcover, 1957. “Paul Temple” was a pseudonym of Francis Durbridge and Douglas Rutherford. Reprinted as by Francis Durbridge: Hodder, UK, pb, 1960
A solid entry in the long running series about debonair British mystery writer Paul Temple (“By Timothy!”) and his wife and partner in solving crimes Steve (Stephanie), the former Steve Trent, a Fleet Street reporter. She and her husband solve crimes while enjoying the pleasures of the leisured upper middle class English lifestyle.
The Temples are something of a cross between Nick and Nora Charles and the Lockridges’ Pam and Jerry North (though considerably more sober than either), with Paul himself a bit of an Ellery Queen figure (at least the radio or television versions) appearing in some fifteen books written with collaborators like Charles Hatton, John Thewes and Douglas Rutherford (appearing under the Paul Temple byline). A good deal of the charm of the series involves the byplay between the attractive husband and wife crime solvers.
In addition to the books, there were ten radio plays and serials, movies, a television series, and a long running comic strip by Alfred Sindall and others (updated to reflect the 1969-1971 television series).
When Betty Tyler is found stuffed in the boot of an abandoned Jaguar strangled with her own scarf on the Chipping Norton Road outside Oxford, Steve Temple, recently moved into their new Eaton Square flat with their Cockney servant Charlie, knows Sir Graham Forbes of the Yard is likely to show up at any time to ask her mystery writer husband’s help, interfering with her plans for a trip to Paris to celebrate Paul’s latest book deal.
Sure enough, Forbes (“a splendid example of an Englishman”) shows up on their doorstep with Oxford Constabulary Inspector Vosper in tow.
Paul and Steve agree to do a favor for Forbes, but still are intent on keeping out of the whole thing and making that Paris holiday — which Steve emphasizes by humming “I love Paris” at key times when Paul is tempted to defect, but after a suspicious near accident on the way to investigate Paul and Steve can no longer avoid involvement. Especially after a call from Jane Dallas — whom Paul finds strangled in the bedroom of her flat.
All the victims work for a chain of beauty salons owned by the mysterious fashionable Spaniard Mariano (“a drink like a prophet is never honoured in its own country”).
Paul and Steve investigate and capture the strangler, but Paul knows the man with the scarves is only the front for the man behind the murders, and in true style throws a dinner party to gather the suspects and expose the killer with a flourish. There is even a bit of a surprise in the killer’s identity and of course a touch of drama in the capture.
“It’s too late to change our minds now. This is a risk I’ve got to take.”
There is nothing surprising about the Temple books. They are competently written, feature a bit of mystery, a bit of detection, and considering their radio serial origin, contain a good deal of action and suspense.
Four movies featured Paul and Steve Temple, with Anthony Hulme and Joy Shelton in Send For Paul Temple (1946), and John Bentley (who also played John Creasey’s the Toff in two outings) and Dinah Sheridan in Calling Paul Temple (1948) Paul Temple’s Triumph (1950), and Paul Temple Returns (1952), all directed by Maclean Rogers, who directed the two Toff films as well. (In Returns, Patricia Dainton replaced Dinah Sheridan as Steve.)
I’ve seen Calling Paul Temple, and it is an entertaining B picture with some nice location photography in Cambridge, some solid thrills, and builds to a good climax.
Francis Matthews (Dracula, Prince of Darkness and the voice of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson’s “Captain Scarlet”) played Temple and Ros Drinkwater Steve in the 64 episode Temple series co-produced with Germany’s ZDF (1969-1971). In addition in the mid sixties several of the radio serials and books were done for British and German television. Eleven episodes of the color episodes of the Temple series are available on DVD as of 2009.
Francis Durbridge (1912-1998) was the Levinson and Link of British television. His popular serials included The Teckman Biography, The World of Tim Frazer, Melanie, Operation Diplomat, Portrait of Alison, The Scarf, and others. Most were also books.
In addition his non Temple serials inspired films such as The Teckman Mystery, Postmark to Danger (Portrait of Alison), and the The Vicious Circle. His other series character, Tim Fraser, is featured in three books.
The original ten Paul Temple radio serials are available as CD’s (a pricey Omnibus edition of all ten serials is well worth the price for the sheer hours of entertainment). In addition, there have been new productions as late as 2006, making a total of some twenty-seven Temple radio productions from 1938 to date.
Postmark to Danger and at least one of the Temple movies are available on DVD on the gray market. Of the films, Postmark to Danger stars Robert Beatty and Terry Moore, and The Vicious Circle (1957) with John Mills, Roland Culver, Lionel Jeffries, Derek Farr, and Mervyn Johns has showed up on TCM several times and is well worth catching.
Douglas Rutherford, the best of the Durbridge collaborators, and the only one to write as Paul Temple, was a first class action-suspense novelist whose own books were compared to Dick Francis. The novels under his own name always feature a background of racing cars and motorcycles, though the plots varied from crime, to murder, to spy-jinks. Barzun and Taylor had a few nice things to say of them in Catalogue of Crime.
The Paul Temple books may sometimes show their origins as radio drama, but they offer pleasant thrills with an attractive pair of sleuths, and a bit of well done suspense and often clever mysteries.
All of Durbridge’s books are worth reading, and hopefully more of the television serials will be finding their way onto DVD sets. When a German comic revealed the name of the killer in the German airing of The World of Tim Fraser, there was a major uproar.
A modern American audience may not get quite that involved, but skillfully done fare along the lines of Durbridge’s radio and television serials, series, movies, and books are not to be sneezed at. These are well worth discovering and enjoying.
Editorial Comment: Prompting the immediate posting of this review which David just sent me was, of course, my preceding review of Melissa, one of Durbridge’s many story productions for BBC-TV. The availability of the Paul Temple TV shows on DVD just a few months ago has only strengthened myresolve to obtain a multi-region player. The set is Region 2 only.
November 2nd, 2009 at 2:19 pm
Thanks for the Temple entry. I recently discovered the series online and have enjoyed the episodes. Didn’t know about the TV series and now also think I may need a region free DVD player.
Brian in Pennsylvania
November 2nd, 2009 at 4:41 pm
I’ve turned into a big Durbridge/Temple fan through the a mixture of the CDs of the radio serials, and some second-hand paperbacks. Paul and Steve are very attractive characters, and definitely the sort of people that you’d like as friends. That said, the stories are strikingly bloodthirsty, and by the end of a tale the bodies are really beginning to pile up!
The BBC’s digital radio station BBC 7 often repeat the Paul Temple serials, if anyone is interested.
November 3rd, 2009 at 2:54 am
If you go to the BBC 7 site now you can still get in on the first episode of a six episode reading of Bulldog Drummond (for the next 7 days), and an adaptation of Michael Gilbert’s stories about Oxbridge educated Scotland Yard man Patrick Petrella in Petrella.
Past adaptations have included repeats of the Paul Temple serials, Somerset Maugham’s Ashenden, and Russell Thorndyke’s Dr. Syn, the Scarecrow. There is also an interesting program about detectives on radio currently available under Programmes.
The Drummond reading is quiet good, by Julian Rhind-Tutt.
November 4th, 2009 at 7:45 am
Some quick notes:
The Francis Matthews series consists of mostly self contained episodes rather than serials, and for the first time in Durbridge history stories written by others than himself and his collaborators. The series updates Paul and Steve to the swinging sixties and was a hit not only in the UK and Germany, but much of the Commonwealth and even Israel.
The popular theme to the radio serials was Coronation Scot by Ellis.
December 8th, 2009 at 2:03 am
[…] Bentley, among other roles, played Paul Temple three times, and John Creasey’s “Toff” twice. He’s stalwart, handsome and strong, and […]
August 21st, 2011 at 10:12 am
Does anyone know where The Scarf can be found on dvd or anything else apart from books..Fred
September 23rd, 2014 at 2:45 pm
A Paul Temple nerd writes … Steve was not short for Stephanie. She was born Louise Harvey. Her brother was a police officer who was killed in “Send for Paul Temple”. As a journalist she wrote under the pen name Steve Trent. It was as Steve Trent that Paul first met her.
January 19th, 2015 at 9:24 pm
I can attest that the radio series is well-done. Very enjoyable; but perhaps not for all tastes for the following reasons…
a) it moves very, very slowly. Ploddingly!
b) you can probably predict the culprit
c) the characters are colossal edifices of gentility.
The main reason to listen to it is simply the talented actors and the ‘precious’, old-world manners and mannerisms. Well-spoken English phrases and diction; utterly charming.