Fri 29 Sep 2017
Mystery Movie Review: POSTMARK FOR DANGER (1955).
Posted by Steve under Mystery movies , Reviews[22] Comments
POSTMARK FOR DANGER. RKO Radio Pictures, 1956. Previously released in the UK as Portrait of Alison, Anglo-Amalgamated Films, 1955. Terry Moore, Robert Beatty, William Sylvester, Josephine Griffin, Geoffrey Keen, Allan Cuthbertson. Screenplay by Guy Green, based on a story by Francis Durbridge that was also used as the basis for the BBC television series Portrait of Alison broadcast earlier that year (six 30-minute episodes). Durbridge later converted the screenplay into a novel
of the same title (Hodder, UK, 1962; Dodd Mead, US, 1962). Director: Guy Green.
I may not have all of the facts correct, but I haven’t found anything to contradict anything stated above. Durbridge, also the creator of Paul Temple, a British crime-solver extraordinaire not well known in the US, was a prolific writer of complicated mystery mini-series for the BBC in 50s, 60 and 70s, and this one has as many threads to its plot that can be fit into just under 80 minutes of running time.
So much so that all the average viewer, using myself as a prime example, can do is to wonder is how on earth is there going to be a simple explanation for what’s going on? There is, but it can’t have been easy to have come up with a plot like this one and leave no loose threads hanging. It comes close, but if I were to run through the explanations again, I have a feeling that maybe there’d still be a few more questions than there are answers.
It’s my kind of mystery movie, though, I can tell you that. It’s the story of three brothers, one an artist (Robert Beatty), the second a freelance pilot (William Sylvester) and the third, an investigative reporter who dies in the first scene, even before the opening credits, in a car going up in flames after going over a cliff off an isolated Italian mountain highway.
There is, or was, a girl with him at the time, which is important, since she is the Alison of the British title. Before his death the third brother is said to have sent someone in England a postcard, but to who is not known, nor the significance of the drawing on it.
In the meantime the father of the dead girl hires the artist brother to paint a portrait of her, which he does, only to find it later smeared with white paint and the body of a former model dead in his bedroom, and wearing the dress of the dead girl. The detectives from Scotland Yard are very skeptical of his story, which goes without saying.
There is more, including some attempts at blackmail, more deaths and even more twists, including an apparent suicide (and I don’t remember if it was or not). And it’s all wrapped up rather neatly, subject to the qualifications I ran through above, filmed in beautifully noirish black and white.
Robert Beatty is a fine actor, and while Terry Moore is very pretty, I’d prefer the company of the mush more vivacious model played by Josephine Griffin, who dies way too soon. Otherwise, I enjoyed it all, from beginning to end.
September 29th, 2017 at 10:48 pm
I have always wanted to see this film, and Terry Moore was, for me too, a weak attraction. But William Sylvester is, in my opinion, the equal of Robert Beatty. Oh, and wasn’t Paul Temple known by the soubriquet, The Toff?
September 29th, 2017 at 10:50 pm
No — Paul Temple was not The Toff, but Robert Beatty played him, so that is my connection.
September 29th, 2017 at 11:23 pm
I spent some looking into this. I hope I haven’t messed up! Robert Beatty played a British PI named Philip Odell in a long series of serial radio dramas for the BBC from the late 40s to the early 60s, but — as far as I have discovered — neither Paul Temple nor the Toff. It was an actor named John Bentley who played both Paul Temple (three times) and the Toff (twice) in the movies.
I also found this, as a Christmas special for BBC radio in 1949:
THE LIGHT PROGRAMME
(1949, BBC)
THE NIGHT OF THE TWENTY SEVENTH
(December 27, 1949, BBC)
Christmas special
Produced by Martyn C. Webster
Written by Edward J. Mason
Starring Kim Peacock as PAUL TEMPLE
Marjorie Westbury as Steve Temple
Robert Beatty as PHILIP ODELL
Duncan Carse as DICK BARTON
Brian Reece as PC 49
Valentine Dyall as THE MAN IN BLACK
Douglas Burbidge as DR. DALE
and Ellis Powell as MRS. DALE
A rare gathering of most of the BBC’s most popular detectives at thr time, first broadcast as a Christmas special in 1949.
September 29th, 2017 at 10:57 pm
I’ve seen several of the original Durbridge serials and followed Paul Temple in books and in radio,film, and television, and I never understood why Durbridge was never published here regularly.
He’s not a great writer,bbut an entertaining one with an eye for the type of mystery and suspense I enjoy. He was tremendously popular in Europe, with Paul Temple, Tim Fraser, and his serials remade in Germany and Italy to great success. Rossano Brazzi even starred in one of the Italian ones.
This was fun, despite Ms Moore’s questionable talents. I parked some of my plot reservations and enjoyed the skill it took to trim the complex plot down this neatly.
September 29th, 2017 at 11:28 pm
I keep meaning to delve a lot more into Durbridge’s work in movies and TV, if and where available, including the Paul Temple stories. What little I’ve seen, I’ve always enjoyed.
September 29th, 2017 at 11:56 pm
Steve, I meant Robert Beatty , a fellow Canadian, played The Toff, and at least once opposite the incredible, Elizabeth Sellars. Beauty, brains, and still with us, I believe.
September 30th, 2017 at 12:04 am
Barry
Still can’t find any record of Beatty playing The Toff, but there’s no reason he couldn’t have. I’ve read quite a few of the Toff books but have never caught up with any of the films he was in.
He and Elizabeth Sellars were both in The Gentle Gunman (1952) and The Broken Horseshoe (1953).
Is either a bell-ringer?
September 30th, 2017 at 12:16 am
Playing around with Google, I found that character Philip Odell played for a long time by Robert Beatty on the radio was played instead by Cesar Romero when they made a movie based on the first of the stories, titled LADY IN THE FOG.
Not only that, but I reviewed the movie, called SCOTLAND YARD INSPECTOR n the US, here on this blog, a little less than a year ago:
https://mysteryfile.com/blog/?p=44712
September 30th, 2017 at 12:32 am
I may have confused the Elizabeth Sellers titles with John Bentley in something , but did play in Salute The Toff, which apparently is available on DVD. There was another title, Hammer The Toff and both released in 1952.
September 30th, 2017 at 12:43 am
Yes, that’s what I came across too – that Bentley played the Toff in both films. I’ll check IMDb tomorrow to see what movies Bentley and Sellars may have been in together.
September 30th, 2017 at 8:46 am
Alas, no results.
September 30th, 2017 at 6:29 am
Didn’t Terry Moore claim to bed the “wife” of Howard Hughes at some point? I think the captain of a yacht supposedly married them. Her most well known part (no innuendo there, now), at least for me, was probably in MIGHTY JOE YOUNG, for such immortal line readings as, “Put him down, Joe!”
September 30th, 2017 at 6:29 am
be, not bed
Another unintentional innuendo.
September 30th, 2017 at 8:49 am
Good enough to leave in, Jeff.
September 30th, 2017 at 11:38 am
Oh, does Youtube have stuff for you. The Mystery File bot hates when I have more than two links to a comment. So I will start with POSTMARK FOR DANGER.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzYV0tX-_Og
Next comment will have radio shows of The Toff and Paul Temple.
September 30th, 2017 at 11:39 am
The Toff has two six part radio episodes on Youtube. Terence Alexander stars. Here is episode one of the story The Toff On the Farm. If you click on the name Ade Binelli (found under the episode on the left and above the red subscribe button) it will take you to the rest of the episodes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGKB5MVsNMY
There is a radio series with Peter Cook as Paul Temple. Again I link to episode one the rest of the eight episodes is easy to find from there.
The Alex Affair
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXSJmFjgEN4
Next comment is a TV episode of PAUL TEMPLE.
September 30th, 2017 at 11:40 am
Paul Temple On Malta pt 1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENKniyi9H18
Pt 2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsP16sVVVYs
Next and finally Francis Durbridge mini-series MELISSA.
September 30th, 2017 at 11:41 am
Three links here so Steve hug the Mystery File bot and tell it is almost over.
MELISSA PART 1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L941t6MfEpM
Part 2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-Q5w-n4saM
Part 3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgA_1QnBS1A
September 30th, 2017 at 2:15 pm
I reviewed MELISSA on this blog a while back:
https://mysteryfile.com/blog/?p=1589
September 30th, 2017 at 12:10 pm
Oh Noooo…I can’t stop linking…
THE GENTLE GUNMAN
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zhxf2SAeSI0
Both HAMMER THE TOFF and SALUTE THE TOFF have a link on YouTube to a bootleg site where you can watch them. Never sure about the safety of such links and sites so did not add link here.
September 30th, 2017 at 2:16 pm
Thanks, Michael! There is no end of what’s available on YouTube. Thanks for providing all the links, some of which I created instant videos. Now to find the time to take this all in!
October 2nd, 2017 at 7:58 pm
What may be confusing here aside from Beatty frequently playing detectives, is he played Bulldog Drummond in a pilot that appeared as an episode of DOUGLAS FAIRBANKS JR. PRESENTS, and also was the villain in 1951’s CALLING BULLDOG DRUMMOND.
The only other Toff than Bentley was on the BBC adaptation of THE TOFF AND THE RUNAWAY BRIDE, and that wasn’t Beatty either. The BBC serial is available on YouTube.