Barbados Quest (1956)

Simply Perfect

Boring

The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

"Murder on Approval" aka "Barbados Quest" from 1955 is evidently the second film about this character, Tom "Duke" Martin, a private investigator. In this one, Martin is hired by an American who believes that while in England, he paid $10,000 for an overprint of a Barbados stamp which he believes is fake. He wants his money back.Martin flies to London and meets up with his Barney Wilson (Mark Balfour). Soon the two are up to their necks in fraud, murder, and robbery."Murder on Approval" doesn't have much of a budget, and Tom Conway in is a familiar Falcon/Saint type role -- a smooth, elegant ladies' man who gets in the way of a police investigation. Nothing new there. The attractive Delphi Lawrence plays the secretary of a wealthy woman who inherited a Barbados stamp.Michael Balfour adds a little spice to the proceedings.It's slow-moving and not very exciting.Just okay.

***SPOILERS*** Slow and boring film about a valuable stamp from Barbados that's been faked to look real that leads to a number of people being murdered because of it. It's up to private investigator Tom Martin, Tom Conway, to get to the bottom of this mystery. It's Martin who with the help of his lovable ex convict sidekick Barney Wilson, Michael Balfour, who cracks the case wide open in uncovering who's behind all this shenanigans. There's also pretty Jean Larson,Delphi Lawrence, who ends up becoming Martin's lover only to later end up behind bars in her working for the person who not only ended up murdering two people but implicating her in the killing without Jean even knowing it.Boring as hell with very little to recommend it the film does have a really cool car chase through the English countryside to keep you from falling asleep as well as Berney's wise cracks that's about the best dialog in the entire film. As for the person behind this stamp sham, as well as murders, he's about as obvious as a advance case of the German Measles in being exposed almost as soon as we, and Tom Martin,were introduced to him. Thus taking away all the suspense,if there ever was any, that would keep you watching to find out who exactly did it! The two murders in the film as well as the person who had forged the Barbados stamp almost making the genuine ones, there was only four of them minted, worthless on the open world stamp collectors market.Tom Conway the former Saint of the 1930's and 1940's does is best to stay sober, by then he was suffering from a case of acute alcoholism, and alert in the film and does manage to somehow pull it off. But what Conway and the rest of the cast couldn't do is save the movie which was dead on arrival even before it began rolling. The film "Murder on Approval" got the stamp of disapproval by both the movie critics and movie audience by dying at the box office almost as soon as it opened! And to those involved in the film it couldn't have totally and completely disappeared from the movie going public's memories fast enough!

Murder On Approval casts Tom Conway the screen's former Falcon as a private investigator hired by Launce Maraschal an American who got swindled while he was on the other side of the pond. Although Conway says philately is not his specialty he takes the case probably because the considerable retainer of $10,000.00 has something to do with it.The purloined stamp that was being sold from a private collection is only the tip of an iceberg. Conway and his trusty sidekick Michael Balfour get themselves involved in a nice little ongoing fraud involving a purloined rare stamp from Barbadoes from the collection of the late former husband of Grace Arnold. In fact Ms. Arnold is in some considerable danger herself from some who are around here.The film which was shot in Great Britain and released in the USA by RKO has the look and feel of a television pilot. Conway like so many players took to the small screen as the B picture was being phased out of existence. He starred for a few seasons as Inspector Mark Saber on the small screen.Given the budget and limited cast members suspects are not many and in fact it's rather obvious what's going on halfway through the film. Cute racket though.

The earlier 'Breakaway' (1955) was probably a hit as this is a sequel (or were they made back-to-back?) and it was released around about the same time. It has Tom Conway and Michael Balfour returning as Private Detective Tom 'Duke' Martin and his friend/stooge Barney Wilson. The main plot is about the counterfeiting of rare stamps including a valuable one from Barbados. Tom Conway is called onto the case and flies to England from America. As usual he keeps bumping into some very beautiful women along the way, including secretary Jean Larson (played by Delphi Lawrence). He eventually solves the crime and if you liked the first one you should like this as it has the usual Baker/Berman private detective action formula, which they later used on 'The Saint' with Roger Moore. Pretty good!