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The Fine Print
Mary Logan (Jill Melford) asks old friend John Hunter to help. Her late father had taken out a policy with the Cranston Insurance Company, but they are refusing to pay up. It's that interesting old dilemma over whether a salesman's verbal assurances are worth anything. As it is, she's been told the fine print of the policy contained a clause stating a ten year period has to elapse for the policy to be valid. There's not a lot she can do.
Now we see the Cranston salesman, Mr Simmonswith another client, a dear old lady Mrs Agnes Little
(Nora Nicholson). She's assured her relatives will receive ten thousand pounds immediately, in the event of her death. But she seems worried over the policy, even though no medical is required. Amazingly she draws a gun and tries some blackmail. Whilst Simmons denies actually ever saying £10,000 would be payable in any circumstance, she threatens to tell the police he broke into her house! A "cut" is what she wants. "You don't have to wear trousers and shave in order to be interested in making money," she tells him. She offers to introduce Simmons to some of her aged friends.
His solution? He kills her. He leaves the home pretty smartly, but Cranston, his boss, orders him to go back and clean any fingerprints and destroy the policy.
George Thomas was Mrs Little's brother. He now lives in an old people's home in Farnham. He admits he had recently argued with Agnes over her crooked insurance policy. He tells the police she had been in prison twice for robbery and blackmail.
John Hunter is called in. Mr Cranston is interviewed. of course he denies any knowledge of Mrs Little. So George is persuaded to "act a little scene." He contacts Simmons over arranging a life insurance. He gets verbal confirmation that no medical is required. Listening in are John Hunter and the police. Simmons is arrested. And as he's found to have Agnes' pen on his person, he's up for killing her too.
Note- Robert Ayres not in this story.
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Intent to Defraud
Temperamental leading playwright Eugene Calder has just died of a seizure. His wife Mary (Heather Chasen) claims his £25,000 life insurance.
John Hunter probes into the writer's background and learns of his extra marital romance with actress Vivienne (Jan Holden uncredited). Was Eugene going to divorce his wife to marry Vivienne and how much of the affair did husband Randolph (Philip Latham) know about it all? But Mary tells Hunter that she wouldn't agree to any divorce. However she's not well herself. Although noone yet knows, she is going to die within the next six months. Also living with Mary is her brother (Ralph Michael), a daydreamer who grows roses.
Mary's son Peter Calder had died only two months previously. Having gone of the rails in France he had committed suicide.
A call on Vivienne talking about Eugene includes this familiar dialogue:
Viv: "When he died I felt as though a light had gone out, as though I was stumbling in the dark."
Hunter: "Is that a line from the play, or were you talking to me?!"
She had put all her money into his latest play Autumn Harvest- "my husband was furious." Oddly, she had taped their quarrels in which he boasts he could commit the old perfect crime. But he claims it was only an audition tape for the part he was hoping to get in the play.
An autopsy shows that death was actually caused by poisoning. Randolph confesses to the murder. Headlines read "Unemployed Obscure Actor Murders Playwright." Hunter believes publicity is his motive for confession.
A quick trip to Paris clears up the cause of Peter Calder's death. He died of poisoning too. The real murderer is forced into a confession.
Footnote- A good example of the style of John Roeburt's script. They're talking about varieties of rose bushes-
John Hunter: "How do you go about getting a Brigitte Bardot?"
Reply from expert rose grower: "Brigitte Bardot? The name is unfamiliar."
Hunter: "It's a new species. Bedroom variety. Or haven't you been to the movies lately?"
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The Weasel
On the eve of a top fashion show, Madame Orlette's latest designs are destroyed by fire.
But is her fashion house still a class act? When John Hunter questions an ex girl friend, she reveals
Orlette is a past number. Only beautiful Mona (Dawn Beret), her model, who has been with her for years, is any good.
And she's married, surprisingly, to a "Quasimodo" handyman at Orlette's nicknamed "The Weasel" (Vic Wise).
What dark secret is he hiding?
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The Man with the Ticking Head
Caspar the Cat (Graham Starke sic) has a most unusual alibi: he claims he can hear ticking in his head.
He's suspected of the murder of a jewel thief. His alibi is that at the very moment the crime was being committed, he was winning the TV show 'What Worries You.' A simple matter of winning with a complaint like that!
The jewel thief had been identified as a crook by Mr and Mrs Price - he and his accomplice had held them up in their home at gunpoint. But they also identified Caspar. Walter Allen does some probing, and finds the
Prices had made three other claims with other insurance firms - obviously they were a poor risk, so Walter's anxious to get himself off the hook!
Caspar's prints are found in the dead man's room, but his story is that he had been there, burgling the place when he overheard the "prince of jewel thieves" argue with another man and get done in.
All that noise started the ticking in his head again.
John Hunter gets Caspar to identify the other voice he'd overheard. The case is solved. And Caspar? He decides he's going to reform and become a "professional contestant."
A nice little fun cameo from Graham Stark
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The Authentic McCoy
Old Harry McCoy is found dead of natural causes in his bed, his will leaves
only £10 plus some private papers. But also he had taken out an insurance policy for £50,000 in the more prosperous 1920s, and had fully paid up so Eastern Insurance will have to pay up. But who to?
His lawyer Joseph Hardy (Ralph Michael) is charged with locating the benficiary, David McCoy, current whereabouts unknown.
In fact John Hunter is besieged by claimants, all hopeful of getting the fortune. Another crook (Neil Hallett) approaches Hardy, for he really is named David McCoy, coincidentally, even if he is not the genuine McCoy. The pair cook up a swindle.
Another stating to John Hunter that he is David, is a sailor (Bill Nagy) who has photos of himself with his dad years ago. He'd argued with his father and left home. He shows the photo to his landlady, who takes the photo to show Hardy. He brushes her off, for he has his own treasure hunter. Hardy shows Hunter his manufactured evidence. It seems convincing, all that is needed is a birth certificate.
The real McCoy, the sailor, bursts into Walter Allen's office at Eastern Insurance and is surprised to learn the claim is all but settled. The pair end in a punch up, McCoy being taken away by police.
"Ingemar" is the nickname the fight earns Walter from his colleague John Hunter. The latter goes to McCoy's cell to question him. McCoy explains the reason why he'd fallen out with his dad, over a marriage. Those snapshots he has are interesting, but not convincing enough. But McCoy explains why he cannot produce any proof of his birth.
That discussion makes Hunter suspicious and when Hardy arrives with his forged certificate he is arrested, and all is revealed.
In prison, Hunter takes his cheque to the sailor, who is happily set free
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The Legacy (1960)
George Connell (Richard Caldicot) is confidence trickster. who works in league with his friend
Tim Finch (Peter Butterworth). But he's very unwell, and living with his devoted nephew Jack (Francis Matthews), a penniless
chemistry student, and Jack's wife Ella (Ann Lynn).
Because he knows he is going to die, George devises a way of repaying all Jack's kindness.
He has saved no money, so gets Tim to take his place at an insurance medical.
The doctor (Peter Howell) declares him fit, and insurance to the value of £10,000 is taken on George's life.
Soon after, Ella finds George dead in bed.
"Mighty coincidence," muses John Hunter. He picks up a discrepancy between the height of the man who passed the medical, and George Connell.
The fraud looks clear cut, so Walter Allen and John Hunter consult Scotland Yard. Connell's shady past as a conman is uncovered, plus the name of his accomplice, Tim Finch.
Jack and Ella are amazed, shocked even and disbelieving when Walter Allen tells them about Uncle George.
John Hunter tracks down Tim in a pub but can't get him to talk. Later however, after he has done some thinking he gets back to the Insurance Company...
After a few drinks, Tim pops round to Jack's home and helps himself to a few trinkets from his friend's bedroom.
He takes one bottle to John Hunter, a bottle that contains a drug known to feign heart attacks. As Jack is studying chemistry, it is he whom Tim accuses of murdering his uncle.
Surprisingly he's right and Jack and his wife are arrested in this rather neat twist.
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For the Price of Two
The ' two' of the title refers to twins Jane and Laura Desmond who are heavily insured by Eastern Insurance.
When Jane is found strangled, it's time for John Hunter to investigate.
The cast includes:
Rosemary Dorken as twin Laura
Bettine Milne as Mrs North
Hilda Fenemore as Mrs Evans
Grace Arnold as Lady Gordon
Totti Truman Taylor as Landlady
Reginald Marsh as the Inspector.
I am going to decipher my original notes, and they will be posted on the net soon
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THE MAN WHO WOULDN'T BE PAID
An auctioneer knocks down a rare Guthenberg Bible for £1,000 to a white haired gentleman, Ben Clarke (Ian Fleming). It's really worth £20,000, as Clarke's chief rival Miller knows only too well.
Ben spends much of his riches on old books and his niece Alice (Wendy Williams) and especially her husband Henry have "got to find a way" of stopping the eighty year old spending all his fortune before he dies.
The pair take Ben for a fortnight's holiday. Although he has carefully locked the bible in his safe, on their return they have to phone the police. Inspector Benson (Reginald Marsh) takes up the case of the theft of the bible.
But Ben has taken it very badly, he looks a sad and broken man.
"Pretty straightforward," decides Walter Allen of Eastern Insurance, and he takes the insurance cheque to Ben Clarke. "I don't want compensation," is the surprising response, and the cheque is torn up! "Plain crazy," Walter tells John Hunter when he returns to his office. Ben must be scared of something. John Hunter is sent to find out what. The auctioneer, very sorry he failed to spot such a valuable item, sends Hunter to meet Clarke's main rival, Miller. He thinks the theft is very funny. But why? "Get Clarke to tell you," is all he can say.
Now Henry and Alice take their chance. They get their uncle declared senile, for tearing up the cheque. They "get rid" of many of his old books and Ben gets very angry his collection is being sold to Miller. So Ben goes to Eastern Insurance to tell the whole story. "Why did you refuse payment?" is the key question he's asked. It's because the bible is a forgery, not worth a fortune at all. But there's one more surprise, for Henry, when selling out to Miller, also offers him that bible. But Miller brings in the police and Henry is caught red handed. And Miller provides one further laugh- that bible is genuine after all!
Nice little tale, notable for the typical sympathetic part played by Ian Fleming as the old man.
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THE SCHEMERS
Dr Ulrich takes out insurance with Eastern Insurance as he's about to travel on a long sea voyage.
But then news reaches John Hunter that he has been "lost at sea."
In the cast are:
Margot Vanderburgh as Eva
Kitty Bluett as Bertha
Robert Cawdron as Saxon
Robert O'Neil as Conrad
plus
Robert Raglan as The Captain
Brian Cobby as The First mate
When I have typed up my original notes, they will be posted on the net soon
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Fire (1961)
A familiar Danziger theme, why even the title is repeated from an earlier Saber of London episode!
This Brian Clemens story starts with us riding on board a fire engine, with no background music or commentary.
It turns out this is the third warehouse fire in the London Borough of Stepney. The arsonist's method is to start the fire with a lighted candle, using woodshavings and gasolene to ensure the fire spreads quickly.
John Hunter's only answer to the problem is Wait for Another Fire. Walter Allen his boss ain't impressed! However John's wish is soon granted- "quite a fire," he remarks to a bystander as they admire the latest conflagration. Watching is Sammy Peters (Peter Elliott in a good character role), who replies "I love to watch them burning." As he is holding a box of matches, the least suspicious mind might be on the alert! It turns out he has had nine convictions for arson between 1947 and 1953. But this rather pathetic figure claims he's innocent- he'd only come to watch this fire. "You'll have to do better than that, Sammy," argues Inspector Martin (Reginald Marsh) as he arrests him.
But John wants to believe Sammy. For one thing the method of starting the fires with a candle isn't Sammy's style. Yet another fire sees boss Walter even more distraught. Whether because this proves Sammy is innocent, or because he might have to pay out again is uncertain. Whatever the case, the picture of Eastern Insurance's founder falls off the wall when the news breaks- whether by accident or as a symbolic act is unclear.
"There's more to this than the work of a pyromaniac," comments John Hunter. Checking on the files of the fires he notes all warehouses had smashed windows, except Burnham and Hamilton's. Was it an inside job there?
"The trouble with Sammy is that he's been guilty so often, that now he's clean, he wants to make the most of being persecuted." We watch him after being released, call on Verney, the accountant at Burnham's. He knows Verney has done it to cover up his cooking the books. He patiently explains to the accountant how a proper fireraiser would have started the fires.
Eastern Insurance arranges an inspection of Burnham's second factory, which has so far escaped the attentions of the firebug. Only just in time, as the candle has already been lit to torch the place! The truth finally comes out. Case solved. Walter looks relieved and gets a fag out. "Got a match?" he asks John. Calmly John stolls over to use the still lighted candle.
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Obituary for a Champion
"Boxing idol" Kirk Carter is drowned whilst doing his early morning work-out in preparation for his forthcoming bout against a South American challenger. Fight promoter Quinlan (Howard Marion-Crawford) had taken out £50,000 insurance against any cancellation.
No indication of fraud, but as a fan, John Hunter attends the funeral where he meets Kirk's grieving ex-fiancee Verna (Jennifer Jayne) who had recently split up, why she still doesn't comprehend. Yet Carter's manager Sam Harvey (Kenneth J Warren) claims she was "poison" to the boxer.
Quinlan appears above board since he stands to lose on the deal. But is the fact that Carter was about to undergo his pre-match medical significant at all? Surely not, as Quinlan says he was "in tip-top condition."
Hunter gets to the bottom of why Carter had broken off his engagement to Verna. "He kept talking of death," she says, and suggests Lily (Olive Sloane) Carter's ex-housekeeper might know more. She'd been sacked by Harvey and when Hunter visits her in her home at 37 Cumberland Street the reason is evident. She's on the bottle. However a closer inspection shows she's also been worked over recently and is now far too scared to talk.
Whilst Kirk Carter's country retreat is being sold off, a return visit to the "slobbering alcoholic" gets her to admit Carter had been ill. But she is able to reveal no more since Hunter is knocked unconscious and when he awakens the sad woman is lying on her bed smothered to death.
A call on the local doctors leads Hunter to Dr E Hinshaw's bungalow, but he's just been shot dead. The killer is searching through the medical records when Hunter interrupts him, a large stick in his hand, and he promptly phones for Inspector Max Davies*.
Case closed.
Note*- This inspector does not appear in this story but he does in a few others, played by Bruce Beeby.
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Lamb to the Slaughter
A typical role for Peter Reynolds who plays Gene Walker. He hires burglar Rudy Lamb (Sam Kydd uncredited) to
steal his wife's valuable jewellery while the two of them are out at a show. At 10pm Rudy breaks in, then at 10.30 Gene returns with his wife as planned. But though what follows is what Gene has planned, it's not good news for Lamb, as he's shot along with Mrs Walker.
John Hunter is relaxing at home to a 78rpm record when he's summoned to the crime scene. Gene's story: "this man leaped from the shadows." His wife for some reason leaped towards the gun. Gene rushed for his own gun in his desk and shot the burglar.
At the County Morgue the burglar's seductive widow Gertrude (Sandra Dorne, also rather typecast) identifies her late husband.
She phones Walker, who's put his feet up at home, to say her husband had told her all about "the deal" so she
knows he has been framed. Walker agrees to meet her. Come round, he suggests. "In a hotel lobby," she tells him, "where there are plenty of people."
At the Bayswater Hotel she explains her husband had promised her "a hatful of jewellery." She knows what Walker has been up to. Walker does some smooth talking himself in a sparkling scene superbly enacted by two veterans of such B film dialogue. He makes some suggestions like they "both need companionship," whilst she realises "being without a person of the opposite sex can be pretty dismal." £25,000 Double Indemnity will come in handy for the pair of them!
But Walker follows her home to Ashton Court, and there he strangles her.
Hunter does a spot of breaking and entering at Gene Walker's, entering via the library window. A bullet hole in Walker's overcoat is a dead giveaway. Now how come Inspector Davies (Bruce Beeby) missed that clue? He discusses with our man at the Yard how to get enough evidence to convict Walker. It's the old entrapment method. He pretends Mrs Lamb had phoned him on her deathbed, accusing Gene of the deed. Walker gives himself away by saying she had been strangled, though how could he have known this? Waiting in the wings is the inspector, waiting to take Gene to jail.
Note- No Robert Ayres, despite the screen credit, in this story.
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A Case of Larceny
A lightning fast robbery of the cash till at the shop of old Dave Russel. The two crooks, Bill (Sean Kelly) and Ralph Nixon (John Bennett) divide the loot, but Ralph then returns to the shop, as he realises Russel had recognised him despite his mask.
Russel has phoned his old pal Walter Allen at Eastern Insurance about the robbery and that he had recognised Ralph. But when Walter gets to the shop with Inspector Hawk (Colin Tapley), Russel has been strangled.
Bill knows nothing of such a dreadful crime and kindly hands the proceeds, all £45, to his pregnant wife Ethel (Sally Bazely). They are interrupted by Ralph Nixon who privately informs Bill of the murder. Bill advises him to lie low in a local hotel. He then returns to his work at a garage though Ethel is sure he is involved in the crime. He does confess to her and she orders him to tell the police. Reluctantly, Bill agrees to confide in Walter Allen who does nearly all the legwork on this case.
Once Walter is in the picture, he makes for Nixon's hotel. But Ralph Nixon isn't there for he has gone back to see Bill, but Ethel stupidly tells him she knows all about it. She's taken as hostage, leaving a note for Bill warning him to lay off, and in pouring rain, the two return to the now empty garage.
John Hunter makes a belated appearance to guard Bill, but when Bill reads the note, he dashes to the garage for a showdown with his former partner. Hunter watches idly by as Ralph gets what he deserves, then promises to put a good word in for Bill to the police
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Slope of Death
Some lively Bill le Sage jazz music starts us off as we watch skiers in action. On 'The Pancake' Joy "is terrified" according to her husband Philip. "But she'd rather die than show Gregg," adds Molly. Skiing instructor Gregg Stewart (Maurice Kaufmann) is the latest "harmless flirtation of Joy's," whilst Molly is Philip's, er, secretary, just waiting for his divorce. Off skis Joy, she is indeed scared. "My skis are loose!" she screams as she speeds downhill and into a tree.
At Eastern Insurance, John Hunter is arriving for work with a kiss for the secretary and a cup of coffee for Aloysius, his pet name for Walter his boss. He's just received a letter from the seriously injured Joy accusing her husband of attempted murder. Walter goes to confront Philip Allington, owner of Allington Chocolate Manufacturing Company. He arrives in time to spot him kissing his secretary.
Next call is on Gregg. As John Hunter "knows all the beatnik joints in Soho," he and Walter tour them all in an effort to find Gregg, who's apparently also a jazz musician. Whilst Walter discusses the case with Gregg, John gets distracted and chats up a customer, Rose. Gregg believes Philip tampered with one of the skis. Why? Gregg alleges divorce was one reason, and he also thinks Allington is a smuggler, using his chocs to smuggle diamonds. John is sent off to interview Joy, whilst Walter has time to jive with another customer.
Joy has died so with an unnamed Inspector (Colin Tapley) they all go to confront Philip with Gregg Stewart's story. Philip reveals his wife could not possibly have written any letter accusing him as both her hands were severely injured. "As for smuggling diamonds, all I can say is someone is leading you up the garden path." To make sure he's telling the truth, an enjoyable time is had by all sampling the chocs, which are indeed chocs and not stuffed with diamonds.
Off to London Airport Central where Gregg is flying out to Switzerland. Some diamonds are discovered hidden in one of the skis, which leads to the final pun "looks like Stewart's done with she-ing!"
Performed with some fun by the stars. Peter Williams as Mr Allington gives some sobriety and integrity to a slight but enjoyable story.
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Mighty Warrior
A champion horse falls in a steeplechase and has to be destroyed, leaving Eastern a payout of £20,000.
The trainer claims he was a very fit horse, but Hunter becomes suspicious when he learns a temporary trainer who was with the horse for the actual race, has disappeared.
Watching a film of the race, he is convinced the jockey has thrown the race. Piecing the clues together, he and Walter Allen call in the police to arrest the crooks. Mighty Warrior is not
dead after all, which is just as well, as the police (Reginald Marsh) zoom off with the villains, leaving our heroes to get home on horseback!
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Killian's Cut
The cast includes-
Peter Howell in the title role, plus
Ann Lynn as Mary
Raymond Young as Mack
Larry Noble as Art
Bernadette Milnes as Milly and
Valentine Dyall as the Inspector.
I will decipher my original notes, and they will be posted on the net soon
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The Safe Way
Opening scene- a gloved hand helps itself to £5,000 from a safe.
Whilst a police inspector (Reginald Marsh, uncredited) questions the owner Robert Filow (John Carson), Eastern Insurance is facing a huge bill, for this is only the latest robbery from this type of safe. Filow tells Walter Allen he'd been recommended the March Double Action Safe by his brother, and then a connection is spotted between the crimes- all the safe owners are related.
The brother, Hugh, in Manchester, questioned by John Hunter, admits recommending this type of safe. The reason? By introducing six customers, he'd had his own safe installed for free!
At the March Safe Engineering Manufacturing Company, it's learned that Tom Stacey (Peter Vaughan) had overseen the installations, and his boss believes he's completely trustworthy. Stacey is quite aggressive when Hunter questions him: "there are other people in the company who could get that information." But Hunter notices he lives in a rather nice house- "nice car you have too."
Another employee who worked on the safes was Martin Stafford. He has now emigrated to Canada.
One other possible employee is Bart Tompson, now retired, but when Walter Allen visits his home, his wife explains her husband recently died.
The case seems to be reaching a dead end when Walter Allen receives an anonymous threat addressed to "Walter Aloysius Allen." This gives him a lead, as his business card, which contains this, his full name, he has only handed out recently to Mrs Tompson. So police set up a watch on Mrs Tompson and on the only other March safe installed recently as a result of Hugh's introduction. Day Four of the stakeout and Mrs Tompson leaves her house for a phone box. At the office, Tompson is observed breaking in, and cracking the safe. Enter the police inspector to effect the arrest.
Final scene is John Hunter teasing poor Walter about that middle name.... Aloysius!
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Single or Double Indemnity
Leon Little, a railway engineer, is killed when a train is derailed.
Mrs. Little claims Double Indemnity on behalf of her husband.
However John Hunter discovers that
Harry Curtis who used to be a railway guard, but is now demoted to track walker, had a
grudge against Little. Hunter learns Little got Curtis sacked nine years previously, when he was alleged to have been being drunk whilst in charge of a train. So was it really an accident?
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The Bite
Script: Harold McCollom
Directed by Frank Marshall
Jill Ireland plays Alice
Susan Swinford plays Jane
David Courtnay plays Tom
Gillian Vaughan plays Fern
John Barcroft plays Scott
My original notes will be posted on the net soon
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Time to Kill
Brian Clemens' script is about a husband and wife's swindle.
Ferba seduces rich old men and bleeds them as dry
as possible before her husband (Peter Butterworth) finishes them off
Eastern Insurance sends John Hunter after them.
When I've deciphered my original notes, they'll be posted on the net soon
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Flash in the Sky
An interesting assemblage of actors on that downward career ladder, including Hy Hazell, as Jane, once a star of British B films, Mary Kenton playing Mrs. Burns who 5 years previously had starred in a number of tv shorts and Humphrey Lestocq, as Grimes, former shining star of BBC children's telly.
Packing her suitcases to go on holiday abroad is Mary Burns. Husband Philip (William Fox) thoughtfully purchases her travel insurance: "goodbye dear."
Then the bad news; a radio newsreader (the voice of Colin Tapley) announces her flight is "feared down in mid-ocean."
Walter Allen tells John Hunter "there's nothing for us to investigate," as none of the 56 passengers survived and the wreckage has not been found. But insurance agent Grimes and Police Inspector Hook (Colin Tapley, now having relinquished his radio job) introduce our Eastern Insurance agents to the captain of a passing ship (Steve Plytas) who though badly injured is now able to tell of the "sudden flash" he saw, a disintegrating plane plunging to the sea below. Clearly a bomb, but without evidence how to prove it?
All the next-of-kin are visited. Walter Allen meets Philip Burns' landlady, who sourly comments that Mr Burns seems hardly grief stricken. He's a lady's man, she says, and a civil engineer currently working on a new tunnel "the Kent by-pass" (!!- is this an early version of the Channel Tunnel?). Circumstantial evidence is a little stronger when it's learnt some dynamite went missing recently at the site. But it's nothing like proof! What's needed is a "personal confession."
So we see some good old fashioned entrapment. There's a new maid cleaning Mr Burns' home, "a pretty one at that!" Jane is soon being invited to dinner. A friendship develops and soon there's some kissing. The critical moment is finally reached- Jane confesses she's already married to a globetrotting husband, who's returned home "suspicious." Jane's key line follows- "I wish he were dead." Philip tells her not to worry and suggests she buys a suitcase exactly like the one he usually travels with. "All our troubles will be over." But it's the career of Mr Burns that's over. He's prepared his bomb and the case swap is made at the airport. The aptly named Inspector Hook swoops.
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The Dashing Major
This is a most interesting one-off story. "Old Ironhead," boss Walter Allen that is, is away at St Andrews, we are told, for the golf, so John Hunter is left in charge at the office. We only see him for one scene near the start and at the end when Walter returns. All the footwork for Eastern Insurance is done by Bob Keen, played by the uncredited Robert Arden, an old hand in Danziger productions.
Speedway Airways Flight 704 to Tangiers.
Major Henry Randolph (Ralph Truman) is a late booking, he takes out a travel insurance policy with Eastern Insurance before he
boards the plane.
A spiv, Jim Bates, stops him, demanding the money he's owed. The major promises to send him it. But he can't for his plane crashes into the sea. He's the only person not to survive, he's presumed drowned.
Mabel his sister (Joan Newell) is not consoled by a tactless vicar (Robert Dorning) who puts it down to God's Will, though as the major had caused her nothing but grief, maybe it was for the best. And the £10,000 insurance is a consolation, but even that seems closed to her when the major quietly returns home, admitting he had never caught the plane. She sends him packing, and says nothing about this.
Bob Keen investigates the claim when Jim Bates tips off Eastern Insurance that he had seen the major at the airport after the flight had departed. Jim also tips off Duncan (Willoughby Goddard) to whom the major owed gambling debts.
Mabel is certainly flustered when Keen questions her, and reminds her of her brother's criminal record for embezzlement. More surprising is that Mabel is employing a bodyguard, Willie (Howard Lang), though we know he is only there on Duncan's orders.
Some detective work leads Bob to the elusive Jim and the squeeze is on.
"Ridiculous," you're dead," cries the poor vicar, who'd just put the finishing touches to the major's memorial service. The major demands sanctuary in the church.
Duncan is putting his own pressure on the unfortunate Mabel as Bob comes back with more questions. But spotting Willie leaving, he follows him. Mabel has admitted that her brother is alive, and Willie is off to get him. In the church a gunshot. Willie is dead, the major also.
Case 3987 closed, rather abruptly to be frank, in an otherwise neat story by David Nicholl.
Walter Allen returns with his clubs from St Andrews. How was it, asks John Hunter. Wet, replies Walter
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CASE OF GEORGE PETERSON
Simpson (Kevin Stoney) is collecting his firm's £5,000 payroll from the bank as usual. "I can protect myself," he tells the cashier, when he's asked if he worries about being robbed. But on this occasion Simpson disappears, along with his hire car driver, burly George Peterson. Boss Mr Jardine has one of the keys to the case with the money, and he's not too concerned as the money is insured.
A battered Simpson is found alive. The inspector (John Stuart) is told Simpson had been robbed at gunpoint, the money bag cut from his hand. He's not clear whether the man driving him was George Peterson, his regular driver, as he never saw his face. "Investigate" Walter Allen orders John Hunter, who starts at the Cuthbert Car Rental Co where owner Mr Cuthbert (Robert Dorning) recounts how he likes the "thoughtless" Peterson, even though he never maintains his vehicle properly. Mrs Peterson (Patsy Smart) is "worried sick" over her missing husband, admitting he had money worries.
The inspector and Walter Allen are convinced Peterson is the robber, but Hunter isn't so certain. And he seems to be justified in his opinion when Peterson's body is found shot dead: "it didn't improve the landscape." Nearby is his car, but no sign of the money.
So the inspector surmises Peterson had been killed by his accomplice- but who was that? Walter Allen locates Jim a barman (Anton Rodgers) who knew Peterson was pally with a weightlifter called Freddy. He works at Draper's Gym.
Freddy (Michael Balfour) says he had lent George some money recently and this is found in his home: "this changes things," a pleased Hunter tells the grieving wife.
The robbery is reconstructed, Simpson going over his story in detail. Hunter is able to spot a flaw in his account and the crook is arrested: "it's the little things people overlook that cause them the most trouble"
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Green For Danger
An emerald necklace belonging to Mrs. Osborne (Margaretta Scott) is taken, the latest in a series of thefts in which fake phone calls are used to distract the victims while their emeralds are stolen.
Harry Flash (Michael Balfour) is the chief suspect, but as yet no proof can be found to convict him. As John Hunter on behalf of Eastern Insurance checks out other possible fences. Flash is getting greedy and asking for a bigger cut from his boss. As he walks across a strangely quiet Hyde Park, it's the end for Harry Flash.
It is Walter Allen who works out that the man doing well out of these robberies is Bond Street jeweller Aker (Steve Plytas), who is selling replacements to clients who had had their property stolen. So John Hunter is despatched there in his best bowler and pin stripe suit. A new consignment of emeralds will be here soon, promises Aker.
Mrs Osborne is also being offered some to replace her stolen ones, but she tells Aker she is hoping Eastern Insurance will recover her originals. Then John Hunter receives a tip off, go to Speakers' Corner. The park is again mysteriously deserted as someone attempts to knife our investigator. Hunter grabs the knife but his assailant escapes despite a lengthy chase. That knife proves to be the one that killed Flash.
Back at the jewellers, Aker is preparing to make a run for it when the police arrive with John Hunter and Walter Allen. Although all the emeralds have by now been broken up, Hunter exposes Aker by means of an infra red lamp, which reveals invisible dust that Hunter had sprinkled around, which is now all over the guilty Aker.
Mrs Osborne never gets her jewels back, but she thanks John and Walter for the replacements, and invites them both to dinner
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Legs 50,000 each
with Dr Mills, played by Robert Dorning,
and Miss Faraday, played by Jackie Lane.
As a showbiz publicity stunt, the shapely legs of Miss Anita Faraday are insured for 100,000 pounds. When she slips two days later, her right ankle has a hairline fracture, which means a huge payout by Eastern Insurance.
However, her potential earnings compared with this are peanuts.
From the doctor that saw her after the accident John Hunter learns that although the Xray showed a simple hairline fracture, shadows can appear making it only appear to be broken. However, in Miss F's case there was swelling, suggesting a fracture.
Dr B.G. Mills was Eastern Insurance's new doctor who had seen Miss F before the policy had been approved. He says he saw no shadow. However Hunter becomes suspicious when he learns Mills unusually took the Xrays
himself, and also developed them.
So Hunter is ordered to check it out and look at just 10,000 pounds worth of Miss F. "Don't limit me dad," Hunter shouts as he rushes off to see her, "I'm going to see the whole hundred thousand."
Posing as a reporter he enjoys himself asking about her career. So will the accident affect her career? In true show biz style, she responds that her only concern is her dancing.
Backstage gossip from Phil is that Miss F is finished. "You've got more of a career in Hollywood," he tells John Ireland, surely tongue-in-cheek! Dropping of her film contract is apparently imminent.
Now we see Dr Mills. He's getting cold feet. The crooks force some sleeping powder on him. Then they escort Anita off to New York. She leaves, she says, with the happiest of memories, and her £100,000 of course.
But here comes Hunter at the airport! He's got his proof that Dr Mills must have faked the Xrays. I didn't want to take part in the swindle, claims the pathetic Miss F.
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The Hands of Adrian
"The great Felix Adrian" (Robert Rietty) has flown all the way from America to his home town of Rushmere in England for the first in a series of violin recitals.
But his hands get stuck in the lift of the Royal Hotel and his concert of "classical music made easy" is cancelled. Eastern Insurance will have to shell out £50,000.
"I'd rather hear Jack Benny play the fiddle," jokes John Hunter at Eastern hq. "You'd never know the difference," retorts his boss Walter Allen. He learns Adrian's last concerts in America had been a flop, so Hunter is ordered to investigate.
A sympathetic doctor (Ian Fleming) sees Adrian's problem as partly psychological, but recommends "my expert opinion is for immediate payment."
Mrs Ruth Adrian (Delphi Lawrence) is pleased, but the hotel manager is convinced it's all a swindle, believing she has the doctor "wrapped round her little finger." But the doctor won't budge from his view, refusing even to permit another x-ray of Adrian's hand as it is "far too sensitive."
John Hunter has booked a hotel room with "a great view" of Adrian's room. Walter watches the fiddler whilst John chats with Mrs Adrian in the bar. But she proves too cunning for him. He trails her as she goes shopping. She enters Rosemount Hats, and when she's left, John Hunter talks to Mrs Dean who runs the place. She is able to reveal some vital information that seems to have been omitted from Adrian's original application for insurance, that is, his mother had been crippled with arthritis.
The Adrians are faced with their fraudulent declaration. Claim dismissed.
Back at the office John presents the secretary with a hat from the shop. She was going to hear Adrian's concert. "You'll have to go down to Brixton Jail," Walter informs her.
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Back of Beyond
Now that her husband Professor Kayle (Joseph Tomelty) has been missing for seven years, his wife
(Harriett Johns) claims on his life insurance.
John Hunter is assigned to discover if the professor really is dead.
From my notes made in the early 1960s, I will be posting soon a review of this story.
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Carnival Case
The owner of an amusement park/circus (Paul Eddington) is using the business to steal punter's jewels. Danziger regular John Gabriel is his henchman.
Ann Lynn plays his girlfriend.
As the insurance company is having to fork out,
Hunter is volunteered to get a job there, in order to expose the racket.
There are a lot of interesting shots filmed at an unnamed circus. There also seem to be some fairground pictures from
Battersea Park.
Colin Tapley appears uncredited as Inspector Lee.
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Knight of the Road
The last Danziger script by Brian Clemens.
Ken Northwood (Richard Vernon) has devised a neat insurance racket. He inspects a luxury car in a showroom, making a note of its chassis number as well as the numberplate, then registers it as his own.
We first meet him at Derby Road Police Station reporting his £6,000 car as stolen. But the theft of such an expensive vehicle naturally arouses Eastern Insurance's suspicions, so Walter Allen grabs a taxi in order to interview Northwood. As the stolen vehicle has not been recovered, naturally, Ken Northwood's claim has to be met. But what turns Walter's suspicions into certainity, is when an old Korean war buddy, Tom, turns up. He's in insurance too, and has dealt with the theft of a similar luxury car. This time, John Hunter takes the train down to Plymouth to check it out, but the local insurance agent believes it was a legitimate claim. However the description of the claimant certainly fits Northwood! He's now in Manchester admiring another car, with its "wonderful workmanship." While the dealer isn't looking, he makes a careful note of the chassis number.
John Hunter and Walter Allen bribe a young lad to knock on Northwood's door so they can surreptitously take his photo. This they show to various dealers, and one recognises him. Yes, he said he liked the car, but never returned to follow up his interest.
Inspector Marston of Scotland Yard (Colin Tapley) is brought in at this point, but he seems to want more proof. So John Hunter questions Northwood's neighbours. They also learn Northwood has registered another car, and when he is asked about it, he asserts he has given it away as a wedding present. But the log book gives him away, "it was fun while it lasted"
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