A typically slick Simon Templar story, to be expected when Hammer hand John Gilling is the man pulling the directorial reins. This one's about a rich businessman whose love of gambling and toys leads him to an untimely death; his daughter calls Templar in investigate. What's uncovered is the usual minor corruption with the fisticuffs and mild suspense that typically plays out in proceedings like this. Inspector Teal gets a supporting role while David Lodge gives a good turn as a tough henchman whom Templar tangles with at one point. While it's not one of the finest of the series, this is episode does the job.
3 Reviews
The Man Who Liked Toys
Prismark103 April 2023
Claire Wheeler thinks her boss Lewis Enstone is being blackmailed. He has made regular payments to a firm run by John Hammel. Who runs a rival factory which has just grabbed a lucrative government contract.
The Saint takes an interest. Lewis Enstone is a middle aged man who has a great interest in toys.
Templar discovers that Enstone has been making payments to Harry Duggan (David Lodge) the trade unionists at Hammel's factory. It was payments to organise wildcat strikes.
Enstone wants to make sure that Hammel could not fulfil the government contract. So he,could do a hostile takeover of the firm.
Later Enstone is later found dead. Inspector Teal thinks it was suicide. Enstone found out his wife was cheating on her.
The Saint is convinced that the murder was arranged by Hammel and his business associate Albert Costello, an electronics engineer.
The story becomes a murder mystery halfway through. There are several suspects such as Enstone's cheating wife and her lover, but Templar has little doubt who the culprit could be.
The Saint takes an interest. Lewis Enstone is a middle aged man who has a great interest in toys.
Templar discovers that Enstone has been making payments to Harry Duggan (David Lodge) the trade unionists at Hammel's factory. It was payments to organise wildcat strikes.
Enstone wants to make sure that Hammel could not fulfil the government contract. So he,could do a hostile takeover of the firm.
Later Enstone is later found dead. Inspector Teal thinks it was suicide. Enstone found out his wife was cheating on her.
The Saint is convinced that the murder was arranged by Hammel and his business associate Albert Costello, an electronics engineer.
The story becomes a murder mystery halfway through. There are several suspects such as Enstone's cheating wife and her lover, but Templar has little doubt who the culprit could be.
A strong entry into this classic series, with a superb and meaty script.
jamesraeburn200322 October 2018
Warning: Spoilers
Simon Templar, a.k.a The Saint, comes to the aid of his old friend Claire Wheeler who believes that her employer, the electronics tycoon Lewis Enstone (John Baskomb), is being blackmailed. For weeks he has drawn out large sums of money, put it in a briefcase and delivered it somewhere. But, when Simon and Claire follow him on his next trip they find out that he is actually paying a corrupt union boss, Duggan (David Lodge), to engineer a crippling strike at a rival company that he wants to buy out. Simon confronts Duggan and forces him to call off his strike. Meanwhile the directors of Costello and Hammel, John Hammel (John Paul) and Albert Costello (Inigo Jackson), are at odds as to what to do about Enstone's underhanded tactics. Hammel believes that there is no alternative but to sell whereas Costello is trying to persuade his close friend and partner to put into operation a plan that they have discussed. But what does it involve? Meanwhile, Enstone may be celebrating his success in forcing the two men to sell out meaning that the value of his stock will rapidly increase in value, but he has also discovered that his much younger wife Marjorie (Jeanette Moody) has been having an affair with his personal assistant George Fowler (Maurice Kauffmann). He rants and raves at her making clear his intention to consign them both to poverty. But, as Simon arrives at his hotel with the intention of scuppering his attempt to screw over his two business rivals, he hears a shot from Enstone's room. He goes in to find the tycoon dead with a pistol clenched in his hand. Suicide? That is what Inspector Teale (Ivor Dean) thinks, but Simon suspects murder. But who did it? Dorothy and Fowler so they could be free to marry and inherit her husband's money? Or did Costello and Hammel actually turn to murder to save their livelihoods?
A strong entry into this classic series which was by far the best attempt to transfer Leslie Charteris's playboy superhero to the screen. It boasts a superb script by Basil Dawson, which succeeds in shoehorning a multi-layered plot into an hour's running time. It is peopled with interesting characters and thought provoking situations. It's tale of industrial sabotage acknowledges that whilst trade unions have been a necessary and vital tool for working class people all over the world to improve their lives by winning better pay and conditions for themselves and the generations that follow them, it is also possible for them to be manipulated and exploited for corrupt and unscrupulous ends. David Lodge, who was a very well known and versatile character actor equally adept at comedy as well as dramatic roles, convinces as the crooked shop steward who professes to act in the interests of his workers in a spirit of "mutual cooperation and brotherhood" but, in actual fact, is only in it for himself.
John Baskomb is truly superb as the ruthless tycoon Enstone who does not care who he hurts as long as he gets his way: the important rule for him is "if you see something you want, take it, no matter who it belongs to. Forget scruples and integrity, just take it." But for all his arrogance and self-assurance, he doesn't bargain on being beaten or that someone would have ever been hurt badly enough to want to kill him. Baskomb skilfully interwines his character's nastiness with his childish love for toys and for his utter inability to sustain a relationship with his young wife. It is an engaging insight into the downfall of a rogue businessman and it is far deeper and better developed than I was expecting for this kind of series. Maurice Kaufmann is also noteworthy as Enstone's personal assistant whose failure in life is attributed to the fact that he wants to have his cake and eat it. He wants to make money, but isn't a strong enough character to grow a thicker skin to be able to achieve that. In addition, he wants both his job and his boss's wife, but subjects her to a relationship of meeting in secret at hotels and in his flat and thus is unable to satisfy the bored and demanding Dorothy who is competently played by Jeanette Moody. Roger Moore is as good as ever as Simon Templar portraying him as a suave playboy who has sailed close to the wind many times in his life - he was once a jewel thief - but he always fights for the underdog and retains a belief in human justice. John Paul and Inigo Jackson offer believable performances as the two successful entrepreneurs whose livelihoods are being destroyed by Enstone's ruthlessness and we can feel some sympathy for their plight. It suggests that the film's sympathies are more with the smaller business people than with the giant corporations too. In addition, Rosemary Reede is quite good in the role of Enstone's secretary Claire Wheeler.
The film's action sequences are superbly choreographed and John Gilling's no nonsense direction does justice to the meaty script. Lionel Banes' b/w lighting is atmospheric giving the proceedings a strong feeling for place and period as do the handful of London-Home Counties locations used.
A strong entry into this classic series which was by far the best attempt to transfer Leslie Charteris's playboy superhero to the screen. It boasts a superb script by Basil Dawson, which succeeds in shoehorning a multi-layered plot into an hour's running time. It is peopled with interesting characters and thought provoking situations. It's tale of industrial sabotage acknowledges that whilst trade unions have been a necessary and vital tool for working class people all over the world to improve their lives by winning better pay and conditions for themselves and the generations that follow them, it is also possible for them to be manipulated and exploited for corrupt and unscrupulous ends. David Lodge, who was a very well known and versatile character actor equally adept at comedy as well as dramatic roles, convinces as the crooked shop steward who professes to act in the interests of his workers in a spirit of "mutual cooperation and brotherhood" but, in actual fact, is only in it for himself.
John Baskomb is truly superb as the ruthless tycoon Enstone who does not care who he hurts as long as he gets his way: the important rule for him is "if you see something you want, take it, no matter who it belongs to. Forget scruples and integrity, just take it." But for all his arrogance and self-assurance, he doesn't bargain on being beaten or that someone would have ever been hurt badly enough to want to kill him. Baskomb skilfully interwines his character's nastiness with his childish love for toys and for his utter inability to sustain a relationship with his young wife. It is an engaging insight into the downfall of a rogue businessman and it is far deeper and better developed than I was expecting for this kind of series. Maurice Kaufmann is also noteworthy as Enstone's personal assistant whose failure in life is attributed to the fact that he wants to have his cake and eat it. He wants to make money, but isn't a strong enough character to grow a thicker skin to be able to achieve that. In addition, he wants both his job and his boss's wife, but subjects her to a relationship of meeting in secret at hotels and in his flat and thus is unable to satisfy the bored and demanding Dorothy who is competently played by Jeanette Moody. Roger Moore is as good as ever as Simon Templar portraying him as a suave playboy who has sailed close to the wind many times in his life - he was once a jewel thief - but he always fights for the underdog and retains a belief in human justice. John Paul and Inigo Jackson offer believable performances as the two successful entrepreneurs whose livelihoods are being destroyed by Enstone's ruthlessness and we can feel some sympathy for their plight. It suggests that the film's sympathies are more with the smaller business people than with the giant corporations too. In addition, Rosemary Reede is quite good in the role of Enstone's secretary Claire Wheeler.
The film's action sequences are superbly choreographed and John Gilling's no nonsense direction does justice to the meaty script. Lionel Banes' b/w lighting is atmospheric giving the proceedings a strong feeling for place and period as do the handful of London-Home Counties locations used.
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