Calling Paul Temple – 1948 | 92 mins | Thriller | B&W

Plot Synopsis

Low-budget thriller based on the Francis Durbridge radio plays in which a serial killer is murdering the wealthy female patients of a doctor who specializes in nervous disorders. Further films were made starring John Bentley including Send for Paul Temple (1946), Paul Temple’s Triumph (1950), Paul Temple Returns (1952) and a 1969 BBC television series featuring Francis Matthews in the lead role.

As in most crime stories, the police are baffled by a series of murders. So when a singer is killed in a crowded club where Paul Temple (John Bentley) and his wife Steve (Dinah Sheridan) were dining, Sir Graham Forbes of Scotland Yard begs the amateur detective to help in the investigations. There are several suspects; a girl in grey, Wilfred Davies (Hugh Pryse), a mysterious little commercial traveller, Dr Kohima (Abraham Sofaer), an Egyptian specialist and his attractive secretary Mrs. Trevellyan (Margaretta Scott). Mrs. Trevellyan appears to be the most likely culprit, particularly as Paul and Steve are nearly blown to pieces when they call at her flat.

Edward Lathom, a wealthy man who is being blackmailed, is instructed by the police to leave his payment at thee old Friars’ Monastery in Canterbury. Mrs. Trevellyan is caught removing the money. She insists that the doctor, with whom she is in love, knows nothing of the crime: the doctor hypnotizes her so that she cannot reveal the full truth. Paul and Steve are nearly drowned in the vault of the monastery by Frank Chester, a hotel manager who is himself killed. In the doctor’s consulting room, Paul confronts the remaining suspects. He is lust getting the truth front Mrs. Trevellyan when she falls dead from a bullet. The murderer escapes amid the confusion, but is chased by Paul and, after a thrilling fight, crashes to death over the banisters into the hall below