robert-temple-1 Review of Colonel March Investigates

Colonel March Investigates (1953)

The Department of Queer Complaints

[4/10 · 29 January 2015]

This is a feature-length compilation of three short episodes taken from a TV series called 'Colonel March of Scotland Yard' (1954-56, 26 episodes) starring Boris Karloff as Colonel March, head of Scotland Yard's Department D.3, otherwise known as The Bureau of Queer Complaints. Karloff is called upon to solve murders of a particularly weird, exotic, or puzzling kind. One episode involves a murder of a Javanese dancer (not a Japanese dancer as another reviewer believes), another involves magic tricks with mirrors, and a third a bank robber in a rubber mask who hides his money inside a dummy radiator in his office. Joan Sims, later very well known as a comedienne, is very funny as the secretary of the man in the mask. (In the TV series, this episode was called 'Hot Money', a pun on the money being in the radiator.) All three of these episodes were directed by Cy Endfield (also known as Enfield). Boris Karloff is very good in the title role. I always have found Karloff very congenial when he was playing a straight role. It is a pity he did not do that much more often. This compilation is amusing, and we get some good shots of fifties London from time to time. The idea behind the stories was very good, and casting Karloff as the lead was also a good idea. It is a pity that someone did not take this concept and make some quality films. Someone should do a fifties period retro TV series today based on this concept, and it could be as interesting as FOYLE'S WAR if the right lead were cast and the stories were sound enough. The stories here are a bit feeble, but it would not be too difficult to come up with better ones.