Salute the Toff

John Bentley as John Creasey's amateur sleuth "who's caught more criminals than the police put together" nonchalantly stumbles across one corpse after another while Geoffrey Faithfull's atmospheric photography as usual competes with Wilfred Burns' obtrusive music.

Despite appearances by new boys Arthur Hill and Tony Britton, it all has a rather thirties feel to it, even down to the presence of Peter Gawthorne and Wally Patch, the latter sporting what looks like the same jauntily-worn bowler hat and flat cap he was wearing before the war.

The only John Creasey books I've ever read are those relating to The Baron of which he wrote loads under the pseudonym of Anthony Morton – but he also wrote 59 Toff tales of which sadly I've read none. The Baron was very similar to Leslie Charteris's creation The Saint - so was The Toff except he wasn't such a shady character. Instead of leaving a calling card with a drawing of a halo on it, his depicted a caricature of a toff in a topper. Only two Toff stories were ever filmed both of which were on the BFI's 75 Most Wanted Missing Films list; the sequel Hammer The Toff was filmed at the same time as this and is still missing. This was a lively adaptation of a story published in 1941.

A gentleman is being closely watched from the mantelpiece in a guzzling smoky East End pub by some less than gentlemen, he leaves, is tailed, is murdered and his corpse carted off to an apartment. So far, so good – then a pretty young secretary comes to the Toff to help her find where her missing boss has disappeared to and the story starts to get complicated with comedy, romance, missing persons, fraud, embezzlement and more murder. It's reasonably enthralling as a story and within a strict Nettlefold Studios budget competently handled. But a film with a lot of Wally Patch in is always a joy anyway. It brings back a less complicated world we thought was impossibly complicated and which was doomed to die either from the h bomb or cynicism. I couldn't fault the affable John Bentley playing the Toff – but with his butler played by Roddy Hughes they reminded me more of The Lone Wolf. The ever-bullish Peter Bull played one of the baddies, a slimmer Peter Gawthorne is here in one of his last films as another while the incredibly skinny Tony Britton makes one of his first appearances. Hollow voiced Valentine Dyall as a detective played The Man In Blue. The little romances don't even get to the kissing stage which is always a big help in action films.

As far as I know I've never seen this before – it's dated, corny, low budget but adequate and full of old friends; I really enjoyed it and will hopefully see it again with the sequel!

Based on 'Salute the Toff' by John Creasey, published in 1941. This was 6th in the series of 'Toff' novels, which were written/published between 1938 ('Introducing the Toff') and 1977 ('The Toff & the Crooked Copper').

Although uncredited on IMDB, Creasey is also the creator of George Gideon of Scotland Yard (the TV series 'Gideon's Way') and John Mannering aka The Baron (TV series 'The Baron).

The Toff bears remarkable similarities to the Saint.he is very much the aristocrat.He sails close to the wind at times.He has a comedy aide.He always knows better than the police and of course he always ends up right and with a woman on his arm.It has to be said that the plot is rather convoluted and even though I watched it twice I still could not quite make out the plot.Probably because in one scene Valentine Dyall tells you what he thinks has happened at such a speed that you rather loose the thread of what he is saying.John Bentley gives a good impression of George sanders,though not as laconic or laid back.There is a lot of action and murders aplenty so even if like me you cannot quite work out what is happening,nevertheless less you can still enjoy the action.

John Bentley (whom some of a certain age might remember as Meg Richardson's husband in TV soap Crossroads back in the '70s) plays the aristocratic sleuth in this low-budget offering - and very suave he is, too. He's searching for a missing businessman wanted for murder after a body is found in his flat, but finds that the story behind the murder isn't quite as straightforward as it first seemed. An ok time-filler that's hindered by its modest budget, and the fact that, despite the convoluted plot, the villain is fairly obvious early on. At least Wally Patch is on hand to keep things lively.