The film opens with a government agent being chased through the dark Limehouse streets (he's played by a young Patrick Macnee of the Avengers). He is killed and papers taken off his body. However before he could be killed he placed a call to Dick Barton, another agent. Barton gets on the phone just as the fatal shots ring out. This causes Barton to leap into action since he knew that his friend was assigned to protect a scientist working on a new "death ray". Unfortunately for Barton evil enemy agents have already broken into the scientists home and stolen the scientist and his invention. The rest of the film is a mad dash to find out who took the scientist and where they are hiding him.
This is a vast improvement of the first Dick Barton film, Dick Barton Special Agent. Actually its a pretty good, if workman like, thriller. Gone are all of the things that made the first film one of the all time stinkers,namely the slapstick humor, romance and meddling kids. They are replaced by straight forward action and mystery. This is, at last, the movie version of the classic radio serial. It makes clear how Barton ended up the hero of millions of people all over the UK, he's a perfect man of brains and brawn. Its is the sort of movie that one has come to mind when one thinks of 1940's mysteries. You have a stand up hero, a vile villain who masks his black heart by playing the piano perfectly, some great set pieces (the lighthouse sequence) and just enough seriousness to keep things from becoming silly.
To be honest its not perfect, the film can be a tad static and stiff when things aren't in motion, however its never long before some is getting shot at or chased, so the flaws are really minor annoyances and quibbles.
This is a good 65 minutes in another place and time. Worth a shot if you're a fan of the mysteries of not so long ago.
