Destination Death

With the help of imagination and the use of stock footage, we are once again transported to Tokyo. Forget about the dodgy accents, and enjoy the way a Poverty Row studio entertains us for thirty minutes.

DESTINATION DEATH was one film in a 39-episode run of s B-Movie series that ran from 1953 to 1861. It was familiar in format, with an opening title sequence referring to London's "thousand years of the rule of law" and Scotland Yard's prominence as a solver of crimes.

The episode had a familiar ring about it. Superintendent Duggan (Russell Napier) is a calming presence, even though he doesn't do much to actually solve the crime, apart from making the appropriate connections. His supporting police officers do the dirty work as well as making arrests. However the Inspector is sufficiently possessed of the presence of mind to deal with obstreperous suspects.

Nothing much actually happens (the fight scenes are usually perfunctorily handled), and much of the inspiration for the series lies with Edgar Lustgarten's narration (if you can stand the rather archaic set he is placed in). But we have to remember this is a second feature filmed on no budget, so such economies would be inevitable.

Inspector Duggan investigates a suspicious death, the body of a man found in a waiting area at an airport.

I thought this was quite an entertaining mystery, I really liked the opening sequence, the idea of a man being found dead at an airport was a really good one, and the concluding sequence on the boat was pretty nice, quite exciting.

The solution was interesting, it explained several how and why questions, it helped piece the mastery together.

The production team did a decent job with this one, I don't for a moment imagine any location filming, but some decent stock footage and the odd sign and left hand drive Citröen help.

Russell Napier is always good value in these, it's always wonderful to see the excellent Roger Delgado.

7/10.

A man is found dead at the departure lounge of London Airport.

Scotland Yard find that the dead man had a false name and false passport. There was a flask next to him and it contained poison.

The only lead is a signed photo from a lounge singer in Lisbon.

A trip to Lisbon leads the local police to discover that the singer is also involved in currency smuggling.

It seems that the dead man was also involved in the same activities.

Despite Roger Delgado's attempts to liven this up. This is a pedestrian instalment of Scotland Yard.

The police should had asserted more pressure once they realised that a travel agent had lied to them.