Watch Barbados Quest For Free

A lot of fun.

Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

Watching it is like watching the spectacle of a class clown at their best: you laugh at their jokes, instigate their defiance, and "ooooh" when they get in trouble.

BARBADOS QUEST is the first of two outings for Tom Conway's ageing private eye 'Duke' Martin, a guy who can never sit still but must go around solving crimes wherever he sees them. BREAKAWAY was the sequel which followed shortly although it's not as good as this movie. BARBADOS QUEST sounds like an interesting precursor to Bond, promising globetrotting and an exotic location, but unfortunately the Barbados of the title in reality refers to a rare stamp.Yes, it's a crime film built around stamp collecting, and as genteel and sedate as it sounds despite a handful of fight scenes being shoehorned into the plot. The first half of this film has a genuine sense of mystery about it as the viewer isn't sure what's happened and isn't sure what's going on either. In the second half, the motivations of the entire cast are quite clear and things slow down considerably as a result with the sense of mystery lost.Conway is an acceptable lead despite being too long in the tooth to successfully convince as the protagonist. Delphi Lawrence does a good job of playing the glamorous woman involved in the case, but the real scene stealer is Michael Balfour who excels in his 'comedy sidekick' role. The final mention goes to Brian Worth, who channels some of the spirit of a youthful Dennis Price as a mysterious figure involved in the proceedings. BARBADOS QUEST is no masterpiece, but for a film about stamp collecting it's surprisingly efficient.

"Murder on Approval" aka "Barbados Quest" from 1955 is evidently the second film about this character, Tom "Duke" Martin, a private investigator. In this one, Martin is hired by an American who believes that while in England, he paid $10,000 for an overprint of a Barbados stamp which he believes is fake. He wants his money back.Martin flies to London and meets up with his Barney Wilson (Mark Balfour). Soon the two are up to their necks in fraud, murder, and robbery."Murder on Approval" doesn't have much of a budget, and Tom Conway in is a familiar Falcon/Saint type role -- a smooth, elegant ladies' man who gets in the way of a police investigation. Nothing new there. The attractive Delphi Lawrence plays the secretary of a wealthy woman who inherited a Barbados stamp.Michael Balfour adds a little spice to the proceedings.It's slow-moving and not very exciting.Just okay.

This is a fairly slow paced but still an OK way to spend an idle hour British crime drama with the American Tom Conway playing the debonair, urbane (what else would Tom Conway play?) private investigator Duke Martin. There is a rather ingenious rare stamp scam at the center of the story and when one of the wealthy collectors realizes he may have been taken, he hires Martin to investigate and off Martin goes to London. The list of suspects is very small so its not hard to figure who dunnit. And that would be okay but the script isn't snappy enough to make up for the lack of suspense. The best thing about the movie was Michael Balfour as the (mostly) reformed crook and Martin's sidekick in London, Barney Wilson. This is an actor I had never heard of but he had quite a screen presence. His comic timing was wonderful and it's a shame he didn't have more screen time in this film. As for Tom Conway - well, he played the Falcon with a different name.

The earlier 'Breakaway' (1955) was probably a hit as this is a sequel (or were they made back-to-back?) and it was released around about the same time. It has Tom Conway and Michael Balfour returning as Private Detective Tom 'Duke' Martin and his friend/stooge Barney Wilson. The main plot is about the counterfeiting of rare stamps including a valuable one from Barbados. Tom Conway is called onto the case and flies to England from America. As usual he keeps bumping into some very beautiful women along the way, including secretary Jean Larson (played by Delphi Lawrence). He eventually solves the crime and if you liked the first one you should like this as it has the usual Baker/Berman private detective action formula, which they later used on 'The Saint' with Roger Moore. Pretty good!