Paul Temple and the Curzon case

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Paul Temple and the Curzon Case is an eight-part radio play from the Paul Temple series by Francis Durbridge , which NWDR Cologne produced in 1951 and aired for the first time from November 14, 1951 to February 27, 1952. The total playing time is 271 minutes.

Title of each episode

  1. The Baxter Brothers
  2. Welcome to Dulworth Bay
  3. Tom Doyle
  4. The appointment with Miss Maxwell
  5. You get to know Carl Walters
  6. A message for Charlie
  7. The decisive factor
  8. Curzon

action

When the writer and private detective Paul Temple and his wife Steve come home from an event, Sir Graham Forbes and Inspector Morgan of Scotland Yard are waiting for them, who ask for help in a mysterious case.

In the small fishing village of Dulworth Bay, the two boys Michael and Roger Baxter disappeared on their way home from school. The only clue Morgan found on a cricket bat was the name Curzon , next to various autographs in block letters . But nobody seems to know this person.

That same evening, Temple receives a call from a young woman named Diana Maxwell, who asks him to speak urgently about the matter, but is shot dead by a stranger at the meeting point. However, the detective noticed that the person killed was not Miss Maxwell. John Draper, a friend of the missing brothers, reports that shortly after his friends disappeared, he heard someone whistling the song My Heart Is in the Highlands . That same evening, Draper also disappears without a trace.

As soon as they arrive in Dulworth Bay, the Temples barely escape an attack. Diana Maxwell, Lord Westerby's niece, denies calling Temple in London. When the couple visits the Baxter mansion, they find the badly abused Philip Baxter, who dies shortly afterwards. When the phone suddenly rings, Temple picks up the receiver and is amazed to find that his missing son Michael answers on the other end of the line. During the subsequent interrogation at the local police station, it turns out that at the request of Philip Baxter, the two boys were with the fisherman friend Tom Doyle. Baxter, who, according to Doyle, felt threatened by Lord Westerby and a stranger named Walters, wanted to protect his sons from possible kidnapping. Michael wrote the name Curzon on the bat after overhearing an argument between his father and a stranger during which the latter said, “There is no use being stupid, Baxter; Curzon whistles and we have to dance! "

When Scotland Yard fished an apparently drowned girl out of the Thames a little later , the routine examination of her apartment revealed a letter from a certain Carl Walters, who is said to own one or two amusement shops.

When the Temples drive to Lord Westerby, they only narrowly escape another murder attempt shortly before their destination. When they return to the Baxter villa, the missing John Draper suddenly turns up at their place, but he cannot remember anything. Later, when the boy is no longer in the house, Paul discovers a secret safe and tries to open it. Steve notices the smell of burning, the house is on fire. The two can get to safety at the last moment. In front of the house they meet Westerby's secretary Peter Marlow and Diana Maxwell, who have previously notified the fire department . Unnoticed by Marlow, Diana makes an appointment with the Temples for the next day on their yacht , which is anchored off the coast. When they meet on the boat, Diana Maxwell is shot and wounded before she can report anything to Temple.

Inspector Morgan finds a diary in Baxter's safe with encrypted codes that appear to be vital to the case. A certain Lou Kenzell, who claims to have acted on behalf of Carl Walters, tries in vain to steal the book from Paul Temple on his return journey. Unbeknownst to her husband, Steve uses a false name to contact Walters, who appears to be playing an important role. Before he sees through their game, he suggests that Miss Maxwell might not be the niece, but the mistress of Westerby.

When Temple's servant Charlie is lured out of the apartment by a bogus phone call, intruders search the apartment to look for the notebook, which is in the yard. When the Temples and Charlie return to the apartment, they find the seriously injured Carl Walters in the bathroom. Shortly before he dies, he says: "Temple, you have to prevent Curzon from getting the diamonds!"

Temple suspects the matter may be related to a plane crash that occurred near Dulworth Bay a few weeks ago. The name of a Frenchman named René Dupree appears on the passenger list, about whom the police could not find out anything.

That same evening, Temple received a call from Tom Doyle, in the presence of Sir Graham, who wanted to meet him in Trafalgar Square because he had important information about Curzon. But the whole thing is a trap. As Temple and Forbes rush to the meeting point, their patrol car is pushed out and the driver Dawson is shot. As it turns out, Doyle wasn't the caller. Kenzell can be found by Temple and Inspector Vosper as the murderers of Walters and Dawson.

Temple is now aware that the mysterious Frenchman on the plane that crashed was a member of the Curzon gang who wanted to smuggle a large number of diamonds into the country. After the machine crashed, Curzon searched in vain for the diamonds, but Philip Baxter, a subordinate member of the organization, found and hid them. In the appointment calendar he made encrypted information about the hiding place. Baxter was now trying to put Westerby, whom he thought was Curzon, or at least one of the leading people, under pressure with the diamonds. To protect his sons from Westerby's countermeasures, he faked a kidnapping with Doyle's help.

After visiting Lord Westerby, Paul and Steve meet Dr. Stuart, who found the badly injured Inspector Morgan at the Baxter Villa, who was looking for the diamonds there on an official assignment. Before he dies, Morgan confirms Temple's suspicions about Curzon's true identity.

Paul Temple finally succeeds Diana Maxwell, who is still in the hospital with Dr. Stuart finds himself to speak. She tells that her uncle Lord Westerby and his secretary Peter Marlow got involved with the smuggling organization and are responsible for some crimes. She is also convinced that her uncle is the notorious Curzon.

Two days later, the Temples hold a cocktail party on Miss Maxwell's yacht , at which all the people involved in the affair are present, in addition to the police. There Tom Doyle is revealed as Curzon. He, Westerby and Marlow are seriously injured in an attempt to escape.

Steve wonders why Doyle, who had both boys with him, didn't put Philip Baxter under pressure. She hears from Paul that Doyle did not know that Baxter owned the diamonds, since he turned to Westerby because he himself believed the lord was Curzon.

occupation

Remarks

The radio play was produced by the BBC in 1948 under the title Paul Temple and the Curzon Case . The Temple couple were played by Kim Peacock and Marjorie Westbury .

After Paul Temple and the Gregory affair , this is probably the second multi-part series that NWDR Cologne produced in its Paul Temple series . The ARD radio play archive, however, has another multi-part series entitled A case for Paul Temple from 1950, which is said to be the Valentin case . The WDR in Cologne could not confirm this information on request.

Elisabeth Scherer, who played the role of Steve Temple here, was also married in real life to her colleague René Deltgen, with whom she had three children. She only spoke the role of Steve in this production. Her colleague Annemarie Cordes took on this role a total of eight times .

In the five-part version, which is mostly broadcast as a series today, an important scene has been cut out, namely Temple's first conversation with John Draper, where the boy already draws his attention to a whistle that Temple soon gets to hear.

Publications

References

  • The radio play (plot)
  • The internet database of the ARD radio play archive, accessed on January 4, 2011 (all information about the production).