Blackout (1954)
"Murder by Proxy" (original title)

An American in London, down on his luck, runs into a beautiful blonde in a bar who offers him a lot of money to marry her. Broke and unemployed, he takes her up on it. When he wakes up the ... See full summary »

Director:

Terence Fisher

Writers:

Richard H. Landau, Helen Nielsen (novel)

Stars:

Dane Clark, Belinda Lee, Betty Ann Davies

Cast

Cast overview:
Dane Clark	...	Casey Morrow
Belinda Lee	...	Phyllis Brunner
Betty Ann Davies	...	Mrs. Alicia Brunner
Eleanor Summerfield	...	Margaret 'Maggie' Doone
Andrew Osborn	...	Lance Gordon
Harold Lang	...	Travis / Victor Vanno
Jill Melford	...	Miss Nardis
Alvys Maben	...	Lita Huntley (as Alvis Maben)
Michael Golden	...	Inspector Johnson
Nora Gordon	...	Casey's Mother (as Nora Gorden)
Alfie Bass	...	Ernie

Storyline

An American in London, down on his luck, runs into a beautiful blonde in a bar who offers him a lot of money to marry her. Broke and unemployed, he takes her up on it. When he wakes up the next day, he finds himself in a strange room that turns out to be an artist's studio, there is blood on his coat, and he discovers that his new "wife's" father had been murdered the night before.

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Plot Keywords:

murder | london england | british noir | based on novel

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Genres:

Crime | Thriller | Drama

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Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

19 March 1954 (USA)

Also Known As:

Blackout

Filming Locations:

Bray Studios, Down Place, Oakley Green, Berkshire, England, UK

Company Credits

Production Co:

Hammer Film Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

87 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Soundtracks

"Dance Music"
(uncredited)
Music by Kenny Baker

User Reviews

Not a film noir

While interesting for the footage of London circa 1954, this is an absurd movie. The story line is almost impossible to follow. There's almost no dramatic tension. The situations and supposed relationships are so unrealistic that even willing suspension of disbelief doesn't work. The protagonist is gullible and hard to swallow as a supposed tough guy when he spends so much time playing the fool to beautiful women and whimpering like a small boy to his mother, etc. And to top it off, it really doesn't strike me as a film noir at all, just a confusing murder mystery. The best thing about it is Belinda Lee, previously unknown to me, a beautiful woman who was killed a few years later, at 26, in a California car accident.