Aka - Scotland Yard Inspector (in the USA) - which makes no sense in terms
of the movie.
A car is inching its way through the thick as mud London fog down a lonely
street. The woman driver can't see more than a foot in front of her and so
asks her male companion to get out and use his flashlight to light the way.
He obliges walking a few feet in front of her. Her foot slowly settles on
the accelerator and pushes it down. So begins this very taut low budget suspense
film from Hammer Films before they became the horror icon they later were.
Back in the 1950s they were making a lot of low budget crime and comedy films.
Their distributor in America was Robert Lippert, who also produced films.
Hammer and Lippert had a mutual deal in which they distributed each other's
films. Lippert did his share of low budget films as well and was quoted as
saying "the word around Hollywood is: Lippert makes a lot of cheap pictures
but he's never made a stinker". In order to be able to market an English
film back home, Lippert wanted an American star to appear in it - thus giving
work to a lot of American stars whose shine wasn't as bright any more.
In this case Cesar Romero. Romero had been a Latin lover star in the 1930's
and 40's but by the 50's was primarily on TV - and in the 60's of course
he was the Joker on Batman. He is quite good in this - still exuding charm
- a hotel receptionist almost melts upon seeing him - but also a little
bumbling and comic at times. His character O'Dell is an American journalist
waiting for the fog to lift so he can take a flight back home, Before he
does though he runs into and helps a woman (Bernadette O'Farrell - Maid Marion
in the Robin Hood TV show with Richard Greene) get to the bottom of her brother's
death in a hit and run "accident" as the police put it down to. They follow
his trail that takes them to a film company, a broken hearted woman, a mental
institution, a burned down garage and a nightclub run by Peggy.
Director Sam Newfield who made enough B films to fill a vault in America
keeps this sharp, suspenseful and on track - with just a bit of comedy that
works. The nightclub owner Peggy is played by Lois Maxwell - our Miss Moneypenny.
Though she gets equal billing with Romero, she only has about fifteen minutes
in screen time. Most of us only know Maxwell since her Moneypenny days but
she had been around from the mid 40's in small films that few of us got to
see. When things were slowing down for her, she went to Italy to make films
- in Aida with Sophia Loren she is gorgeous. Which is the thing - she was
a knockout early in her career. In 1962 She was about 35, her career was
mainly erratic appearances in TV, her husband was ill and money was short
and so she agreed to go in for two days to shoot a few scenes for a couple
hundred dollars. It was Dr. No.
