Blackout

Yes the cited user makes a brave attempt to explain this crime drama plot filmed in London in 1954.I was familiar with Dane Clark after watching him in "Highly Dangerous" (1950) with Margaret Lockwood and the actor who played the lawyer by watching "Angels One Five" when he played a fighter squadron leader in a very different role.Of course the tragic actress Belinda Lee (1936-1961) was not long on this earth losing her life in a motor accident in the US but she provides the film with the necessary eye candy.

Obviously the producers were influenced by American Film Noirs of the 1940s e.g. "The Big Sleep" and make a matching brave attempt at this sort of drama for the Uk market.Incidentally I heard that 1954 was the most unremarkable year in recent history when nothing much happened of shattering world importance!I rated it 6/10 along with the IMDb.com average rating.

Dane Clark plays an American drifter in London who meets a stunning blonde while on a bender at a bar. The girl tricks him into marrying him while he is in a drunken stupor and he wakes up with 500 pounds in his pocket. He then discovers he is involved in a murder and an inheritance scam.

MURDER BY PROXY (a.k.a. BLACKOUT) is one of several British attempts to duplicate the American "film noir." Sometimes they even cast a genuine American "noir" star, in this case Dane Clark. Clark was in this as well as the British "noir" PAID TO KILL. However, the results were almost always that these "Brit Noir's" were never as satisfying as the American films. MURDER BY PROXY has fairly interesting plot, but things begin to get confusing, and like most "Brit Noir's", MURDER BY PROXY builds up to its climax to slowly. There is an overly long and pointless scene where Clark visits his mother and English step father and introduces himself to his new "bride." They then throw a party. This takes ups to much time and adds nothing to story.

Although these dozen or so pre-horror Hammer noir films of the early 50s are largely forgotten, they are making something of a comeback through TCM and other vintage film outlets. Of these, 'Blackout' is definitely the best of them.

It's well acted and (despite complaints here about the convoluted plot) well written with plenty of humour. Obviously the producers had to struggle with a low budget that inevitably compromised its production values, but the film makes the most of what it had. Still, it's a treat for Dane Clark fans and those who can see an unrealised talent in Belinda Lee before dying far too young. Their on-screen chemistry is terrific and so are Clark's scenes with Eleanor Summerfield (one of my favourite British supporting actors).

One of 'Blackout's most interesting elements is that, unlike most film noirs, that usually involve male protagonists with a token femme fatale, the plot of 'Blackout' is mostly female-driven.

****SPOILERS*** It's Dane Clark as American on a binge in London Casey Morrow's genuine state of confusion, in following the material he's been handed, that makes "Blackout" worth following to the very end. Which by then were finally told why he's going through all the brain twisting horror he's been suffering for the last 90 or so excruciating minutes on film. Getting smashed at the the swanky Cloud Room Pub in London Casey finds himself approached by this beautiful blond Phyllis Brunner, Belinda Lee, who not only offers to buy the barley sober Casey a couple of drinks but her hand in marriage as well as a bundle of 500 in pound sterling that's about $1,000.00 in US currency!

Later finding himself at artist Maggie Doone's, Eleanor Summerfield,loft apartment Casey finds blood on his suit and a portrait of Phyllis the woman he just met a few hours ago! Not quite knowing what to make of the situation he now finds himself in Casey is farther surprised, if he didn't have enough surprises already,to see in a newspaper headline that Phillis' dad millionaire art collector Darius Brunner had been murdered the night before! It now dawns on Casey that he's been somehow set up by Phillis to take the rap for her dad's murder! The film goes on to show that Phillys is using Casey to keep her fiancé family lawyer Lance Gordon,Andrew Osborn, from getting his hands of her father's money by marrying him instead! This to the strong objections, who thinks the world of Gordon, of her mom London party thrower Alicia, Ann Davies, who want's the marriage with Gordon to become official.

****MAJOR SPOILERS***It to both Phillys and Casey's as well as the audience surprise that the reasons for Momma Brunner wanting her daughter to marry Gordon has nothing at all to do with love & marriage but to cover her own behind in her husband's murder. Who sealed his own fate by finding out the scheme she had with Gordon to fleece him of his millions through a network of phony charity funds. And by doing that she was even more then willing to commit multiple murder, including that of her daughter Phyllis, to gain her objectives or ends up hanging for committing them!

This is a little British murder mystery, not a noir. The main character is a nice shlub, not a tough guy. There is very little tension or menace and certainly not any cynicism or existential despair. The dialog and bits of business are pretty funny and practically everyone in the film, including the villain, seems basically likable. Dane Clark does a very good job, although he will go on to do better. The plot offers a steady diet of red herring, but plot is not this film's strong suit. The whole thing is so likable that you may find yourself cringing that the plot and twists and turns seem so aimless and gratuitous, but it doesn't pretend to be more than a grade B movie with some good acting and good dialog.