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Such a frustrating disappointment

Captivating movie !

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

With hindsight there's a wonderful irony at work here; screenwriter Curt Siodmak (kid brother of director Robert) was born in Dresden, Germany, and turned out this screenplay about the nightly bombings in London a good two years before Bomber Harris orchestrated the almost total annihilation of Dresden (which had no military value) by carpet bombing. Siodmak had made his name writing a different kind of horror with titles like Wolf Man, I Walked With A Zombie and the like and managed to pull off this neat 'why' not so much as 'who' dunnit featuring John Abbot as the cool assassin and Lloyd Corrigan - so memorable in the Jose Ferrer Cyrano de Bergerac and later The Manchurian Candidate - as the intrepid detective who solves the case. At 50-odd minutes it's a nice little curio.

You already know who the murder is when the first one is committed, so there is no mystery here as far as that is concerned. The mystery is to as why, and that plot point also really comes to no surprise. This is more interesting for its plot set-up, the abundance of eccentric British characters and a twist that comes out from the plot revelation that was obvious a mile away. It all surrounds a frail young woman (Mary McLeod) who witnessed her parents being killed during an air raid and is instantly paranoid of the intellectual man (John Abbott) who owns the house where she is resting. Anita Sharp-Bolster, a British version of Margaret Hamilton, is amusing as a hatchet-faced busybody who suspects Abbott of nefarious deeds, and indeed, he is. The victims are dispatched with the aid of a hidden weapon which literally causes a physical burning that kills quickly after horrendous pain. Portly Lloyd Corrigan (as an easy going detective) is obviously not British, but it is his investigation which exposes everything. While there are some interesting things about this low-budget Republic programmer, it really isn't all that intriguing even though there are some interesting elements about it.

A more or less predictable 50 minute B-picture from Republic. Taking place in London during WWII, where bombs are falling hard and heavy. Terrified people seek out the closest shelter with something else to fear...a sly lunatic seems to have a murderous agenda of killing people with a hypodermic needle. There soon becomes comparisons with the legendary Jack the Ripper. A tobacco store owner (John Abbott)suddenly draws attention as curiosity grows about the selection of the rich men being murdered during the German bombing raids. All of the victims do have something in common and in the eyes of the law...murder is murder. Other players include: Mary McLeod, Lloyd Corrigan, Anita Sharp-Bolster and Lester Matthews.

London Blackout Murders (1943) * 1/2 (out of 4) Bland, boring and rather predictable "mystery" from Republic set during London as WWII is at full steam. The people are terrified about the bombs dropping from the air but they've also got to worry about murders happening in the streets by a nut with a hypodermic needle. It turns out the killer is a store owner (John Abbott) who is considered one of the nicest men around so it's not who is doing the crimes but why. When you watch a Republic film you know very well not to expect anything overly special. At best you hope for a slightly entertaining film but sadly that's not the case with this thing, which even at 55-minutes seems way too long and pointless. The film tries to be clever and there are a few nice touches but in the end there's just not enough going on with this thing to make it worth viewing. Some of the interesting aspects is having it set during the war with the people of London having to deal with the air raids. This also leads to a couple nice scenes showing the women in the factories working while the men are off fighting in the war. This was something that was happening and it's rather shocking that so few movies mention it. We even get some talk of Jack the Ripper but outside of this stuff London BLACKOUT MURDERS is very flat. The entire reasons as to why this nice man is killing people should be obvious within the first few minutes of the film so when the big twist happens it comes way too late. Abbott is a fine actor and does what he can with the role but even he can't work miracles. Mary McLeod plays the woman renting a room from him but she can't add much either. The final courtroom stuff is rather embarrassing so needless to say there's not really any reason to check this one out. Universal horror vet Curt Siodmak wrote the screenplay.