Murder at 3am

Dennis Price stars as a Scotland Yard police inspector who with sidekick Sergeant Rex Garner gets an assignment to find out who is doing a series of murders on women coming home from nightclubs in and around three o'clock in the morning. As it is barely an hour we don't get too much in the way of character development and no real great reason why the killer is doing what he's doing.

These B films as they would be called here are called 'quota quickies' on the other side of the pond. Accent on the quickie here because this film sure has a hurried quality to it. The producers just wanted to get this one off the assembly line and before the British movie-going public in a big hurry.

Complicating things is the fact that Price has a sister played by Peggy Evans who is going out with Philip Savile who comes under suspicion. Of course there's a real good reason why he's under suspicion, but I'll save that in case one wants to see it.

I have to warn you that the copy I rented from Amazon has some horrible sound quality. I hope the public when they saw it in the theaters wasn't similarly inconvenienced.

MURDER AT 3AM is a short and cheap British crime film, directed by the one and only Francis Searle - a man who made more low budget films than any other, seemingly. I wonder what he would have done with a real budget? This stolid little film is notable only for featuring a lead role for Dennis Price, one of the biggest name stars to appear in one of Searle's films.

The story is about a serial killer on the loose who makes a habit of murdering women on the street at precisely 3 am. The police desperately search for patterns and soon discover links to a local shipyard and gradually - very gradually - they work to bringing the murderer to justice.

Sadly, MURDER AT 3AM just isn't very good as a crime film. The crime aspects are kept limited and the police procedural stuff is by rote. Price can do nothing with his part and only Leonard Sharp shines as the booze-addled old skipper who helps to solve the crime. The finale features a silly plot twist which is impossible to take seriously.

The interesting part of this quota quickie is the presence of Philip Saville. He plays Edward King, a crime writer who is engaged to marry Joan. The sister of Inspector Lawson (Dennis Price.)

Joan had a whirlwind romance with Edward who is struggling writer and helps out Lawson in his latest case.

A series of attacks on young well to do women, all taking place at 3 O'Clock in the morning. The women were killed and robbed.

The dead women all left London nightclubs just before they shut. Edward notices a pattern regarding the names of the clubs.

Only Inspector Lawson soon suspects Edward King himself. He uses his own sister as bait to trap Edward.

It was surprising to see Price doing B movies so early in his career. This is cheap and looks cheap. It even drags out its short run time. The twist at the end is hard to take and is off the wall.

Philip Saville gave up acting by the end of the 1950s. He made his name as a television director. His landmark dramas include Boys from the Blackstuff and The Life and Loves of a She-Devil.

B Movies, in this case D or E movies do not come much better to British lovers of old long forgotten gems of which this is a crackerjack. It Has all the ingredients to delight, a terrible central lead, a silly plot, a villain known as MISTER X, and a mystery you will never see it coming twist ending, that is outrageously terrible. The second unit photography of London streets and scenes, that centers on the Thames river scene of 65 years ago is an entertainment in it's own, while the plot is like a watered down saturday morning serial, and all the more marvelous for it. I loved this movie, it is a hoot, a classic when terrible is actually wonderful. Do watch and do enjoy!

This film seems to have been made in the smallest film studio ever.In one scene there are 4actors crammed in what seems to be a broom cupboard..When they take to a boat on the river there is no attempt at back projection,merely a black background.The story is feeble and poorly constructed and doesn't make a great deal of sense.Dennis Price is unable to salvage anything from it.