Vom Täter fehlt jede Spur

In the thick fog of a London night a man is deliberately run over by a car driven by a woman: he was Denny McMara. The police classify it as an hit-and-run accident, but the young Heather, Danny's sister - basing on her own "intuition", but lacking of evidence -, is convinced it was a murder. An American magazine writer, Philip O'Dell, mainly motivated by the sex appeal of Heather, wants to help her prove her point, though Scotland Yard's inspector Rigby warns him not to mix, as an amateur private eye, with the sound investigation routine of the police.

But O'Dell, little by little, manages to uncover a ring of 4/5 people that would have had interest in killing Danny, their motive, and even the actual murderer. The problem is that every evidence he finds happen to be destroyed before he can show it to the Yard's inspector. At the end Rigby himself congratulates with O'Dell for solving the mystery: and we don't know why, because all the members of the gang are dead, by now, so the eventual evidence in the end is as feeble as it was in the beginning.

Quite cumbersome and totally predictable film, in whose plot nothing new happens; to make it worse, the comic traits are just laughable (ironically), not amusing.

O'Dell and Heather, at the end, of course, marry, which doesn't make the film any better, on the contrary...

Cesar Romero is an American PI trapped in London, waiting for the fog to lift so his plane can take off. He's passing the time in a bar with Lois Maxwell when a Peeler comes in to use the phone. A man has been struck and killed by a car. Miss Maxwell is convinced that it's her brother, so she and Romero go to look. It's as she feared. She is convinced he was murdered, but Romero's contacts in CID are retired, and there are lots of traffic accidents in Pea-soupers. So Romero and Miss Maxwell investigate.

It's a rather old-fashioned movie for 1952; hardly surprising, considering it's financed by Lippert and Hammer. Nonetheless, it's a nicely put together thriller, that leads to some unlikely places, with decent performances; director Sam Newfield, who spent too much of his career at PRC, demonstrates that given a decent script, he can turn out a good movie.

"Lady in the Fog" is a 1952 film starring Cesar Romero as an amateur detective, Philip O'Dell, an American currently in London. He helps a woman (Lois Maxwell) whom he meets in a bar - her brother was run down by a car in the heavy London fog, but she is convinced that it wasn't accidental. O'Dell investigates, and finds himself involved with an old case, a mental hospital, a filmmaker, and a nightclub.

Romero is a delightful actor, and this story has a lot of comedic elements which he acquits very well. He was very underrated, which is clear if one sees him in "The Captain from Castile" and "Julia Misbehaves." The story of "Lady in the Fog" is about as lame as it gets and pretty easy to figure out. It's made on the cheap. Romero is always worth seeing, though.

Lady in the Fog also known as Scotland Yard Inspector is a low budget British quota quickie. An early effort from Hammer as it adapted a BBC radio serial

American actor Cesar Romero plays Phil O'Dell. A writer stuck in London.

He comes to the aid of Heather McMara, whose brother Danny was run over on a nightime road in the fog.

It seems Danny might have been involved in a blackmail plot involving an actress and a film producer.

It all harked back to a garage fire several years earlier that led to the the death of a man.

There is a little bit of everything here. Mystery, comedy, a love interest, a strange man locked in an asylum.

The plot is plodding and not always coherent. Romero makes it all so watchable.

Denny McMara is the victim of a hit and run, late at night, in a foggy London. His sister Heather enlists the help of American writer, Phil O'Dell, to track down his killer.

It's a mystery, a thriller and a comedy, there are some very funny scenes throughout this shorter length film. Some of the reviews are a little harsh, it's a lighter toned movie, and for the time it's a decent one. Some scenes will make you want to cringe, but on the whole, it's decent.

There's definitely a good level of suspense, and you have to wait until fairly late on to learn exactly who, how and what.

Plenty of laughs, from the opening scenes with the cocktails, to the hilarious aeroplane ticket officer.

There are some fine performances, Cesar Romero and Lois Maxwell are both rather good, and for the time, I'd say the acting overall is good, no fluffs.

6/10.