Blake of Scotland Yard

This has to be one of the worst films I have seen for a long time - lacking logic and continuity in the plot, and with a denouement that has a lot to do with the saving of a machine for posterity, but how the story got there is anyone's guess. Many scenes take place in blackness. There are a few well-staged fight sequences, but really nothing else to attract the attention.

Sir James Blake is a retired Scotland Yard police officer who has helped invented a 'Death Ray', along with his niece, Hope; and her friend Jerry Sheehan. He doesn't intend this to be used for conquest though; he intends to give it to the League of Nations so it can be used to prevent all aggressive military action. As well as guaranteeing peace it will put the munitions industry out of business. After a successful demonstration the device is stolen buy people working for a character known as Scorpion. Now they must recover the device and identify the dastardly Scorpion.

This seventy minute film is a heavily cut down version of a serial that totalled over five hours in length and it shows. It opens well enough with the demonstration of the device but after it is stolen it is almost non-stop action; sometimes that is a good thing but here it was just one scrap after another with little real sense of danger; it was repetitive rather than exciting. The villain is distinctly weak; a man who moves like an ape and hides his face behind a large lobster like claw. I'd normally comment on the quality of the acting but that seems more than a little unfair as most of their work on this story doesn't feature in this film. Overall not really something worth seeking out; if like me you got it on a DVD with a couple of other films it is worth watching once.

"Blake of Scotland Yard" is a cheap B-movie made by a 4th-rate studio. It's not entirely bad...though it's also not particularly good or worth seeing. The biggest problem is that the movie has lots of action and cops doing undercover work--but little in the way of acting or characters.

This mystery film stars Ralph Byrd—a man later known for playing Dick Tracy. It begins with a meeting of representatives of the League of Nations. They are to watch a test by Sir James in which he will demonstrate a machine that will supposedly make war obsolete—a plot very similar to the one from "Arrest Bulldog Drummond"--made two years after "Blake of Scotland Yard".

Sadly, this wonderful device is stolen by a goofy guy named 'The Scorpion' and his gang. The Scorpion is pure B-movie corn--a masked guy who, when not wearing a REALLY cheesy mask, runs around like a chimp who insists on always blocking his face from the camera. This is just silly and his identity COULD have been kept from the audience with competent direction...though I think there was no evidence of competence during the entire film.

There are many way overdone scenes. One is a silly bit involving two of the most unconvincing drunks in film history. They made Foster Brooks' old drunk act seem subtle by comparison!! However, the worse bit was the character of a severely mentally challenged guy in the last portion of the movie. He is handled as insensitively as you possibly can do it. The guy is practically portrayed like an animal--making guttural noises, grunting and running about like a gorilla (wow--more simian-inspired moments in the film). The film should get some sort of award for setting back the public's acceptance of the mentally retarded at least 50 years with this awful bit. I wanted to laugh at it, but also realized such sick characters are no laughing matter--just sad and pathetic.

Overall, a stupid film that is bad even for a low-budget B. Ralph Byrd's being in it isn't too surprising, as he appeared in MANY craptastic Bs over the years. Only of interest to weirdos like me who will watch most any B movie!

This film is not the true version of "Blake of Scotland Yard." This is a truncated feature-length version of a 15-Chapter Serial. Its more than 400% shorter than it was intended to be and hence that accounts for all the issues you will read about in other reviews. This is truly unfortunate because it means the ruination of a great serial. If you visit the serial's IMDb page (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0028637/) you'll not that it's average user rating is double what it is here.

Unfortunately, this false version is the only one which is available from Amazon so it truly is a case of buyer beware. Please don't judge this work by the worst version of it but instead look for a full version which is 15 chapters and 303 minutes long.

There's plenty of action in "Blake of Scotland Yard", but it is frequently confusing and chaotic. It was apparently edited into a feature film from a serial of some 10-15 episodes, which would account for the sometimes bewildering rush of events. No doubt the full-length serial would provide more explanation, while also retaining the exciting action scenes.

Sir James Blake's niece Hope and her friend Jerry are inventors who have come up with a device that they think will eliminate the threat of war. As they demonstrate it, a gang of criminals led by "the Scorpion" spies on them, and makes plans to steal the invention. When they do pilfer it, Blake and his associates must recapture the machine and also determine the identity of the elusive "Scorpion".

There is a confusingly long list of characters, and they spend all of their time fighting, spying on each other, impersonating one another, and sneaking around through the secret corridors that seem to be a feature of every building they enter. They keep you in constant suspense as to what is going to happen next, and in constant confusion as to what has just happened. The claims made for the gizmo that is at the center of all this fuss also seem rather implausible.

This movie could have been a lot better in a somewhat longer version that would make all of the action easier to follow.