The Lost Hours

Mark Stevens goes to an RAF reunion. He gets into a fistfight with a surly fellow, and drinks something that makes him woozy. When he wakes up late the next afternoon, the fellow is dead, Stevens' watch is found with the corpse, and Stevens, of course, decides to investigate the matter himself, since he doesn't trust the police. The bodies of those who can alibi Stevens begin to pile up.

It's full of the standard bits from this sort of movie, including one guy who's shot just as he is about to tell Stevens and girlfriend Jean Kent an important piece of information, and Dianne Foster acting and sounding like a brunette Ann Southern. There's also an essential pair of clues that point in two opposite directions. In the end, it's competently rendered with little in the way of extras.

Mark Stephens and Jean Kent - can't be bad? The story is OK, but the dialogue is uninspired. Jean Kent is saddled with frumpy outfits and appalling hats, and confines herself to one-note rendition of her posh persona.

Dianne Foster is more colourful as a femme fatale. She wears the trampy, not frumpy, version of 50s fashion - tight black top and gilt jewellery. Every time someone comes into the office she pours them a sherry - and another for herself. She thinks she's earned a kiss from Mark Stephens by giving him some information, moves closer, raises her face and looks at him meaningfully. He tells her to close her eyes... and exits swiftly, leaving her baffled. But it's an instructive lesson in body language.

THE LOST HOURS is a fairly interesting and watchable small-time British thriller. This one has been noticeably modelled on the American film noir genre, and there's even an imported lead (Mark Stevens) to help make it feel like an American flick.

The storyline is a straightforward mystery about a pilot who's slipped a Mickey Finn one night and wakes up in the morning accused of murder and with no memory of the night's events. Luckily he has a few people willing to help him keep one step ahead of the police, and a gradual uncovering of the mystery follows.

Alongside Stevens, the film features the hard-working John Bentley, who gets to do something a little other than his stock hero type role. He's not very convincing in the part, though. Far better is the smouldering Dianne Foster, the femme fatale type, who really brings her rather racy screen moments to life with some heavily suggestive dialogue. There are cameos for the ubiquitous likes of Thora Hird, Ballard Berkeley, Duncan Lamont, and Sam Kydd. Altogether it's a familiar kind of picture, derivative but involving all the same.

The only interest for this film is that it may help you to waste your time for one hour, that's all. This is a British thriller from the fifties and a movie that wishes to look like an American one, and not only because of the main actor Mark Stevens, whom I have seen more inspired. Here, the scheme is old fashioned, boring, predictable, useless: a man accused of a murder he did not commit, and who tries to prove his innocence. I tried to watch it but it was very hard for me. David Mc Donald was also more inspired with adventures yarns or his CHRISTOPHER COLOMBUS. So forget this one, it is really a waste of time, despite the short length.

I've recently managed to get hold of a copy of The Lost Hours and found it quite good.

At an RAF reunion, an American pilot drinks a spiked drink and wakes up the following morning with blood on his suit. There was a fight at the party which has killed one of the men and the pilot becomes the chief suspect due to the blood on his suit. He's actually been set up. More murders then take place and as always with these movies, the killer is the least person you would expect...

Despite the low budget, The Lost Hours is quite atmospheric at times, especially the night scenes.

The cast includes Mark Stevens, Jean Kent (The Haunted Strangler) and John Bentley. The supporting cast includes well known British stars like Duncan Lamont (Frankenstein Created Woman, Quatermass and the Pit), a young Thora Hird (Last Of the Summer Wine) and Sam Kydd (Island of Terror).

The Lost Hours is worth watching if you are lucky to catch it.

Rating: 3 stars out of 5.