House of Blackmail

This low budget British film is quite well done. The script, acting, direction, photography, and editing are all first rate.

Carol Blane (Mary Germaine) drives to a dark old mansion to meet with blackmailer Markham (Alexander Gauge). He has a 200 pound check forged by Carol's irresponsible brother Billy (Barry Wynne). Along the drive Carol picks up seeming hobo Jimmy (William Sylvester). She soon comes to believe that he is a notorious escaped convict. Carol offers him 50 pounds to go to the mansion with her and pose as her lawyer. Then, he can steal the check rather paying the blackmailer. Jimmy agrees. At the mansion they meet Markham, Dr Welich (Hugo Schuster) and overbearing American Peter Carter (John Arnatt). Also on hand are sneaky butler Bassett (Dennis Shaw) and maid Emma (Ingeborg von Kusserow). Soon, Markham is murdered and everyone distrusts everyone else. Jimmy pretends to be Carol's fiancé as well as her lawyer. Eventually, the police will have to be notified. What will happen to Jimmy then? Is he really an escaped convict? Is everyone else who they claim to be? Who done it?

Also in the cast is Patricia Owens as Joan, Carol's roommate and model. In her first scenes, she is posing for Carol wearing a gorgeous evening gown that is worth seeing. Patricia brings an intensity to her role and she really dominates every scene that she's in. The viewer will definitely notice Patricia Owens in HOB.

I watched HOB on a DVD that I got from the Amazon. The picture quality and sound were both excellent. Watch HOB if you get the chance. It will keep you interested from the start to the plot twist at the end.

William Sylvester used to pop up in some many British productions I always thought he was a British actor. This was until I saw him in the US movie, The Lawyer which spun off the television series Petrocelli.

Sylvester plays mysterious hitchhiker Jimmy who comes across fashion photographer Carol Blane. She is on her way to a house to talk to Markham who is blackmailing her brother for a bounced cheque. He demands £5000.

At a cafe, Carol who comes across a report of an escaped convict that matches Jimmy's description persuades him to accompany her for £50. Carol asks Jimmy to play the part of a lawyer.

They both engage with Markham and his associates. The house has a butler who likes to listen in through the keyhole. Later that night Markham is found dead. Both Jimmy and Carol are suspects.

This is an unpretentious murder mystery B movie and a rather effective one as well. There is comedy, mystery and plenty of suspects. Sylvester does well in keeping his motives mysterious.

I think the blackmail angle would had worked better, if Carol's brother was being blackmailed for being gay rather than a bounced cheque.

(1953) House of Blackmail CRIME THRILLER/ MYSTERY

It has a blackmailer, Markham (Alexander Gauge) demanding five thousand pounds from Billy Blane (Barry Wynne) by Saturday. And he manages to convince him to get it from his sister, Carol Blane (Mary Germaine) since he does not have that kind of money. During the meeting with his sister, and as it turns out Billy forged his mother's signature to purchase something and was caught. She agrees to pay 5,000 with conditions that she would get to meet the blackmailer himself. And as she is driving down the highway, she then cross paths with a drifter who claimed to be homeless, he says his name is Jimmy (William Sylvester). Meanwhile, on the next stop Jimmy also appears to fit the description of an escape fugitive, James Corbett. And for some reason, Carol who picked him up from the highway, trusts him enough to ask him to pretend to act like her husband and lawyer, for the intention of grabbing the fraudulent check her brother forged the mother's signature on. And upon their arrival, it was their they meet the owner of the house, Pete Carter (John Arnatt); the blackmailer, Markham; the doctor, Welich (Hugo Schuster); the servant, Basset (Denis Shaw) and maid, Emma (Ingeborg Wells). As soon as Marham is found dead some time during the night and the phone wire has been cut, the owner then ordered all the current guests to stay at the residence until authorities showed up.

For a short running time of less than a hour and a half there is many twists and turns and surprising unexpected revelations that cannot be predicted for not everything is what it appears to be.

Really feels quite a bit earlier than the 50s and the cheap film stock doesn't help matters any. It's not just that though. The plot itself reminds me of 30s films, as does the soundtrack. I know I recently said this about a previous film I watched but this is very Edgar Wallace, Maybe I only feel that way because I've been reading him lately but then again his impact on mysteries and thriller since the 20s is not only undeniable but prodigious. This is quite an entertaining little film, falling squarely into the Mystery/whodunit genre and not really veering anywhere towards noir or even thriller. So it's good but quite safe. I'm thankful there's not too much comedic relief, as there often is with films of this kind, but it isn't dark or energetic either. A solid middle of the road mystery film.

HOUSE OF BLACKMAIL is an updating of the 'old dark house' style of murder mystery with added romance, blackmail, and escaped convict antics. The storyline involves a friendly but ruthless blackmailer (played by Alexander Gauge, well known to audiences for his role as Friar Tuck in THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD TV series) who has a foolish young man in his grips. The young man enlists the help of his sister to visit the blackmailer and help pay the debt. She picks up a mysterious hitchhiker en route and arrives at the blackmailer's home to find an assortment of characters present, each with their own hidden motivations.

The blackmailer is killed in the middle of the night and the inhabitants of the household cut off until the morning. One of them is the murderer, but which? HOUSE OF BLACKMAIL will reveal all, but not before a running time full of creeping about in corridors, false accusations, the burning of important documents in a grate, and a lot of hold-ups with guns have taken place.

This is a pretty entertaining little movie that offers up nothing we haven't seen before, yet it somehow works thanks to a fast pace and a focus on the mystery aspects of the story. There's no time for slow-moving romances and the like here, just a script that keeps you guessing. William Sylvester does well as the protagonist mixed up in the proceedings who may or may not hide his own murky motivations, and Mary Germaine is a pleasingly modern heroine. Denis Shaw's butler stands out, listening at keyholes and keeping racy pictures plastered to his bedroom walls. The ending is unsurprising but ties up this little mystery quite neatly.