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.

I got this film in a 9 movies in one collection in a Wal-Mart bargain bin. The story is about a guy who creates "death-beam" like creation that could help Britian win wars (Sure would have been useful against Nazis). Anyway, the death-beam gets stolen and ... Thats the thing, I have no freaking idea whats going on. From what I can remember, people go into places and fight and talk and dance. This goes absolutely nowhere. Im stuck watching people mumble and fight. Seriously BORING.

Well, I would have given this a one if it were not for the good fight scenes. They were impressive considering the film was made 70 years ago. In these scenes, people are punched and have chairs smashed against their backs. It almost reminded me of old James Bond fight scenes, just without the good camera shots. Still, they don't save the movie from being utter junk.

Only watch this film if you are interested or just wanna waste some time.

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.

This is the dire feature version of what I imagine is an equally dire serial. Ralph Byrd has invented a "death ray" that can blow up battleships more than a hundred miles away. He wants to give it to all the members of the League of Nations, which he imagines will bring world peace, but a criminal gang has stolen it and plans to sell it to a foreign power. Byrd goes searching through the dives of Paris under the direction of his uncle, Herbert Rawlinson, the eponymous Blake etc., instead of releasing the blueprints or building another.

The group of criminals is led by the Scorpion, a stooped figure in a slouch hat and cape who holds a lobster claw over his face as a disguise. This goes on for 70 minutes without much happening except a badly executed Apache dance or two.

How does the death ray work? It doesn't matter, because it's a Maguffin. A Maguffin derives from a story that Alfred Hitchcock liked to tell. A man gets on a train with a contraption, which he stows in the overhead rack. "What's that?" asks a fellow passenger. "It's a Maguffin." "What's a Maguffin?" "It's a device for trapping tigers in the Scottish Highlands." "There are no tigers in the Scottish Highlands." "Then that's never a Maguffin."

Maybe it was Hitchcock writer Angus McPhail who told the story, but in the movies a Maguffin is something people want desperately. It sets the plot in motion. It doesn't really matter what it is. Hitchcock liked Maguffins, from the secret plans in THE THIRTY-NINE STEPS to whatever it was that James Mason stole in NORTH BY NORTH-WEST. Film makers still use Maguffins. Remember the briefcase in PULP FICTION? Whenever the briefcase was opened, a light illuminated the face of the actor looking into the case. What was in the case? A light bulb.

Which is more than you get in this badly written, poorly executed, worse-printed movie.

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.