Radio Cab Murder

Radio Cab Murder is well made, low budget B film starring Jimmy Hanley as taxi driver who sees a bank being robbed and gives chase.

However it turns out that Hanley is an ex-con safe cracker who has attempted to go straight. The police think he has all the credentials to infiltrate the gang and they conspire to have him fired from his job.

However the gang leader is cunning and it seems always one step ahead of the police and Hanley.

There are several twists and turns, the film has enough suspense. Hanley is an amiable lead, several well known faces pop up such as Sam Kydd and Frank Thornton.

Amateurish low budget British crime yarn about a former safe-cracker turned cabbie who agrees to help the London police apprehend a robbery racket. There are a lot of moving parts to this which makes the movie somewhat interesting including a good chase scene through the streets of London - though you can't help but wonder where the police are! The acting isn't bad with Sonia Holm in the bad girl role particularly good. The scenes where the cab company is trying to locate the missing cab actually gets pretty funny -- 'where are you now?' It's predictably corny but still an enjoyable time waster.

Enjoyable B-movie crime thriller. A taxi cab driver follows a getaway vehicle and ends up going under cover in order to catch the gang. A well-paced plot and generally good performances from a largely unknown cast. Jimmy Hanley is an interesting lead playing the now decent and reformed cabby. Characters smoke in almost every scene. It has a sense of calm politeness that many films from this post-war period have. Touches on striking, also a common of the time. The finale is exciting, with everyone coming together. It may have been the inspiration for the climax of Carry On Cabby a decade later. If you like this kind of thing, a worthwhile watch.

The Radio Cab Murder despite a few holes in the plot is a fewer frills noir than even American films would have had back then from our B studios. Still the action is kept at a good pace and there's not much extraneous material getting in the way of the plot.

By one of those movie coincidences Jimmy Hanley an ex-convict now driving a cab tails a robbery/murder suspect in another cab, but Hanley loses them in a park. Right after that an anonymous letter is sent to his cab company asking them by what right to they put the public in danger by hiring an ex-convict.

The police think it's a set up of sorts and Hanley goes to work for them. He's contacted soon enough by the same gang who needs his skills as a safecracker.

There are way too many coincidences in this film's story for me to give it a top rating. Hanley is cast well as a British every man, he'd grown out of playing callow youths which he primarily did in the Forties. Best by far in the cast supporting him is Sonia Holm who plays a beautiful but deadly female who is part of the gang not just a moll for the leader. Lana Morris plays Hanley's girlfriend who is the cab dispatcher who is his lifeline and proves to be resourceful.

At one point a snitch is murdered and the cops can't find evidence of a homicide. I won't reveal how they did it because it's what almost happens to Hanley. But forensics even in 1954 should have figured it out.

Radio Cab Murder despite flaws is still entertaining enough.

RADIO CAB MURDER is a solid little thriller starring the ubiquitous Jimmy Hanley and directed by the ubiquitous Vernon Sewell. Hanley features as a former con gone straight who now makes a living as a taxi driver. He very nearly foils a bank robbery and is subsequently sent undercover into the gang by the local cops.

It's a solid premise and one which Sewell wrings every last drop of suspense out of. Hanley is a likable lead and the film features an interesting supporting cast of likable character actors doing their bit, although it's very unusual to see Sam Kydd playing a villain for a change. Watch out for Frank Thornton in a minor role as one of the coppers.

One of this movie's best assets is Sonia Holm, a femme fatale who wouldn't be out of place in a comparable American movie of the era. The usual bank robbery scenarios are handled adroitly, as are the scenes involving cabs racing through the almost deserted streets of our capital, and the ending in particular is very cleverly achieved. RADIO CAB MURDER is one to watch for fans of the era.