Blackout is a 1950 British

crime In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a State (polity), state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definit ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

directed by

Robert S. Baker Robert Sidney Baker (27 October 1916 – 30 September 2009) was a British film and television producer, who at times was also a cinematographer and director. Born in London and serving as an artillery man in the British Army, he was posted to Nor ...

. The film featured

Maxwell Reed Maxwell Reed (2 April 1919 – 31 October 1974) was a Northern Irish actor who became a matinee idol in several British films during the 1940s and 1950s. Biography Early Years Reed was born in Larne. He left school aged fifteen to work on ...

Dinah Sheridan Dinah Sheridan (born Dinah Nadyejda Ginsburg; 17 September 1920 – 25 November 2012) was an English actress with a career spanning seven decades. She was best known for the films ''Genevieve'' (1953) and ''The Railway Children'' (1970); the lon ...

Patric Doonan Patric Doonan (George William Doonan) (18 April 1926 in Derby, Derbyshire – 10 March 1958 in London) was a British stage and screen actor. He was the son of comedian George Vincent Doonan and Doris Mary (Nee Endsor) he was the brother of ...

Kynaston Reeves Philip Arthur Reeves (29 May 18935 December 1971), known professionally as Kynaston Reeves, was an English character actor who appeared in numerous films and many television plays and series. Early life Reeves was born in London on 29 May 189 ...

, Annette D. Simmonds,

Eric Pohlmann Eric Pohlmann (german: Erich Pohlmann; born Erich Pollak; 18 July 1913 – 25 July 1979) was an Austrian theatre, film and television character actor who worked mostly in the United Kingdom. He is known for voicing Ernst Stavro Blofeld, th ...

, Michael Evans and Michael Brennan in the lead roles. The film includes the first featured appearance of

Ronald Leigh-Hunt Ronald Leigh-Hunt (5 October 1920 – 12 September 2005) was a British film and television actor. His father was a stockbroker and he attended the Italia Conti Academy. He began acting whilst serving in the army. Though never a major star, he ...

Plot

An engineer, Christopher Pelley, loses his eyesight in an accident but is due to have an operation to restore his sight. One night he goes to a friend's house but the driver drops him at the wrong address by mistake. Pelley goes inside and discovers a body, as well as a ring, on the floor but the three killers, who are still in the house, decide to simply knock him out once they realise he is blind and cannot identify them. When Pelley comes round the police investigate his story but cannot locate the house or body, so after he regains his eyesight after the operation he decides to try to solve the mystery. He returns to the house to find Patricia Dale living there with her father and from a photo on the piano he realises that the ring belongs to her brother, Norman, who is presumed dead after a plane crash a year before. Patricia agrees to investigate the mystery with Pelley, and they speak to Norman's friend Chalky, who was with Edward the night he was presumed to have died. Chalky gives them a couple of leads, and when Pelley follows up one at a travel agency he meets Guy Sinclair who works there and whom Pelly recognises as one of the three men who knocked him out by his voice. It becomes clear that the three men - Sinclair, a thug called Mickey and their leader, Otto - are involved in a smuggling ring, and Pelley manages to get hold of a book which, although in code, incriminates all three men in the smuggling racket. Pelley tracks the crooks down to an isolated house, The Grange, but is caught by Mickey and held prisoner in the house but manages to escape with the help of Lila, a girlfriend of Norman's. He enlists Chalky's help, and they go to see Lila, who has information for them, but she is killed by Mickey before they can speak to her. Patricia disappears after receiving a message asking her to meet someone at midday, whilst Pelley realises that Chalky has been working with the gang all the time, but he is killed by mistake by the gang instead of Pelley. Pelley then goes to find Patricia after telling her father to contact the police, and he finds her being held hostage at The Grange. It then transpires that her brother Norman is alive and is actually the gang's ringleader who faked his own death to evade arrest; the body Pelley stumbled over in the house was that of a customs investigator. Pelley manages to foil the gang and Norman falls to his death trying to escape from Pelley and the police, and Pelley and Patrica leave hand in hand.

Cast

as Chris Pelley *

as Pat Dale *

as Chalky *

as Mr. Dale * Annette D. Simmonds as Lila Drew *

as Otto Ford * Michael Evans as Guy Sinclair * Michael Brennan as Mickey Garston *

Ernest Butcher Edward Ernest Butcher (7 April 1885 – 8 June 1965) was a British actor, on stage from 1935, and with many film and TV appearances. He was the second husband of the actress Muriel George, and stepfather to her son, the critic John Davenpor ...

as Benny *

Campbell Singer Campbell Singer (born Jacob Kobel Singer; 16 March 1909 – 16 February 1976) was a British character actor who featured in a number of stage, film and television roles during his long career. He was also a playwright and dramatist. Life He was ...

as Inspector *

Madoline Thomas Madoline Thomas (born Madoline Mary Price; 2 January 1890 – 30 December 1989) was a Welsh character actress whose career, beginning in midlife, encompassed stage, film and television roles. Early life Madoline Mary Price was born in Abergave ...

as Housekeeper * Basil Appleby as Norman Dale *

as Dr. Langley * Pat Metcalfe as Maid * Ida Patlanski as Postmistress *

Jean Lodge Jean Margaret Lodge (born 4 August 1927) is an English stage, film and television actress. Career In 1952 she appeared alongside Claude Hulbert in the West End in Constance Cox's '' Lord Arthur Savile's Crime''. In 1954 she starred in William ...

as Nurse

Production

Blackout was later remade as " Blind Spot", a British crime drama (1958 film), by the same producers, but a different director.

References

External links

*{{IMDb title, 0042258 1950 crime drama films 1950 films British crime drama films British black-and-white films Films directed by Robert S. Baker 1950s English-language films 1950s British films