Blackout (1950)

 

Starring Maxwell Reed (later to become Mr Joan Collins), Blackout is the story of a blind man who stumbles upon a murder scene but, after regaining his sight following an operation, goes on the hunt for the killers:

 

Maxwell Reed

Maxwell Reed

Maxwell Reed

Maxwell Reed

Released from hospital, he returns to the crime scene only to discover no evidence or report of a murder, instead a woman (Dinah Sheridan) ...

Maxwell Reed & Dinah Sheridan

... is living there with her father. The two are grieving for the death of the son of the family, who went missing after a plane crash. He shows Sheridan the ring he had found at the scene of the crime which  had belonged to her brother. Believing his story, the two team up to investigate exactly what happened on the night of the murder.

 

The film seems like a desperate attempt to cash in on the popularity of American Film Noir (not that it had been given that name in 1950). However, whilst it might fall into the category of British Noir, it just doesn't work. There's nothing wrong with the plot - a blind witness regaining his sight and trying to solve a mystery, is perfect film noir fodder - but Reed can't carry off playing this character. Raincoats and hats; cigarettes and sneers; shadows and smartarse comments, don't turn a man into Humphrey Bogart.

 

The trouble with the film is that Reed's character is an engineer, not a detective, and isn't even believable as an engineer. Put simply, he doesn't have the acting ability to convince the audience he is an engineer who is trapped in a web of mystery. If it was me in his situation, I would just go to the police. But no, he has to try his whole 'Philip Marlowe' routine.

 

And that's where everything goes wrong. Reed swaps his suits for a raincoat ...

Maxwell Reed

Maxwell Reed

 

... and starts playing the tough guy. When Sheridan pleads with him "Just stay out of trouble" he replies "I'll think about it." When he is tied to a chair and under interrogation by the 'bad guys' ...

Maxwell Reed

Maxwell Reed

... he makes jokes about the bosses henchmen (above) - "I see you've got your girlfriends with you." - despite having a gun pointed at him by men knows have already killed once. If I ever find myself in his situation I will go straight to the police, present them with the evidence (the ring), get the family to explain the situation, then let the police get on with their job.

 

But if I have one problem with this film - one thing that irritated me more than anything else - were Maxwell Reed's eyebrows:

 

They just looked a little bit too plucked and shaped for my liking.