Scotland Yard Inspector (1952) User Reviews

All fogged up

[sol-kay · 6/10 · 4 June 2008]

(Some Spoilers) Suave and handsome Cesar Romaro as American journalist Phil O'Dell has his hands full in "Lady in the Fog" in both charming the ladies and jumping out of windows as he solves a murder case that's 13 years old. In fact nobody knew it was a murder until Phil got wise to it.

All this started when Danny McMara,Richard Johnson, was purposely run down in the fog one evening by a mysterious lady friend of his. Danny's sister Heather, Bernadette O'Farrell, just happened to be Phil's girlfriend who took it upon himself to solve her brother death in what everyone at the time, including Scotland Yard, thought was just a tragic accident. Getting worked over by this shadowy thug Connors, Reed De Rover,a number of times and almost being arrested by the London Police for interfering in their investigation of Danny McMara's death Phil eventually gets to the bottom to why Danny was murdered and who was behind it.

It turns out that Danny had uncovered the murder of this inventor that took place in 1939 that was made to look, by his killers, to be an accident. The inventor died when his laboratory caught fire in a freak accident. Danny getting too close to the truth and at the same time blackmailing the killers ended up himself being murdered, that was made to look like an accident, by one of those whom he unknowingly, his girlfriend, was blackmailing!

Phil, on a tip he got, getting inside the Glenhaven Sanitarium finds the only person-the nutty as a fruitcake-Martain Sorrowby, Llyod Lamble, who knows the truth about that 1939 covered-up arson murder. Sorrowby, who's mind is completely lost in Ga-Ga land, can lead Phil to not only the truth behind the unidentified inventors murder but at the same time the murder of Danny McMara. Just as Phil was about to get Scotland Yard inspector Rigby, Campbell Singer, to come over to Gleanhaven to interview Sorrowby he, like Danny, died in a suspicious car accident just outside the sanitarium.

Realizing just what he got himself into Phil together with Heather track down Danny's killers but not before Heather, who had no idea whom she was dealing with, almost ended up getting murdered herself by someone, a friend of her's and Danny's, that she thought that she knew, and trusted, but really didn't!

Worth watching in that fact that that we see legendary Hollywood Latin Lover Cesar Romaro playing a Humphrey Bogart type private investigator. Getting belted by the bad guys all over the place Caser, or Phil O'Dell, still didn't lose his both good looks and sense of humor, he also has the best as well as last line in the movie, despite all the hits he took to the head and body, as well as his inflated ego, in the film.

Decent, Old-Fashioned Mystery

[boblipton · 6/10 · 27 June 2020]

Cesar Romero is an American PI trapped in London, waiting for the fog to lift so his plane can take off. He's passing the time in a bar with Lois Maxwell when a Peeler comes in to use the phone. A man has been struck and killed by a car. Miss Maxwell is convinced that it's her brother, so she and Romero go to look. It's as she feared. She is convinced he was murdered, but Romero's contacts in CID are retired, and there are lots of traffic accidents in Pea-soupers. So Romero and Miss Maxwell investigate.

It's a rather old-fashioned movie for 1952; hardly surprising, considering it's financed by Lippert and Hammer. Nonetheless, it's a nicely put together thriller, that leads to some unlikely places, with decent performances; director Sam Newfield, who spent too much of his career at PRC, demonstrates that given a decent script, he can turn out a good movie.

Dame in the Fog

[zardoz-13 · 5/10 · 12 June 2016]

An incompetent amateur gumshoe, American magazine writer Philip 'Phil' O'Dell (Cesar Romero of "Ocean's Eleven") struggles to convince skeptical Scotland Yard Inspector Rigby (Campbell Singer of "Murder on Monday") that an apparent hit-and-run accident was actually a premeditated, cold-blooded, homicide. Of course, we know O'Dell doesn't suffer from delusions because director Sam Newfield stages the crime at the outset of this epic. The charming but inept hero O'Dell is at a nightclub when he meets Heather McMara (Bernadette O'Farrell of "Bikini Baby") as he is waxing nostalgic about old times with Sid the bartender (Wensley Pithey) when about their exploits in World War II. O'Dell is intently mixing up a new alcoholic drink when Heather gives him a hand. About that time, a uniformed London Bobbie enters the premises and informs Heather that her brother, Danny McMara (Richard Johnson of "Never So Few"), has been a traffic accident victim. Since the event occurred during a murky, impenetrable fog, the authorities have classified it as an accident.

Nevertheless, Heather is adamant that her brother Danny was murdered. The cheerful, urbane, well-intentioned O'Dell champions her cause, despite a conspicuous lack of evidence. The hopeless gallant O'Dell launches his own investigation to resolve the matter after the authorities balk . Not only does he find Heather enchanting, but also his flight has been delayed owing to the same fog that contributed to Danny's death. A comic gag that runs throughout "Scotland Yard Inspector" concerns updates about O'Dell's flight. The harried airport manager Boswell (Frank Birch) seems to have no luck either pleasing or placating our protagonist. Along the way, O'Dell makes a buffoon out of himself when he assures Heather that he has a long-time friend in Scotland Yard. Little does O'Dell know that his old friend is no longer an inspector. O'Dell's first blunder occurs when he tries to play a joke on the new Scotland Yard Inspector and O'Dell discovers that his old friend no longer holds that position. Instead, O'Dell winds up alienating the replacement by accidentally breaking the poor fellow's pipe and then tripping over things in his office. Since Heather cannot offer any tangible evidence aside from her intuition about her brother's demise, Rigby has no basis to initiate a murder investigation.

Mind you, this doesn't discourage the overzealous O'Dell, and he starts nosing around, interviewing nightclub proprietress Margaret 'Peggy' Maybrick (Lois Maxwell of "Goldfinger") and a movie producer Christopher Hampden (Geoffrey Keen of "Moonraker") about Heather's brother. Eventually, our hero encounters trouble when he tricks his way into Danny's disheveled apartment. An intruder assaults him and departs in a flash. Afterward, O'Dell discovers a wire recording reel and tries to conceal himself in the shower when Rigby and Detective Sergeant Reilly walk in on him. Rigby has already warned O'Dell about interfering in police matters, but this doesn't dissuade O'Dell from blundering headlong into more trouble. O'Dell drops the wire recording reel on the floor and it rolls out into the apartment and he ends up confronting Rigby and the sergeant. Miraculously, O'Dell is able to extract himself from this predicament. Rigby makes disparaging remarks about amateur sleuths. Interestingly enough, Heather doesn't accompany her crusading friend on his jaunts. At one point, O'Dell enters a sanitarium and masquerades as a doctor to speak with a man, Martin Sorrowby (Lloyd Lamble) who knew Danny.

Not long afterward, the evil nurse has Martin run down in the street. Inspector Rigby arrives as a crowd had gathered around Martin. Interestingly enough, the little old lady who said she witnessed the hit and run was Katie Johnson, the same old dame who survived the repeated attempts on her life by Alec Guinness and company in the original "The Lady Killers." Eventually, Inspector Rigby decides that O'Dell isn't totally bonkers. By that time, O'Dell finds himself pitted against three of the villains.

Okay, so I won't reveal who killed Danny because he was blackmailing them. The final scene shows O'Dell and Heather now married trying to book a flight to America. "Scotland Yard Inspector" is no great shakes and the mystery is no surprise. Future Bond supporting plays Lois Maxwell and Geoffrey Keen give a good account of themselves, with Keen making a good villain. "Adventure Island" director Sam Newfield staged this nimble mystery comedy thriller abroad at Riverside Studios, Hammersmith, London, England. Cesar Romeo makes a good leading man and he knows how to handle the serious stuff and the silly shenanigans without embarrassing himself.

Typical Hammer thriller of the era

[Leofwine_draca · 5/10 · 20 March 2021]

LADY IN THE FOG (1952) is another of Hammer's early potboilers, adopting a film noir-style thriller template rather than the pure murder mysteries elsewhere. The hero is none other than Cesar Romero (TV's Joker) playing a visiting American who gets drawn in when a man is run down by a car in the fog, the victim of an apparent accident although it transpires that he knew rather too much and died for that knowledge. As usual there's a historical mystery to uncover, a gang of criminals to be brought to justice, and even a bit of action as Romero finds himself having run-ins with henchmen and the like. Geoffrey Keen has a particularly good supporting role, although the film itself is distinctly average: fun in some places (particularly during the climax), but routine in others.

B movie starring Cesar Romero

[blanche-2 · 6/10 · 18 December 2008]

"Lady in the Fog" is a 1952 film starring Cesar Romero as an amateur detective, Philip O'Dell, an American currently in London. He helps a woman (Lois Maxwell) whom he meets in a bar - her brother was run down by a car in the heavy London fog, but she is convinced that it wasn't accidental. O'Dell investigates, and finds himself involved with an old case, a mental hospital, a filmmaker, and a nightclub.

Romero is a delightful actor, and this story has a lot of comedic elements which he acquits very well. He was very underrated, which is clear if one sees him in "The Captain from Castile" and "Julia Misbehaves." The story of "Lady in the Fog" is about as lame as it gets and pretty easy to figure out. It's made on the cheap. Romero is always worth seeing, though.

"These wretched fogs cause so many accidents"

[hwg1957-102-265704 · 5/10 · 14 December 2022]

A man is knocked down on a foggy night in London town. His sister Heather McMara has doubts it was an ordinary hit-and-run accident. An American, Philip O'Dell she meets in a pub while waiting for her brother helps her to uncover the truth, involving murder, an invention, an asylum and blackmail. The titular 'Lady In The Fog' who ran over the brother was easy to spot as soon as she appeared. The main cast of Bernadette O'Farrell as the sister and imported Cesar Romero as the American were adequate. Better were some of the supporting cast, particularly Campbell Singer as the policeman, Lloyd Lamble as the mad (or is he?) Martin Sorrowby, Frank Birch as the beleagured airport manager Boswell, Peter Swanwick as the enthusiastic fireman Smithers and dear Katie Johnson as Mad Mary. They were worth watching the movie.

Has a slow start but warms up to an great climax!

[JohnHowardReid · 7/10 · 24 December 2017]

Cesar Romero is also the star of Lady in the Fog (1952) (Scotland Yard Inspector in the USA), competently directed by Pat Jackson and Sam Newfield for Hammer/Lippert. (Jackson and Newfield did not work in tandem. My educated guess is that Jackson was replaced by Newfield when wanted for a more prestigious assignment).

The movie also boasts moody photography by Walter J. Harvey.

After a slow start, the film gradually picks up pace, coming to a terrific climax in a movie studio.

Geoffrey Keen gives a great performance, while Bernadette O'Farrell easily steals the female honors from the nominal star, the surprisingly colorless (at least in this assignment) Lois Maxwell.

Available on an excellent VCI DVD.

Dull convoluted British noir that fails to meet its mark.

[mark.waltz · 3/10 · 19 March 2010]

Cesar Romero is an American detective in England who takes over what Scotland Yard won't when the troubled brother of a young woman (Lois Maxwell) he meets is murdered. The brother is briefly seen in the very beginning, being run down by a car in the night fog. The murder is declared an accident, and Romero takes it upon himself to try and help the sister prove her brother was killed. It's an exciting beginning that unfortunately becomes as convoluted as one of those mazes scientists let mice run through for experimentation. Initially intriguing, it eventually becomes monotonous and after a while, one ceases to care and looses interest, and is begging to be let out. Still, I pondered on through the tedium, feeling I needed a score card to follow this plot which introduces several possible suspects yet truly lacks in a believable motive. By the time the killer(s) were revealed, I was wearing the battery out on my DVD remote seeing how much time was left. Yet, the great beginning, which lead to a ponderous middle, finally had a rather thrilling conclusion, a chase sequence that results in two brutal deaths. But there were some moments where I wondered if Romero could possibly cross the street without getting hit with how many times he peaked out from behind a wall right after a bullet barely missed him. Maxwell is a believable heroine, and Romero, with his Yankee Doodle Dandy "Get Up and Go", is very much out of place in this staid British atmosphere where not one British character shows any sign of life outside of walking and talking. It's a characterization of the English that is totally untrue and an insult to some of the marvelous British character players that show how lively they really are.

In Foggy Old London Town!

[bsmith5552 · 6/10 · 29 March 2020]

"Scotland Yard Inspector" for some unknown reason was re-titled from it's more apropos original title "Lady In the Fog". It was also a rare opportunity for star Cesar Romero to take the starring role.

The brother of young Heather McMara (Bernadette O'Farrell) is run over by an unknown party in the heavy fog of London. She doesn't believe that it was an accident but has no proof otherwise. American magazine writer Philip O'Dell (Romero) comes to her aid. He brings her to Scotland Yard and Inspector Rigby (Campbell Singer) and Sgt. Reilly (Alistair Hunter) for help. They believe that the accident was a simple hit and run and not murder.

O'Dell's investigation consists of trying to trace McMara's last movements. He goes to a night club where he frequented and meets club owner Peggy Maybrick (Lois Maxwell) who cannot provide any help. O"Dell leans that McMara had worked for movie producer Christopher Hampden (Geoffrey Keen). He meets with him but learns nothing.

O'Dell traces McMara to a small town where a fire had occurred thirteen years earlier and where McMara had been asking questions. It seems a trio of workers had invented a new auto part which one of the partners wanted to give to the government. The other two partners murdered the third and disappeared with the invention.

One ex-partner, Martin Sorrowby (Lloyd Lamble) is found in an insane asylum. O'dell learns of the murder from Sorrowby but is soon silenced. O"Dell figures out that Hampden is one of the partners and that he has been ,married to the third, Margaret Maybrick, yes the same Maybrick that owns the nightclub under the name of Peggy. Margaret becomes friendly with Heather and tries to run her over as well but is thwarted in her attempt.

Hampden sends his thug Connors (Reed De Rowen) after O'Dell and..................

Cesar Romero rarely was given the lead role in a movie but gets it here but had to go to England to get it. He makes a formidable smart talking hero. Lois Maxwell whom you don't really see until the last half of the movie, is best remembered as Miss Moneypenny in the early James Bond Films. Bernadette O'Farrell is best remembered as Maid Marion in the long running Robin Hood TV series starring Richard Greene.

Enjoyable and even bouncy mystery

[oscar-35 · 16 September 2009]

*Spoiler/plot- 1953, Scotland Yard Inspector, A Yank newsman in London sets out to solve a murder, American style with a twist. The rest of the plot includes assaults, mysterious tape recording, a visit to an asylum, and even a plot to steal an inventor's secrets.

*Special Stars- Cesar Romero plays the news reporter lead. Lois Maxwell plays the damsel in distress. Bernadett O'Farrell plays the baddie dame. Campbell Singer plays the comedy relief.

*Theme- The Americans can do it better.

*Based on- BBC Radio serial "Lady In the Fog'.

*Trivia/location/goofs- English Hammer mystery and cinema noir film. James Bond's "Mrs Moneypenny" Lois Maxwell early film. Some lost seldom seen English film noir of the early 50's. The comedy relief in this film is over played and very hard to watch and accept. It is most theatrical and over-the-top most times.

*Emotion- Enjoyable and even bouncy mystery that keeps a nice pacing with Cesar Romero playing a bumbling but persistent American reporter showing up the famous London's Scotland Yard's Criminal Investigate Department on a murder. Nice to see Mr. Romero's excellent acting 'chops' for mystery and his role being completely natural such that his other American film roles were seldom the same. This is a very nice change and the viewer is rewarded by watching his ease with this role with this simple plot.

Logically unstable film.

[daviuquintultimate · 5/10 · 25 January 2024]

In the thick fog of a London night a man is deliberately run over by a car driven by a woman: he was Denny McMara. The police classify it as an hit-and-run accident, but the young Heather, Danny's sister - basing on her own "intuition", but lacking of evidence -, is convinced it was a murder. An American magazine writer, Philip O'Dell, mainly motivated by the sex appeal of Heather, wants to help her prove her point, though Scotland Yard's inspector Rigby warns him not to mix, as an amateur private eye, with the sound investigation routine of the police.

But O'Dell, little by little, manages to uncover a ring of 4/5 people that would have had interest in killing Danny, their motive, and even the actual murderer. The problem is that every evidence he finds happen to be destroyed before he can show it to the Yard's inspector. At the end Rigby himself congratulates with O'Dell for solving the mystery: and we don't know why, because all the members of the gang are dead, by now, so the eventual evidence in the end is as feeble as it was in the beginning.

Quite cumbersome and totally predictable film, in whose plot nothing new happens; to make it worse, the comic traits are just laughable (ironically), not amusing.

O'Dell and Heather, at the end, of course, marry, which doesn't make the film any better, on the contrary...

It's all about a lady lost in the fog

[clanciai · 9/10 · 22 November 2020]

Who is Margaret? What happened to her? She just vanished. That's the mystery here, and for all accounts, of all who knew her, she is irrevocably lost and can't be found ever again. She vanished in some fire before the war (13 years ago) with several casualties in some work shop for exclusive technical instruments outside London somewhere, when beautiful Bernadette O'Farrell happens to meet Cesar Romero (as a journalist on a brief visit from America) at a bar where he is mixing an explosive cocktail, whch actually explodes like a bomb. That's just one of a number of comic curiosities in this film, which turn up every now and then. There is a film studio also with a great famous film producer with a sense of humour constantly laughing, but eventually he stops that when he needs a few more drinks (Geoffrey Keen, for once not a police inspector). The grand finale is in that film studio, somewhat reminding of other similar finales in great thrillers, like for instance "The Intimate Stranger" with Richard Baseheart and "Charade" with Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn, but this was ten years before that. The problem with Bernadette O'Farrell is that her brother has just been killed in a car accident (as someone drove him over in the fog), and she knows it was not an accident, while she has no evidence. Cesar Romero gets as interested in this as in her, and they start examing and digging up graveyards, figuratively speaking, and eventually locate a murder committed 13 years ago. There are some scenes in an asylum where an ingenious inventor is kept locked up, the asylum telling all who ask for him that he is dead, which Cesar Romero eventually finds out he isn't. There are some intriguing reminiscences here of James Hilton and his "Random Harvest", to some degree probably inspired by that ace of a story, and so the intrigues go rolling on. It's a great thriller on a small scale and quite exciting and captivating enough to keep your interest up all the way. Finally the mystery of Margaret is resolved, as she proves to be the lady in the fog.

Pretty average.

[planktonrules · 6/10 · 2 December 2022]

In the 1950s, many British film companies recruited American actors to star in their movies. Why? Well, the thought was that these British movies would be much easier to market to the States with a few familiar faces. Generally, these actors were second-tier...good actors but not the super-high priced ones.

"Lady in the Fog" is one of these British films with an American in the lead. Caersar Romero plays Philip O'Dell, a guy who is trying to leave the UK but whose flight is delayed due to fog. During this waiting period, he meets a woman and they talk. Soon she is alerted that her brother is dead...run over in the fog. Considering the brother's unsavory associates, she assumes his death was no accident. But there isn't much to go on or prove her theory, so the police don't take the case. Instead, O'Dell investigates the case himself....and opens up a huge can of worms, so to speak.

The film is very average....a decent story, decent acting. Nothing bad nor outstanding here...the definition of a nice time-passer.

Inspecting Scotland Yard.

[DoorsofDylan · 7/10 · 20 November 2023]

Inspecting DVD's to view, I found out that despite having seen Case of the Baby-Sitter, (also reviewed) I had never got round to seeing the other two movies on the Volume 9 of Forgotten Noir, which led to me visiting Scotland Yard.

View on the film:

Whilst having the odd rough patch, VCI present a transfer which has a very good soundtrack and a pretty watchable print, which are backed by interesting extras.

Revealed in the selected scene commentary/ featurette by Joel Blumberg that the original title for the movies was Lady in the Fog, director Sam Newfield & Stolen Assignment (1955-also reviewed) cinematographer Walter J. Harvey drive straight into the thick fog of a Film Noir atmosphere, via first person shot running over a victim.

Drizzling a dash of Comedy with a film within a film pull-out shot, Newfield and Harvey stylishly use the movie set to cast the curious O'Dell in stark low-lighting, which shatters to a cracking rough and tumble final battle, and an enticing sign of the upcoming wave of Hammer Horror, from this Hammer Noir sending the villain to a resting place in the abyss.

Taking the odd hop in order to reach the last showdown, and keeping O'Dell (played with a charismatic, stiff upper lip charm by Cesar Romero) being blocked from returning to the US, the screenplay by Orville H. Hampton and Lester Powell gradually pull stranger in a strange land Noir loner O'Dell into the web of crimes that is being made, with O'Dell's attempt to peel them away, gaining the attention of others, (who include future James Bond regulars Geoffrey Keen and a delightful Lois Maxwell) who push O'Dell towards inspecting Scotland Yard.

Scotland Yard Inspector

[CinemaSerf · 6/10 · 25 December 2022]

Cesar Romero ("O'Dell") is a visiting American sitting in a bar in London making a drink that wouldn't have looked out of place in Merlin's laboratory. He and the barman are trying to encourage the sceptical "Peggy" (Lois Maxwell) to partake when a police man enters the bar to use the phone to report an hit and run accident outside. She is expecting her brother - could he be the victim? Well it turns out he was, and now she and "O'Dell" determine to find out whether or not it was an accident and to get to the bottom of things. The mystery element of this is all a little procedural, but there is a bit of chemistry between Romero and Maxwell; there is quite a fun sub-plot between the American and his travel agent "Boswell" (Frank Birch) who is trying to repatriate him despite a pea-soup fog at the airport, and Geoffrey Keen finds himself with a more substantial part to deliver as the suspicious "Hampden". The aforementioned fog and the creepy Ivor Slaney score also contribute well to this by-the-numbers, but quite passable crime-noir.