Murder at 3 AM Movie Review 372

Murder at 3 AM is a 1953 British thriller directed by Francis Searle and starring Dennis Price,Peggy Evans and Philip Saville.

Inspector Peter Lawton(Price) meets his sister Joan(Evans) and she tells him that she has a new boyfriend.
His name is Teddy(Saville) and when he meets Peter, they discuss a spate of murders t hat have been happening in London. The killer is a man who targets women who are alone at night. He waits for them after they come out of nightclubs and then stabs them at 3 AM. Teddy suggests to Peter that the killer could be planning his murders using the names of the nightclubs to spell out something. Peter is intrigued and the police wait outside nightclubs, but they do not find the killer. Peter wonders if maybe Teddy might be the killer after a while.

The police set up a trap for the killer and they have Joan dress up and go into a nightclub. They are waiting nearby to see if anyone follows her. Joan gets into a taxi and she is driven off. The police realise that the taxi has been stolen and they figure out that this must be the killer. They follow Joan to her house where the killer is just about to kill her. She sees that it is Teddy and she pleads with him. He almost kills her, but the police arrive. He escapes them. Joan tells them that it was Teddy. The cops are sure that they have their man, but it turns out that Teddy has a half brother who looks exactly like him and it is him who has been killing women.
His name is Jim and he tells Teddy to take the blame for the killings while he escapes.

Teddy and Jim face off as Teddy refuses to go down for his killings. The police catch Teddy and think that they have their man, but Joan tells them that it can't be Teddy as she scratched the face of the killer and Teddy's face is clear. Jim steps out with a gun and threatens them to let him escape of he will shoot. Teddy and Jim struggle and Jim ends up falling out of a window into the river. He is presumed dead. Teddy and Joan are happy and Peter is happy that his sister is not dating a killer and the case has been solved. This was an entertaining, if a little simple, tale. It had good performances and there was nothing wrong with it. It is a good thriller from the 1950's and I had never heard of it before. If you can manage to get hold of it, it is worth a watch. I will give it 6/10.