With hindsight there's a wonderful irony at work here; screenwriter Curt Siodmak (kid brother of director Robert) was born in Dresden, Germany, and turned out this screenplay about the nightly bombings in London a good two years before Bomber Harris orchestrated the almost total annihilation of Dresden (which had no military value) by carpet bombing. Siodmak had made his name writing a different kind of horror with titles like Wolf Man, I Walked With A Zombie and the like and managed to pull off this neat 'why' not so much as 'who' dunnit featuring John Abbot as the cool assassin and Lloyd Corrigan - so memorable in the Jose Ferrer Cyrano de Bergerac and later The Manchurian Candidate - as the intrepid detective who solves the case. At 50-odd minutes it's a nice little curio.

You already know who the murder is when the first one is committed, so there is no mystery here as far as that is concerned. The mystery is to as why, and that plot point also really comes to no surprise. This is more interesting for its plot set-up, the abundance of eccentric British characters and a twist that comes out from the plot revelation that was obvious a mile away. It all surrounds a frail young woman (Mary McLeod) who witnessed her parents being killed during an air raid and is instantly paranoid of the intellectual man (John Abbott) who owns the house where she is resting. Anita Sharp-Bolster, a British version of Margaret Hamilton, is amusing as a hatchet-faced busybody who suspects Abbott of nefarious deeds, and indeed, he is. The victims are dispatched with the aid of a hidden weapon which literally causes a physical burning that kills quickly after horrendous pain. Portly Lloyd Corrigan (as an easy going detective) is obviously not British, but it is his investigation which exposes everything. While there are some interesting things about this low-budget Republic programmer, it really isn't all that intriguing even though there are some interesting elements about it.

London Blackout Murders (1943) * 1/2 (out of 4) Bland, boring and rather predictable "mystery" from Republic set during London as WWII is at full steam. The people are terrified about the bombs dropping from the air but they've also got to worry about murders happening in the streets by a nut with a hypodermic needle. It turns out the killer is a store owner (John Abbott) who is considered one of the nicest men around so it's not who is doing the crimes but why. When you watch a Republic film you know very well not to expect anything overly special. At best you hope for a slightly entertaining film but sadly that's not the case with this thing, which even at 55-minutes seems way too long and pointless. The film tries to be clever and there are a few nice touches but in the end there's just not enough going on with this thing to make it worth viewing. Some of the interesting aspects is having it set during the war with the people of London having to deal with the air raids. This also leads to a couple nice scenes showing the women in the factories working while the men are off fighting in the war. This was something that was happening and it's rather shocking that so few movies mention it. We even get some talk of Jack the Ripper but outside of this stuff London BLACKOUT MURDERS is very flat. The entire reasons as to why this nice man is killing people should be obvious within the first few minutes of the film so when the big twist happens it comes way too late. Abbott is a fine actor and does what he can with the role but even he can't work miracles. Mary McLeod plays the woman renting a room from him but she can't add much either. The final courtroom stuff is rather embarrassing so needless to say there's not really any reason to check this one out. Universal horror vet Curt Siodmak wrote the screenplay.

'London Blackout Murders' is a 50 minute suspense B-picture from early 1943 about the then-current war in London. I'm always amazed at how Hollywood would make so many films in the early 40s about the war, whereas today it took them until 2006 to release anything on the Afghan and Iraq wars. This film definitely embodies the one-for-all and all-for-one spirit that films of this era did, but in this quick running time, there isn't much time for anything.The story involves a man (John Abbott - an excellent actor) who is murdering select individuals during the German bombings of London. He uses a hypodermic needle that is embedded in his pipe. So, the film is not about who, but why. We follow a young lady (Mary McLeod) who, after her parents are killed in bombings, is boarding in his building. She sees the needle in the pipe and is suspicious of him as newspapers say the killer used such a needle. Upon his second murder, Abbott is witnessed by a police officer (Lloyd Corrigan) who looks into his character further.This is somewhat reminiscent of what Hitchcock was doing around this time - 'Suspicion' and 'Foreign Correspondent'. It is interesting and neatly directed by the journeyman George Sherman. One only wishes it were longer. By the 40 minute mark we are in the final lap and are about to find out the why. I understand there seems to be a 59 minute version that originally came out, but I would think that would be hard to ever see again. Paramount owns these old Republic films and seem pretty stingy on releasing them. You can only find them through collectors.That all being said, 'London Blackout Murders' is recommended to suspense fans (there are absolutely no horror moments despite what you may have read elsewhere), and fans of the WWII era.