JohnHowardReid Photographic effects: Tom Howard. Music composed and conducted by John Addison; played by Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Produced by Hayes Goetz (pronounced "Gets"). Copyright 19 September 1952 by Loew's Inc. A Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer picture. New York opening at the Little Carnegie: 27 October 1952. U.S. release: November 1952. U.K. release: 8 December 1952. Australian release: 21 November 1952. 7,031 feet. 79 minutes. Censored by one minute in Australia in order to gain a "G" Certificate.SYNOPSIS: In 1890, London is shocked at the number of murders of policemen taking place in varied sections of the city. They are always advertised beforehand by a postcard sent to Scotland Yard and signed "The Terror". On the day that the newspapers announce the murder of the eighth policeman, Nicholas Revel (Peter Lawford), an insurance assessor named MacStreet (Colin Gordon), and Ernie Perker (Leslie Dwyer), a hackney cab driver, conspire to steal the immensely valuable Calgurie Emerald at a society ball given by its owner, Mrs. Chumley Orr (Heather Thatcher). The ball is an important affair for other people besides Revel and his accomplices because Jane (Dawn Addams), daughter of the Commissioner of Scotland Yard, Sir Herbert Frensham (Michael Hordern), had decided that her engagement to Captain Sir Christopher Lenhurst (Derek Bond) will be announced there. Revel succeeds in stealing the emerald, but makes one blunder. Having hidden the jewel, he throws its chain and clasp out of a window and it lands at the feet of the ninth of the "Terror's" victims. Thus, when the police find the body, they associate the murderer with the robbery.COMMENT: Good thriller, smoothly directed and agreeably acted — a bit disappointing though for a Philip MacDonald work and the director could have made more play on the suspense and mystery element of "The Terror".OTHER VIEWS: When Dawn Addams stepped before the cameras in England for her role opposite Peter Lawford in M-G-M's mystery-thriller "The Hour of 13", it marked a gratifying moment for the attractive young actress. It was little less than two years ago when Miss Addams first set foot in Metro's London studios to be tested for the role of Judy Miniver in The Miniver Story. Although her test was praised the role subsequently went to Cathy O'Donnell.After that disappointment, Miss Addams went to Hollywood, where she made another test for M-G-M and this time was signed to a long-term contract. She made an auspicious debut as the young college girl who became involved in an auto smash-up with Ray Milland in "Night Into Morning", and followed with the role of Richard Anderson's fiancée in "The Unknown Man". She was next be seen as a member of the all- star cast in "Plymouth Adventure".Born in Suffolk, England, Dawn spent the first five years of her life in India, where her father was stationed with the Royal Air Force. During the war years she lived for a time in England, was evacuated to Wales, spent two years in the United States, then returned to England in 1945. She subsequently studied at the Royal Academy of Drama in London and won her first stage role at the famed Drury Lane Theater. - MGM publicity.

Panamint This film features quick, effective editing of sometimes rapid-fire scenes that were obviously well thought out and sequenced with care. The black and white cinematography is good and I believe the whole production is finely crafted. The potential for any real emotional depth of feeling is somewhat stifled overall by the recurring criminal murder subject matter, which is persistently heavy and serious throughout the movie. However, the related jewel thief angle is lighter in tone and is done in an intricate cat-and-mouse manner that I really enjoyed.After the early pretty-boy stage of his career delivering Technicolor "first kisses" to teenage actresses and such, and before his post- 1960 period of boozy hipster parts culminating in his final downward spiral into drug abuse and drunkenness, Peter Lawford did a lot of TV and made some films on both sides of the Atlantic including this one. In "The Hour of 13" (a title of significance to the story, to be explained late in the film) Lawford portrays a charming jewel thief. He does a workmanlike job, is very charming and handsome as always, and is fine as long as you don't stop to ponder how superbly Rex Harrison would have played the part. Dawn Addams is perfectly cast as the intelligent, classy daughter of Michael Hordern's Scotland Yard inspector. Other first rate British actors contribute solid performances.The Victorian London streets, fog and ambiance are well done. The era is depicted as a real time and place, not a nostalgia trip, and is devoid of any mimicry or denigration of Victorian stereotypes.The general viewer will probably enjoy this film as I did if they can appreciate older, very British movies and are interested in seeing Peter Lawford at this stage of his career.

mark.waltz A bobby, I learned , is a British slang word for cop, which itself is a slang word for policeman. In London, they are actually constables who work for Scotland Yard, and one by one, a dozen of them have been bumped off, stabbed to death by a vicious killer. Jewel thief Peter Lawford happens to commit a burglary (stealing a valuable emerald), and in his escape attempt, comes across the body of the latest victim. The necklace is left behind minus the emerald, and the jewel theft and murder are all of a sudden tied together. Lawford cleverly comes up with a way of both finding the killer and getting away with being able to get rid of the emerald and end up with double the profit, not only via the reward, but by the sale of the gem as well.While there is definitely some cleverness to this, it takes a while for that to settle in, the first quarter of this film being rather dry and humorless. Lawford does make fun of himself though in a scene where his character breaks into song and he is clearly off key, one of the listeners telling him politely how truly horrible he is. Dawn Addams plays the pretty daughter of the head of Scotland Yard (Michael Hordern) who is grateful to Lawford to coming to her fiancée's rescue. Roland Culver is the other officer whom Lawford turns the tables on after trying to give him a knock-out drug.The result of this remake of "The Mystery of Mr. X" is that it isn't at all spooky, eerie, foggy or really even a mystery because you know who's guilty of what, but in the case of the killer, you just don't know why. It isn't dreary, just nothing out of the ordinary.

Thalberg Peter Lawford stars as Nicholas Revel, a jewel thief who is mistaken for a serial killer of London police officers. To clear himself, Revel has to catch the real killer. An improbably plotted, cliche-ridden, mildly entertaining mystery with Lawford as his usual handsome, debonair, bland self. Not much action except for an effective fight between Revel and the murderer at the film's climax. The cast wanders through a foggy, gaslit studio set that looks like it was left over from a Sherlock Holmes film. This sort of story has been done worse, but it has been done better, too. Mostly it has been done too often.