Radio Cab Murder

Radio Cab Murder
Radio Cab Murder
	Original Australian poster
Directed by	Vernon Sewell
Written by	Vernon Sewell ; Pat McGrath
Produced by	George Maynard; Nat Cohen; Stuart Levy
Starring	Jimmy Hanley; Lana Morris; Sonia Holm; Jack Allen
Cinematography	Geoffrey Faithfull
Edited by	Peter Graham Scott
Music by	Hubert Clifford
Production; company	Insignia Films
Distributed by	Eros Films
Release date	October 1954;
Running time	70 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English

Radio Cab Murder is a 1954 British second feature^[1] crime film directed by Vernon Sewell and starring Jimmy Hanley, Lana Morris and Sonia Holm.^[2] It was made by the independent Eros Films.

Plot

After serving a term in prison for safe-cracking, World War Two veteran and ex-con Fred Martin finds work as a taxi cab driver. He is engaged to be married to Myra, the cab company's dispatcher, a former member of the Women's Royal Naval Service. While picking up a fare, Martin witnesses a bank robbery and tails the criminals, but his cab is wrecked during the chase. The police find a well-known safe-cracker dead of apparent natural causes and ask Martin to go undercover, join the bank-robbery gang, and expose its leader. His boss arranges a sham firing based on his having wrecked his cab, but this causes a revolt among the cabbies, who plan to go on strike to support his reinstatement. The robbery is carried off, but the gang discovers Martin's identity and tries to kill him by locking him in a deep freezer at an ice cream factory. He is saved by his cabby comrades, his boss, and Myra, who ride to the rescue and corner the crooks with the aid of the police.^[3]

Cast

Jimmy Hanley as Fred Martin
Lana Morris as Myra
Sonia Holm as Jean
Jack Allen as Parker
Sam Kydd as Spencer
Pat McGrath as Henry
Michael Mellinger as Tim
Charles Morgan as Maclaren
Bruce Beeby as Inspector Rawlings
Rupert Evans as Williams
Elizabeth Seal as Gwen
Jack Stewart as Gregson
Frank Thornton as Inspector Finch
Trevor Reid as commissioner
Edwin Richfield as Nat
Jane Harwood as Cashier
Madge Brindley as Mrs Evans
Joan Carol as scientific officer
Leonard Sharp as Evans, the first watchman (uncredited)
Ian Wilson as second watchman (uncredited)
Vernon Greeves as radio operator (uncredited)

Production

It was made at Walton Studios and on location around Kensington and Notting Hill in London. The film's sets were designed by the art director John Stoll.

Critical reception

The Radio Times gave the film two out of five stars.^[4]

In British Sound Films: The Studio Years 1928–1959 David Quinlan rated the film as "average", writing: "Stars and direction enliven cut-price, coincidence-stretching thriller."^[5]

TV Guide also gives it two out of five stars and commented that "a good cast is all that saves this weakly scripted effort".^[3]

According to Sky Movies, which also rated the film two out of five stars, "Vernon Sewell was both a competent and prolific director in the genre, and brings a professional crispness that many of his contemporaries lacked."^[6]

References

^ Chibnall, Steve; McFarlane, Brian (2009). The British 'B' Film. London: BFI/Bloomsbury. p. 145. ISBN 978-1-8445-7319-6.
^ "Radio Cab Murder". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 13 January 2024.
^ ^a ^b "Radio Cab Murder Trailer, Reviews and Schedule for Radio Cab Murder | TVGuide.com". Movies.tvguide.com. Retrieved 28 May 2014.
^ "Radio Cab Murder | Film review and movie reviews". Radio Times. 8 April 2013. Retrieved 28 May 2014.
^ Quinlan, David (1984). British Sound Films: The Studio Years 1928–1959. London: B.T. Batsford Ltd. p. 363. ISBN 0-7134-1874-5.
^ "Radio Cab Murder - Sky Movies HD". Skymovies.sky.com. 18 November 2006. Retrieved 28 May 2014.