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.

Spikeopath The Hour of 13 is directed by Harold French and adapted to screenplay by Leon Gordon and Howard Emmett Rogers from the novel "Mystery of the Dead Police" written by Philip MacDonald. It stars Peter Lawford, Dan Addams, Roland Culver, Derek Bond, Leslie Dwyer and Michael Hordern. Music is by John Addison and cinematography by Guy Green.1890, London, and a serial killer known as The Terror is murdering policemen. When gentleman thief Nicholas Revel unwittingly becomes the chief suspect, he must use his guile and wits to prove he's not the killer; whilst also not getting caught for a jewel robbery he has just committed.A dandy thief and a serial killer on a collision course.Philip MacDonald's novel had already been adapted to screen for the 1934 film, The Mystery of Mr. X, making this a remake. The Hour of 13 is a little cracker of a movie, a genre splicer of some worth, it's part murder mystery, part police procedural, part romance, part robbery and also funny as well. These all make the picture narratively strong, the threads running concurrently but never once threatening to be complex or cloy the picture.The backdrop is Victorian London, resplendent with glistening cobbled streets, bulbous street lamps and drizzly mist, where horse drawn taxis thunder down the roads. The protagonists are dandy gents, chirpy workers or beautiful ladies. The antagonist is a Jack the Ripper type, stealthily moving about the murky streets on a mission to kill policemen. We are in a time when wearing a policeman's helmet can land you one day in prison, where the British Bobby patrols the streets to make the locals feel safe, but they themselves are now not safe.There's splendid performances across the board, with a chance to view the gorgeous Dawn Addams in one of her very first roles, a potent score from Addison and the work of French and Green is atmospherically tight to the plotting. Delightful film that deserves to be better known. 8/10

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.

blanche-2 The theft of an emerald coincides with a policeman's murder by a serial killer in "The Hour of 13," starring Peter Lawford, Dawn Addams, Roland Culver, and Derek Bond. Lawford stars as Nicholas Revel, an attractive young man in league with a ring of thieves that steals jewels and then gives them back to the insurance company and collects the reward. Unfortunately, "The Terror," a murderer who targets the bobbies of London, has just struck his latest victim on the property Revel is inside robbing. The police assume the murderer also stole the emerald. Revel needs to solve the case, or help the police solve it, so that the stone can be delivered without anyone being arrested. Scotland Yard becomes suspicious.Peter Lawford is plenty dreamy-looking in this film and his speaking voice is devastating. What a shame he was content to drink, hang with Frank, and play "Password." He was really something."The Hour of 13" is entertaining, though no great shakes. Its atmosphere is studio-manufactured and loaded with dry ice for fog effects. If you like the urbane, Raffles type of thief, you'll enjoy this.