Belinda Lee is the most beautiful starlet that you don't know. Born in Devon England, her death at the age of 26 may have been murder at the hands of the Pope and the Vatican. Officially, her demise was caused by an auto accident, but her affair that shook the halls of the Vatican may have contributed. Perhaps she knew too much...I'm sure Martin Luther has theories on this wherever he is. Today we look at one of her femme-fatale roles in which she is clad in glamorous and shiny gowns, and may be the downfall of poor male schmucks who are mesmerized by her beauty. Our feature today is 1954's "Blackout," set in London and directed by Terence Fisher.
Schmuck Casey (Dane Clark) is back in England after failing in America. He shows up at a nightclub and drinks his sorrows away. Uh oh, the failure is approached by Phyllis (Lee), clad in a shiny party gown and flashing a lot of money. This is good, or so Casey thinks, cause he needs money. After buying him drinks, getting him more drinks, the babe offers him 500 pounds to...marry her! Easy one, right! Sober, a good man will run. Drunk, a desperate man agrees. Next scene, Casey wakes up, with no memory of what happened after leaving the nightclub, on the sofa of struggling art teacher, Maggie (Eleanor Summerfield). Next to the sofa is a portrait, painted by Maggie, of Phyllis. Alas, she knows very little about Phyllis and claims the babe owes her for the portrait and some rent. Uh oh, Casey reads the morning paper and guess what, some rich guy has been murdered and his sultry daughter is missing. The sultry daughter? You guessed it.
Casey begins investigating and finds that he is the prime suspect in the murder of Phyllis' dad. He snoops some more and finds Phyllis who claims she is on the run from her homicidal fiancé, Lance (Andrew Osborn), who did murder her dad. She tells Casey that he indeed did marry her that night they met, and that by marrying him, she will not have to marry Lance. Bad news...Lance is a killer, so says Phyllis, and now he will want to kill him, too. Phyllis is quite the babe and because of that Casey agrees to help her prove Lance is the killer. Uh oh...is there any reason to trust Phyllis and believe her account of the murder? None! As most of us guys, when a femme-fatale beauty enters our lives, we think with our more primal segments of our brain, and then those brains turn to peanut butter. This reality just may get Casey killed.
Just who is plotting Casey's demise, Phyllis or Lance? Is Casey really Phyllis' husband, and is she really running from Lance? What are Phyllis' chances of making it to the end credits without being offed by either Casey, Lance, or the parties who murdered her dad? This is a good and shocking mystery and Miss Lee's allure, and the choice of gowns the moviemakers put her in, will keep you drooling and trying to take her side, however improbable it is. See "Blackout," and understand how this babe could have almost ruined the entire Catholic church.
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