THE LOST HOURS is a fairly interesting and watchable small-time British thriller. This one has been noticeably modelled on the American film noir genre, and there's even an imported lead (Mark Stevens) to help make it feel like an American flick.The storyline is a straightforward mystery about a pilot who's slipped a Mickey Finn one night and wakes up in the morning accused of murder and with no memory of the night's events. Luckily he has a few people willing to help him keep one step ahead of the police, and a gradual uncovering of the mystery follows.Alongside Stevens, the film features the hard-working John Bentley, who gets to do something a little other than his stock hero type role. He's not very convincing in the part, though. Far better is the smouldering Dianne Foster, the femme fatale type, who really brings her rather racy screen moments to life with some heavily suggestive dialogue. There are cameos for the ubiquitous likes of Thora Hird, Ballard Berkeley, Duncan Lamont, and Sam Kydd. Altogether it's a familiar kind of picture, derivative but involving all the same.

At an RAF reunion, an ex-RAF, dashing American pilot Paul Smith tells of his now heroic career as a test pilot. A minor fight occurs, instigated by Peters, now a surly import/export businessman - turns nasty during which quick-tempered Stevens threatens to kill him. The other chaps break up the fight and explain that Peters is alright when he hasn't had a drink. Stevens has another drink, which has been spiked. Later they all drift off and Stevens leaves after the party. Next day Stevens awakes with no memory of the night before since leaving the reunion and finds blood on his suit. He discovers that Peters has been killed and realizes he has become the chief suspect. He has been setup and decides to relive the events of the night before, ably abetted by fiancée Louise Parker in the process of seeking the truth - and hopefully supporting evidence, in order to clear his name, before he is arrested for murder by the police. In doing so he ends up acting as a private detective investigating all his old war buddy suspects.The police are always once step behind the protagonist in the chase to question him on (multiple) murder charges but two steps behind in their investigation. The Scotland Yard head of the investigation detective treats the whole affair as something to keep his sergeant awake, sending him from seemingly one dead body to another, and from one poor alibi to another for all the suspects. Who all have reasons to lie about who & what they know regarding the dead import/export businessman Peters.A lot of action happens at night conveniently and lends the film a noir coating that produces a modicum of real menace at times and passes the time in a brisk fashion with a straight-forward denouement and delayed nuptials. The pacing is adequate and does enough to hold your interest. And despite the darkened London landscape and the recurrent 'I say, see here, old boy' type of speech that is strewn throughout the dialog, the film's themes and story line place it neatly into the American style of film noir.Starring Mark Stevens and Jean Kent, the cast includes a sprinkling of well-known British stars - John Bentley, Thora Hird, Sam Kydd, Jack Lambert and Cyril Smith. 6/10.

This uses about every cliché in the book.Obviously there is a parachuted in fading American actor to partner Jean Kent.He of course served in the RAF in the war.He is drugged by accident and wakes in a strange hotel to find that he is the prime suspect for a murder.We then have all the usual devices used in these type of films including gang members who phone Stevens to tell him that they must speak to him,only not over the phone.Then of course he is found murdered.There is the obligatory car chase along a very deserted A4 ending up with an aborted attempt to fly out of the country.Whilst the film is reasonably well made everything is just so predictable.

Having a booze-up with a bunch of his old fly-buddies, former Royal Air Force pilot Mark Stevens, an American, gets into an altercation with one of them who goes out of his way to be insulting. They patch things up, and get on with their drinking. Next morning (or rather afternoon), Stevens wakes up in a strange hotel room only to read the headlines that the other guy has been murdered. But he can't remember a thing, having been slipped a Mickey the night before.This is Cornell Woolrich territory, though he didn't have a thing to do with it. With Scotland Yard on his tail, Stevens races against time to retrace his vanished footsteps and find the real killer. Staunchly by his side is a fiancée Jean Kent; her opposite number is temptress Dianne Foster, available wife of another of the carousers. In his investigations, Stevens finds that some of the wartime heroes have, in the post-war years, taken to less heroic pursuits, running a phony import-export racket his inopportune sleuthing threatens to expose....The Lost Hours (a.k.a. The Big Frame) is little more than a British crime programmer, but it's briskly done and keeps you awake. And despite the London landscape and the recurrent `I say, see here, old boy's that strew the dialog, its themes and story line place it neatly in `The American Style' of film noir.