The Blue Parrot – 1953 | 69 mins | Crime | B&W

Plot Synopsis

The Blue Parrot is a middling b-movie thriller set against the post-war backdrop of spivs, black-marketeers, pawnbrokers and raincoat detectives. Instead of importing an American leading man as was the norm with such low-budget ventures, the producers used Dermot Walsh to play an American detective. Walsh does his best with the lacklustre script, whilst John Le Mesurier is surprisingly cast against type as a shady nightclub owner.

Petty crook and private-hire car driver ‘Rocks’ Owen (Victor Lucas) is called out at 2am whilst drinking at The Blue Parrot nightclub in Soho. The following morning, Owen is discovered dead in a quiet country lane and Supt. Chester (Ballard Berkeley) takes up the investigation. Chester is joined by American cop Bob Herrick (Dermot Walsh), on secondment to Scotland Yard.

The only clue the police have is that Taps Campelli (Edwin Richfield), a waiter at the Soho nightclub, attempted to pawn a valuable pen belonging to the dead man. Campelli turns up seriously injured in hospital after being knocked down by a car, and points an accusing finger at smooth continental crook Stevens (Ferdy Mayne). In turn, Stevens’s girlfriend confesses that she and Stevens were being blackmailed by Blue Parrot owner Carson (John Le Mesurier), and that he was responsible for the murder. The cops go in pursuit of Carson, who has taken attractive undercover cop Maureen Maguire (Jacqueline Hill) as hostage.