The Last Hour on AllMovie

Written by frequent Hitchcock collaborator Charles Bennett, The Last Hour is set in and around Britain's Dartmoor Prison. Five years after the spectacular escape of a convict, dishevelled bum Smarty Walker (Alexander Field) shows up in the inn owned by Ben (Wilfred Shine). Believing that Smarty is the long-missing convict, the compassionate innkeeper allows the old fellow to hide out in his cellar, which is also being used as the headquarters of sinister foreign Prince Nicola (Stewart Rome), who intends to use his "death ray" to wipe out London. The prince is in for quite a disappointment when the ragged Smarty turns out to be an agent from Scotland Yard -- and the prince's own accomplice (Richard Cooper) likewise turns out to be one of the Good Guys. It's wild and wooly stuff, but director Walter Forde, talented though he was, was no Hitchcock.