Jigsaw

Plot synopsis:
The title refers to a jigsaw puzzle and the story begins with the murder of a print shop owner that is quickly labeled a suicide. But newspaper columnist Charlie Riggs is convinced that it was a murder related to a white neo-fascist organization called the Crusaders and imparts this suspicion to Assistant District Attorney Howard Malloy. He also publishes this opinion in his column. Then Riggs himself is murdered, inducing Malloy to launch an investigation into the Crusaders. Because the group appears to be getting backing from organized crime, Malloy looks there, soon receiving unasked-for help from a crime boss called Angel, who recommends him for the position of special prosecutor.
Later, with further help from a prominent judge's widow, Malloy is appointed. This is supposed to put him in the pocket of those behind the murders. But Malloy proceeds to investigate the artist who created the Crusaders recruiting poster. Seeing in the artist's studio a painting of an attractive night club singer, Malloy then proceeds to investigate her. This leads to a series of revelations regarding all of these characters and ends with more people dead and wounded in a fiery exchange at the end.

Tags: murder

Review:
brilliant atmospheric film set on the Brighton coast in 1962.
Jack Warner (66 years of age in real life) is the slightly caustic but nevertheless kindly commanding officer who runs the investigation.
Great support from Ronald Lewis and a dazzling role from Michael Goodliffe(spooky to think that they both committed suicide in reality).See if you can spot the killer before Jack, believe me it is a shocker.
The cast is top notch and there is a general seediness at the locations that the Brighton tourist board must have had concerns about.For a taut procedural police study this film is right at the top of the tree matched only by the Long Arm(Jack Hawkins) an absolute corker of a film and thanks to Nigel for providing me with a DVD of this film.
Despite the presence of Jack Warner as a senior policeman, the world of "Jigsaw" is a far cry from the cosy atmosphere of "Dixon of Dock Green".
The standard of acting is generally high, (although I found Yolande Donlan's performance a little overwrought for my taste) and a strong script from Guest ensures that the detailed police investigation contains enough action (and unexpected revelations) to hold the viewer's interest to the very end..
Anyone who enjoys British TV crime drama such as Softly Softly, Taggart or Frost will be right at home with this unfamiliar and rarely shown film.
It's wonderful to see a rather seedy early-sixties Brighton, and other than some rather choppy camera work which makes it look more like a 60s TV production than a film, it's surprisingly modern in it's pacing.
Jack Warner is on good form, and despite playing a Detective Inspector on the verge of retirement, still looks a little old - even though this was filmed at least a decade before he finished playing Dixon of Dock Green!
He quickly grabs her across the face, she screams, and the scene changes.In Brighton a rental management company has been broken into, and the police are investigating.
This makes no sense to the officer in charge, because if somebody wants to run out on their lease, why not leave town since breaking and entering is an even bigger crime?
The owner of the rental company is unhappy with the way the investigation is run, and calls the detective's supervisor to complain.
Thus a breaking and entering case has just turned to murder.The problem is, this house was rented by a man, the police have no idea what his right name is, they have no idea who the woman is, and they have no motive.
They have the testimony of a woman across the street about the only time she ever saw the man outside during the day - it was from a distance, and then he had a vacuum cleaner in his hands and was paying for groceries, and they have the tools that were used to dismember the woman that were found in the house's incinerator.
There are lots of dead ends, several interesting people that the police run into during their investigation, and always the press hounding them for a story.I'd highly recommend this one..
This film starring Jack Warner as a police Deputy Inspector was made during Warner's peak of fame.
This film was therefore guaranteed a good reception by the British public because Warner as a policeman had become a national institution by this time.
The film was extremely well directed by Val Guest, who will probably always be best remembered for his superior science fiction films THE QUATERMASS XPERIMENT (sic; also starring Jack Warner, 1955) and THE DAY THE EARTH CAUGHT FIRE (1959).
The female lead in the film is the American actress Yolande Donlan, Val Guest's wife.
There are many Waughs in Britain related to Evelyn, and I suppose one could call them the long-tailed Waughs, in which case Hillary Waugh might be styled a short-tailed Waugh, in order to differentiate him from the British variants of his species.
The story is a good one, and the title refers to the fact that the police are trying to fit together the pieces of an exasperating jigsaw in order to solve a woman's murder.
The film is set in Brighton, and there is a great deal of location shooting there and in Lewes, which show the towns as they were back then, nearly deserted and entirely lacking the sleaze of modern commercialism and identikit chain stores.
John Le Mesurier has a minor role in this film, and has to do a lot of emoting and crying, for which he was by means noted in his later career as a droll and comic figure.
Le Mesurier commenced his film acting career as long ago as 1938 so he was very much a veteran of the screen already by this early date, six years before he became a national institution as one of the stars of the popular TV series DAD'S ARMY.
Supporting Jack Warner as the other main policeman is that stalwart of TV and screen, Ronald Lewis.
JIGSAW is a well-shot, engaging crime story inspired by the true story of the Brighton Trunk Murders that took place back in the 1920s.
Brighton always makes a picturesque backdrop for films - I guess that's why so many directors make use of it in their movies - and Hammer veteran Val Guest (THE QUATERMASS XPERIMENT) makes the very best of his surroundings.Otherwise, this is a taut, well-focused detective investigation type film that plays out as a police procedural.
We watch the gruff Jack Warner and his team as they go around following up leads and gathering clues, and there's never a moment for distraction or anything here that feels padded.
Guessing the identity of the murderer is a tough business indeed, which is why JIGSAW keeps you watching from beginning to end.The supporting cast is also a delight, featuring as it does performances from Ronald Lewis (THE BRIGAND OF KANDAHAR), Ray Barrett (THE REPTILE) and Michael Goodliffe (A NIGHT TO REMEMBER) alongside a John Le Mesurier cameo.
Guest's real-life wife, the statuesque Yolande Donlan, has a major role and is fine in it..
It's Economically Energetic and has a Sense of Urgency befitting the Lack of Clues, and the Legwork, and Heavy Lifting needed to Piece Together this "Jigsaw".The Movie is a bit Long but Never Seems Dull or Boring.
Worth a Watch for Val Guest's Intense Crafting, Jack Warner as an Aging and Cynical Policeman, and for its Crackerjack Plot.
But no reviewer gives this film anything other than a deserved high rating and most identify much of what makes it so watchable.I think it is no coincidence that the director is also the screenwriter.
Nothing is said but it has wordlessly made clear that a hopeful line of enquiry has suddenly turned into a dead end.And it may be no coincidence that veteran director Val Guest was formerly an actor.
British film "Calculated Risk" 1963 is another example of very ordinary sounding dialogue lifting a production where the screenwriter was also an actor - and with character comes relationships.
One thing is elimination of redundant film - an address might come over the police radio - cut to police car stopping outside the address.
I first saw this film at the ABC Golders Green on 26th September 1962.It was a film that stuck in the memory.I watched it again last night and I have to say that it has lost none of its atmosphere over the years.I have been going to Brighton for over 50 years so I remember the Brighton of the era shown in this film.The film was a very straight forward plot which it tells exceedingly well.It isn't that difficult to guess the murderer but that doesn't spoil it.The only performance out of kilter is that of Donla who is allowed to go well over the top for no good reason.One interesting point is that there is little in the way of forensics in this film just plain legwork..
Brilliant acting in a police documentary of an impossible murder investigation of only missing pieces.
It's meticulous arduous methodical police work all the way, very much like Jules Dassin's "Naked City" from New York 15 years earlier, like a criminal documentary, but it's expertly done.
You can't lose interest for a moment, the dialogue is constantly sustained and pregnant, the investigation leads on, and ultimately you come closer to the target, who of course never could be suspected at all.The camerawork is impressive with its constant shifts by association, a jigsaw puzzle introducing the cryptic way ahead, one face shifting into another in flashbacks, one car shifting into another, and so forth.
excellent British film, based on a true story.
This film is based on the real Brighton Trunk murders that occurred in Massachusetts.
The setting is changed to Brighton England, which gives the film a special atmosphere.The film opens with two lovers lying in bed.
He comes toward, she screams, and that's the end of the scene.Meanwhile, in Brighton, the police are investigating a break-in that occurred in a rental management company.
Inspector Fred Fellows (Jack Warner) is brought in on the case.
They find one of the houses deserted, except that in a trunk in the garage, they find a dismembered woman.Really excellent and intricate story that manages to be interesting and exciting despite the fact that the police have to do grunt work and run into dead ends.
The acting is very good, and Val Guest, often a director for Hammer films, does a great job keeping the film moving.
Ronald Lewis, Ray Barrett, Michael Goodliffe, and Guest's real-life wife, Yolande Donlan, are all very good.
British actor Michael Caine once complained that many of the movies his country made were not "moving pictures", and instead were often more or less "illustrated radio" productions.
"Jigsaw" is a very talky movie, with no real action at any point, with the results being a script that wouldn't need much change to make it suitable for the radio.
It does accurately illustrate that murder investigations in real life are usually not exciting and involve a lot of hard and boring work.
The various ways the police in the movie investigate without modern day techniques such as computers and DNA are interesting at times.
The only reason the detectives (lead by Jack Warner, though the film's tone is darker than Dixon of Dock Green) investigating the case - robberies were treated seriously back then - can think of why someone would steal a lease was that it contained a sample of the thief's handwriting.
Jigsaw is a well-made police procedural that today would be a two-hour TV movie of the Morse/Maigret variety.
thoroughly enjoyed it....A great procedural crime drama and great to watch kept me engaged and interested.....
(And mindful of 'spoilers' I'm not going to say who it was here.) But what really makes this ingenious detective film stand out, is its brilliant script by Val Guest shifting the setting from Massachusets to Brighton, it is as tight as a drum, plays absolutely fair with the audience, and is a model of crispness and authority.
The actors respond in kind, all performances are superb, but I must single out the ever reliable Michael Goodliffe, so good in everything he appears in as Clyde Burchard.The setting, a seedy Brighton of 1962 is evocative, you feel the undercurrent of crime in every shot.
I bought this film on E bay a couple of months ago but never got around to watching it until last night, wished I had watched it sooner and I will again before long.Firstly I should say that the copy I have is not brilliant but I can follow the dialogue easily enough.The film is set in Brighton, it is a murder mystery with Jack Warner excelling as the Inspector and Ronald Lewis as his Seargeant, seeking to track down the monster who mutilated a young woman.
Great part played by Michael Goodliffe as the charming ladies man.Great pictures of Brighton in the sixties, I especially enjoyed the bit when Jack Warner missed the football match he was so looking forward to so he could investigate the crime, it turned out his local team got hammered!Great unexpected ending but a word of warning don't look at the IMDb cast list or it will give the game away.Highly enjoyable little known British thriller..
Apart from a short and slightly incongruous beginning in which the victim is seen alive shortly before her murder, the rest of the movie hammers away relentlessly.
A retiring detective (Warner) is given the task of solving the crime, and so begins a detailed and entirely believable fly-on-the-wall police procedural.
They are Jack Warner and Ronald Lewis.
Once the body is uncovered, the police shift into high gear and the film turns into a nifty policier.The director, Val Guest, also wrote the screenplay.
The police have no names, neither the victim nor the presumed killer, and begin visiting neighbors and shops, trying to piece together enough independent data to complete a picture of what happened.
Solid, well-made police procedural, about the investigation into the murder of a young woman whose dismembered body is found in a suitcase.
A few years before "Jigsaw" the County Borough of Brighton Police as it was called in those days was embroiled in one of the worst corruption scandals of the 20th century.
open arms and certainly the shady relationship between the murderer and victim wouldn't have raised an eyebrow within or without the C.I.D. The film reflects the grinding monotony of most police work.
A police investigation follows.
We get to see the investigation from the perspective of the police, lead by Jack Warner.
Eventually the murderer is discovered.This is a wee gem of a film, set in and around Brighton in the early 1960's.
Post-war austerity is fading, and the swinging sixties are just around the corner, but the Brighton area looks a little seedy and run down, for the most part, and the locals fit right it.
The film is shot in black and white, which somehow suits the film rather better than colour might have.Jack Warner (better know to the audience as Dixon of Dock Green at that time)is promoted to Detective Inspector in this film and he plays the role convincingly enough; in fact overall, the whole cast is excellent.
Many will have seen him in 'The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin' in the 1970s, masterfully playing the irredeemably pompous and overbearing manager known as 'CJ'.John Le Mesurier has a great cameo role too.The film isn't fast-paced per se, but there isn't a moment in the ninety-odd that is wasted either.
Two Brighton detectives, Detective Inspector Fellows (Jack Warner) and Detective Sergeant Wilks (Ronald Lewis) are called to deal with a routine break in at an estate agents' offices.
However, it turns into something far more sinister when a body of a murdered and partially dismembered woman is discovered in a trunk at one of the estate agents' rented properties in Saltdean.
The identity of the woman is unknown and her killer is a mystery man who used a false name to take out a short term lease on the property, which was stolen during the break in.
The case sees the two detectives developing and following leads in Brighton, Lewes and as far afield as Greenwich in London.
One clue appears to finally establish the identity of the victim but, the woman in question, Jean Sherman (Yolande Donlan), is actually still alive although she only just escaped being the killer's next victim.
When the identity of the murdered woman is finally established as that of Joan Simpson (Moira Redmond), Fellows assembles all of the people connected with the inquiry at Brighton police station to see if Jean Sherman is able to identify one of them as the man who dated her once or twice and took her to the beach house in Saltdean.
But a small and seemingly minor detail about a certain day being a public holiday and all of the shops being closed is what finally gives their man away...A front rank British detective thriller that appeared to have been forgotten about for years until it was finally given a DVD release by Renown Pictures in 2015.
Prior to that I had never seen it advertised on television throughout my childhood and teenage years.Based on an excellent novel by Hilary Waugh called Sleep Long My Love, apart from switching the setting from Connecticut, New England, USA, to Brighton on the Sussex coast in England, the film sticks commendably close to the book.
Then, as the murderer goes to grab her by the throat, we shock cut to a deafening whistle from a steam locomotive, which represents the girl's screams powering away from Brighton station with a suburban train.At 107 minutes the film is long, but it is never boring and sustains itself really well by focussing extensively on detailed police procedure, which shows just how exhausting the job can be in unmasking a killer who is like the invisible man in that he has covered his tracks remarkably well.
Writer-producer-director Val Guest opted for a semi-documentary style, which uses the Brighton, Lewes and Sussex locations to maximum effect.
Lighting Cameraman Arthur Grant's documentary style b/w Cinemascope heightens the feeling for realism and the atmosphere for place and the mysteriousness.Jack Warner plays his part as the chief investigating officer with great authority and he works well in his scenes with Ronald Lewis who plays his on screen nephew, which allows for some good chemistry and humour between the two cops.
Praise must go to the US actress, Yolande Donlan, Val Guest's wife, who is stand out as the shy spinster who only just escapes being the murderer's second victim.All in all, Jigsaw is probably one of the best British crime thrillers from its era and it is certainly the best film I have ever seen that was filmed in Brighton.