Jigsaw (1962) User Reviews

Cracking little crime drama, a little ahead of it's time

[malcp · 7/10 · 28 November 2015]

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! John Le Mesurier shines in a small role as a distraught father. I thought one or two of the cast perform a little too stiffly to make this a real classic, but its enjoyable nevertheless.

Sterling crime drama, inspired by real life events

[Leofwine_draca · 6/10 · 13 October 2015]

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.

Excellent Murder Mystery

[paul-ayres-60784 · 8/10 · 4 April 2018]

I was drawn straight into this film from the opening scenes and I never lost concentration once. Furthermore I didn't manage to guess the final outcome. A very intriguing police investigation and very well acted by all involved. Films of this nature can only be enjoyed once. I am glad I took the time to watch it.

veteran Jack solves the case

[steve-1241 · 12 March 2006]

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. Also there is a nice little twist at the end. 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. This film is a must see.

Economically Energetic Police Procedural

[LeonLouisRicci · 7/10 · 8 June 2016]

Writer/Director Val Guest had a Long and Varied Career. A Low-Budget Filmmaker that always tried to make His Films look Professional and was Not Afraid to Improvise and Loved Playing with the Tools of Cinema.

His most Successful Films Critically were done for Hammer Studios in the Sci-Fi Genre. Here He made a "Police Procedural" and in the True Definition of the Genre. It is Nothing More than that and that's Exactly what it is and it Never Strays from Format.

What Guest does to make it seem More than that, is the Pacing. It has a Frenetic Style of Rapid Dialog and Quick Moving Scenes. No Passage of Banter or Anything is wasted. 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. Helped by one of England's Actor Icons Jack Warner, who made His Name doing exactly what He is doing here. Solving Crimes on the Telly.

Worth a Watch for Val Guest's Intense Crafting, Jack Warner as an Aging and Cynical Policeman, and for its Crackerjack Plot. You have No Clue throughout what Prize Piece of the Puzzle will Pop Up or When.

A small masterpiece.

[ted puff · 10/10 · 9 October 1999]

Now I knew the story of this film, because I'd read the novel it was based on, so the unmasking of the villain was no surprise. (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. Nothing is overlooked to hold you gripped in your chair until the denoument. Val Guest made another classic the same year, the sci-fi 'The Day the Earth Caught Fire' a picture of Fleet Street. These two films stand as his monument. Two of the best films to come out of Britain in the post war period.

The Severed Body Case.

[rmax304823 · 7/10 · 16 August 2014]

It's Brighton in the early 60s. A lonely house. A tarty blond gets out of bed and informs her boyfriend that she's pregnant so they'll have to be married. This is a big mistake on her part. The boyfriend evidently doesn't want to build a home because he kills her, chops her up, and stashes her in a trunk in the garage -- most of her, anyway.

We never do see the killer and thereby hangs a tail. The renter of the house, Brian Oulton, is all upset because the occupants are behind in their payments so the police are called in. They are Jack Warner and Ronald Lewis. At first, knowing only that the "Campbells" skipped on the rent, they poke around the house in a leisurely fashion, examining the furniture, the furnace, and so on, all quite disinterestedly, despite being nettled by Oulton, the impatient owner. 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. He doesn't waste a moment. There is occasional overlapping dialog, some brisk but friendly banter, orders are casually snapped out and followed at once. 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. I presume that's where the title, "Jigsaw", comes from, and not from the fact that the girl's body was so gruesomely mishandled.

The story itself is too complicated to describe in any detail. Most of these detective stories are. There are many red herrings before the final capture, but the movie ends on a cute note. The killer's alibi rests on an excuse that it was an accident. The poor girl tripped and bashed her head in. In a panic, the killer ran out and bought the instruments that sawed her up. But that was after she was already dead, a Monday night. The alibi is disproved in the last shot when Warner points to a poster advertising a musical performance featuring Beethoven's Piano Concerto, Schubert's Fourth Symphony, and something by Malcolm Arnold. The performance was on Monday night -- Easter -- so all the hardware shops were closed. He must have bought the instruments earlier, so the murder was deliberate. The gag is Malcolm Arnold's name. He scored every British movie ever made between 1900 and 2014, and all his scores were conducted and recorded by Muir Matheson.

It's a little long but thoroughly enjoyable for what it is.

Maybe Rudy Giuliani was right...

[AlsExGal · 9/10 · 12 June 2016]

... perhaps if you pursue all of the little crimes you run into some big ones, because that is what happens here. The film opens with a couple lying in bed. The woman gets up and by talking to herself you quickly learn that the guy in bed with her is her lover, not her husband, and may very likely belong to someone else. Her angry babbling wakes the man, of whom you never see much more than his hands and you do not hear his voice. Once he is awake, she tells him she is pregnant and that he should start spending whole nights with her, finally make the break completely to her. 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. But other than the damage done to the door in the break-in, nothing has been taken but the company's book of leases. 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. The supervisor asks inspector Fred Fellows (Jack Warner) to help out. Fellows starts by asking about the leases that were getting ready to expire, and drives out to the house where the lease was going to expire the next week. The police do find the house seemingly deserted. They look around, find nothing amiss but do find a trunk in the garage with a dismembered woman in it. 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. Because it was such a short term lease nobody in the neighborhood knows anything about the tenants. So the detectives begin to methodically go through any clue they can think of. They find a woman's name and address scratched on a pad in the house. 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. That's it. From there the detectives go on to actually solve the crime. The closest comparison I can make is that it is like the first half of Law and Order transported to Britain from New York City, and it is truly fascinating. 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.

Atmospheric Thriller holds your attention

[malcolmgsw · 7/10 · 3 August 2013]

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 Thriller

[n_adams1 · 9/10 · 11 April 2012]

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.

Endless detail in Quota-Quickie Land

[trimmerb1234 · 7/10 · 23 February 2017]

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. It means that dialogue can be quite spare at times because it will be visuals - glances between individuals - which tell the story. And this draws in the viewer - "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" says the detective to his colleague - no reply because he (and the viewer) are thinking the same. Nothing is over-played. A suspect is sitting in a room, with no announcement a detective brings in a witness, briefly introduces him to the suspect. Neither show any interest in the other. The detective and witness leave. 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. A screenwriter is concerned to tell a story - and the dialogue is divvied up between the cast. But perhaps most deadly of all is mere padding dialogue: "Cup of tea? Milk? How many sugars?" An actor in contrast is firstly playing a character so dialogue is as much sketching the character as advancing the plot. 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. "what's my motivation" is the question always kept in mind and ensures the cast's focus throughout. Of course the top name screenwriters - the Alan Platers - come close. But here characters can almost be Dickensian with instantly recognisable ways of speaking "I've got a photographic memory" repeatedly says a minor but important witness. Realistic people who are excited and so gush irrelevancies that they don't stop when ushered out of the room, but audibly continue with the police constable waiting outside.

Pace - I can see some of how this comes about. One thing is elimination of redundant film - an address might come over the police radio - cut to police car stopping outside the address. Yet there is no sense of hurry. Everything is given the necessary time.

It's a measure of the film's qualities that there is such agreement about its merits - nobody fails to understand and appreciate it. Was it influenced by earlier American police procedurals? Has it been a model and inspiration till this day for British police dramas? I think it is yes to both. I'd suggest Dragnet for the first but so domesticated that the link is more tone than anything. For the second, decreasingly so as swagger, gloss and style come to predominate. And swagger, gloss and style are absent here.

An excellent police mystery

[robert-temple-1 · 8/10 · 15 March 2015]

This film starring Jack Warner as a police Deputy Inspector was made during Warner's peak of fame. For 21 years, from 1955 to 1976, Warner played the policeman George Dixon in DIXON OF DOCK GREEN, in a total of an astonishing 432 episodes. 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. He had already directed her in ESPRESSO BONGO in 1959, the film he made before this one. Donlan is very good in the part. Val and Yolande were a very pleasant couple. I visited them at their home in St. John's Wood in London and they were charming and excellent conversationalists. That was long ago, when Yolande was in her forties and very much still a vibrantly attractive woman with a lively personality. I do not know why she did not appear in more films and chose to retire in 1981. She only died a few months ago at the age of 94. This film is based on a novel by the American mystery writer Hillary Waugh, who was no relation to Evelyn Waugh. 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. They all come from Ireland anyway, and in the mists of time they must all have been one big Oneness, sitting by their peat fires dug from the same bog. 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. There are so few clues that the story of detection is fascinating. 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. Living conditions in Britain in 1961 were so basic, and that comes across well. 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. One simply is not used to seeing Le Mesurier sobbing like that, so it makes a change. 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. Le Mesurier had however already made a name for himself in comedy by appearing with Tony Hancock in various episodes of HANCOCK'S HALF HOUR (1957-1960), which are now considered prize classics of their genre. Supporting Jack Warner as the other main policeman is that stalwart of TV and screen, Ronald Lewis. It is sobering to think that he was 41 years younger than Yolande Donlan when he died. This film is certainly a very good yarn, and highly entertaining.

Britain's Favourite Policeman

[JamesHitchcock · 7/10 · 5 December 2022]

"Jigsaw" is sometimes said to be based upon the Brighton Trunk Murders which occurred in 1934. (Not, as one reviewer says, in the 1920s). This, however, does not appear to be the case. Beyond the Brighton setting and the fact that the body is discovered in a trunk, the crime committed in this film has little in common with those two killings, both of which were still regarded as unsolved in 1962. (One was solved in the seventies when the killer made a belated confession). The facts have more in common with those of another murder committed in a Sussex seaside resort, that of Emily Kaye by Patrick Mahon in Eastbourne in 1924, but in fact the main source for the film was a fictional one, the novel "Sleep Long, My Love" by the American crime writer Hillary Waugh, with the setting changed from Connecticut to Brighton.

The film opens with the killing of a woman by a man. We know the motive for the crime; she was his mistress, and wanted to him to leave his wife for her because she was pregnant. We do not, however, learn either party's true identity and do not see the man's face. We are initially led to believe that his name is "John Campbell", but it soon becomes clear that this is a pseudonym.

The Brighton CID are called in to investigate a break-in at an estate agent's office in the town centre. At first sight this appears to have been a minor crime, with nothing of any value taken, but their investigations take them to a house in the village of Saltdean, a few miles outside the town, where they stumble upon the body of the woman killed in the opening scene. The rest of the film is a police procedural, showing how the detectives put together the pieces of a metaphorical "jigsaw" to establish the identity of the dead woman and the identity and whereabouts of her killer and to collect the evidence which will prove his guilt. As might be expected, there are a couple of false leads.

The police officer leading the investigation, Detective Inspector Fred Fellows, is played by Jack Warner, regarded at the time as Britain's favourite policeman. Warner had created the character of PC George Dixon in "The Blue Lamp" in 1950. Dixon was killed by a young thug in that film, but the character proved so popular that he was revived and given his own television series, "Dixon of Dock Green", which ran for over twenty years. Even at the time of this film Warner was really too old to play a serving police officer- he would have been 67 in 1962- but he continued to play Dixon on television until 1976, when he was over 80. He also played police officers in several other feature films.

"Dixon of Dock Green" has acquired the reputation of giving a too cosy, sanitised picture of the British police service. Whether this picture is a fair one is difficult to judge, as the great majority of episodes are now lost. Most of the surviving ones come from the programme's later years in the mid-seventies and are said to be unrepresentative, as by then the scriptwriters were trying to give it a grittier tone to compete with other successful police dramas such as "Z-Cars" and "Softly, Softly". There is nothing particularly cosy, however, about "Jigsaw". For all its seaside glamour, Brighton in the mid-twentieth century had acquired a reputation for organised crime and gangsterism, a reputation made worse by a notorious police corruption scandal in the late fifties. Although the policemen in this film are not depicted as dishonest, an atmosphere of seedy corruption overhangs the town. Much of the action was filmed either in Brighton itself or in Saltdean or the neighbouring town of Lewes. (Saltdean is a real place, although the murder scene, 1 Bungalow Road, is fictitious).

The sixties, the period between the great films noirs of the fifties and the new wave of "tough cop" and gangster movies in the seventies, were not the greatest era in the history of the American crime film, and the same is true of Britain, where police dramas tended to move from the cinema to the TV screen. (Gangster films had never been popular on this side of the Atlantic). "Jigsaw", however, is one of the better ones. The plot is complex, but never too much so, and Val Guest, who was both scriptwriter director, manages to create a good deal of tension as the police hunt for the killer, knowing that he has a history of casual relationships with women and that he is quite capable of killing again. The denouement is rather contrived, but that apart the film has held up well in the sixty years since it was made. 7/10

A goof. A key plot point is whether a particular shop was open on a particular day, Monday 23rd April. This day turns out to have been Easter Monday (allowing us to date the action precisely to 1962) and the police therefore conclude (without asking the shopkeeper) that it must have been closed. In fact, there is no legal obligation for shops to close on Easter Monday or other Bank Holidays, and many shops in a resort town like Brighton would have remained open to take advantage of the large number of holidaymakers flocking to the town.

Being bombarded with red herrings gives off the misleading impression it can be solved...

[Chrimle · 3/10 · 27 November 2020]

So, the introduction was well executed. But as soon as the investigation begins, the protagonists immediately draws unexplained conclusions - which progressed the story. It does not take long before the movie is bombarding the viewer with information via nonstop, hasty and mumbling dialogue. Now, combine this with an overwhelming amount of red herrings, and it comes a time where it is easy to zone-out for a moment, as the pacing certainly did not offer that opportunity. Also, this resulted in a less interesting story, as it is entirely possible to not pay attention to most of the dialogue and still have the movie explain it all later on. Evidently, the movie completely surrounds the murder mystery and absolutely nothing else, which means none of characters are interesting and the sole source of intrigue is the conclusion of the murder mystery - but that is already obvious and fundamental. Thus, the movie is quite boring...

Another issue is the misleading movie poster, giving the impression the mystery can be solved by intuition and by being observant. This is really not that case, since the very last shot of the movie actually concludes the mystery - albeit a clever way of ending the movie.

Taut police procedural

[claude_frollo · 1 February 2003]

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". Effective camerawork makes Brighton a faintly sinister setting for this murder mystery. 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.

The Pieces Make for an Interesting Picture

[jjcarr-49015 · 7/10 · 10 August 2018]

A woman tells her lover - whose voice we don't hear and whose face we don't see - that she's pregnant. She seems happy hoping that he will the right thing. Then a look of horror comes over her face. An estate agent (realtor) reports a burglary in which the only things that were taken were some leases. 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. They start by checking out the only short-term lease stolen. They find partial remains of a dismembered woman. This leads to further puzzles. Who was the dead woman? Why did the killer, who had been systematically destroying evidence, stop doing so before he was finished? I won't say any more to avoid spoilers. Jigsaw is a well-made police procedural that today would be a two-hour TV movie of the Morse/Maigret variety. There a number of satisfying false leads with a nice twist towards the end, though the very last piece of the puzzle I found a bit obvious. Most of the acting is fine with the leads seemingly effortlessly believable but when some of the supports have to show emotion they go a bit over the top.

Dixon-by-the-Sea

[screenman · 9/10 · 16 May 2018]

It's Jack Warner, in yet another copper's outing. But Dixon has advanced to detective in his old age...

I had never seen nor even heard of this movie until I stumbled upon it for free on YouTube. 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. There's no blood and gore, we are left to infer things from the characters' expressions. 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. Brighton has a gloomy 'Brighton Rock' feel to it as clues unfold and dead-ends are encountered. It's an excellent view of the early 1960's, with proper coppers, nice old period cars and social mannerisms. The plot is tight and convoluted and involves locations as far afield as Greenwich. Apart from the early digression, this movie is a most absorbing watch despite its vintage and sometimes slightly vignetted appearance. Everyone gives a believable turn and technical issues are all up to snuff. Better than many much later offerings. Get on YouTube and have look...

decent police procedural

[myriamlenys · 7/10 · 28 April 2018]

Solid, well-made police procedural, about the investigation into the murder of a young woman whose dismembered body is found in a suitcase. "Jigsaw" really is a procedural, meaning that it focuses on the procedures and methods used to discover culprits and bring them to justice. Many of these methods are mundane and boring beyond belief - but then, "they also serve who only stand and wait", even watching a certain house from behind a tactically located gardenia bush can help apprehend a criminal and save innocent lives... The movie's plot is logical, the clues and hints are handed out fairly and the solution is satisfying to the intellect.

On the other hand the movie threatens to become somewhat dry : it would have benefitted from a bit more emotion or wit.

Watching a movie like this always reminds me of the strange fact that there really, truly are human beings who can say sensible things about the height of a random stranger they saw crossing the street three weeks before. Quite often these are also the same people capable of pinpointing exact dates : "Yes, yes, I saw a blonde lady in a tan coat with a toddler on her arm, this was on January 12th, at eight o'clock". It impresses the hell out of me, since I work on entirely different principles : when it comes to the small details of everyday life, nature has given me a colander instead of a memory. Aaah, well, that's human difference for you...

Very Interesting Film

[crumpytv · 8/10 · 25 May 2021]

Fast paced and wordy, Jigsaw tells the story of what appears to them to be a baffling murder.

Very much ahead of its time.

As in Dixon of Dock Green, Jack Warner seems too old and lacking in mobility to play a policeman, but he was good in the role and had a lot of machine-gun dialogue.

The film is shot in and around Brighton and features Saltdean and Lewes as well, which is of interest to me as I live in the area.

The film finishes very abruptly and I didn't consider the final piece of the jigsaw as being particularly significant when making a a case.

I did guess the perpetrator, although the person concerned did not really fit the role of a lothario with women swooning over him.

Thoroughly enjoyable British police procedural

[ebeckstr-1 · 7/10 · 6 July 2021]

It's hard to go wrong with director/producer/writer Val Guest. It is a product of its time - lots of teletypes and no gloves at the crime scenes - but the cast is very likeable, and the direction somehow both leisurely and taut. Should appeal to fans of British Cinema of that era and British crime shows.

excellent British film, based on a true story

[blanche-2 · 8/10 · 23 July 2016]

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. When her lover awakens, the woman announces that she is pregnant and nags him that they should be together always. 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. The company's book of leases is the only thing stolen. Inspector Fred Fellows (Jack Warner) is brought in on the case.

Fellows begins by looking at leases that were nearly expired. 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. He also shows how people lived in that era, which was in a very basic, economical way. Ronald Lewis, Ray Barrett, Michael Goodliffe, and Guest's real-life wife, Yolande Donlan, are all very good.

Highly recommended.

It takes a long time to get there

[jordondave-28085 · 6/10 · 29 May 2023]

(1962) Jigsaw MYSTERY

Adapted from the novel by Hillary Waugh, produced, co-written and directed by Val Guest which opens with a woman being strangled by a guy she calls Johnny who was lying on his bed. The very next day, a man who rents out flats, Mr. Restlin (Brian Oulton) reported that his office had been broken into with missing leases. And it is not long before viewers find a connection between the murdered woman at the opening and the missing leases. Det. Inspector Fellows (Jack Warner) is then assigned to the case with his Det. Sgt. Jim Wilks (Ronald Lewis) as his assistant, once they go into one of the flats as a result of money owing, who they then discover a dead body hidden inside a trunk. At first, viewers are being told that the rented flat where the body was found was rented to a Mr John Campbell.

And it was not until the 50 minute mark is when the got their first break in the case as soon as they uncovered their first solid name of Joan Simpson as the John Campbell name never went anywhere, or that it did not lead to anything.

Based on an actual incident according to imdb "... the case of Patrick Mahon, who murdered his pregnant lover Emily Kaye near Eastbourne in 1924", except that by watching the movie, it never really lead to anything until after the 50 minute mark, and although the movie takes place during that time, I can't stop thinking the movie may have been resolved much faster if a criminal sketch artist was brought in.

"I didn't get where I am today by....."

[Brucey_D · 8/10 · 26 January 2017]

A pregnant girlfriend is murdered by her lover, who we the audience don't see. 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. However I agree with another reviewer regarding Yolanda Donlan's performance; 'a little overwrought' indeed. Maybe the director's wife gets special treatment...? John Barron has a small role in this film. 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. I found it quite engaging.

Certainly worth watching, this one.

a moidah who-dunnit

[ksf-2 · 6/10 · 29 May 2023]

Brighton. What starts as a simple break in, leads the coppers to a murdered woman. Found in a suitcase. In an empty house. So we tag along as they follow the clues. It's pretty dry, like an episode of dragnet. We just follow along, one by one. According to the trivia section, it's based on a crime from the 1920s. Or 1930s. Although the actual credits say its based on the book from 1959. One witness, who almost became another victim, is played by yolande donlan.who does a great job of overacting. And happened to be married to the director. It's entertaining. The details were probably pretty shocking at the time, before we were so used to seeing violence around us. Directed by val guest, who won a bafta for writing "the day the earth caught fire".

Front rank British detective thriller, which sticks close to the source novel.

[jamesraeburn2003 · 7 September 2018]

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. A door to door vacuum cleaner salesman called Clyde Burchard (Michael Goodliffe), who turns out to have form for sex offences, is soon arrested on suspicion of murder. However, it isn't long before Fellows and Wilks eliminate him from their inquiries. 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. Fellows' "wild idea" pays off and she picks out the man who insists that Miss Simpson's death was an accident. That appears to hold water much to the dismay of Fellows and Wilks who know in their hearts that it was first degree murder. 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. I first saw it some years before at an art house in Brighton who screened it as part of a season of films set in and filmed in Brighton to commemorate the cinema's centenary. 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. It features a particularly grisly murder, but the more gruesome aspects about it are implied rubbishing the widely held view nowadays that you need to go all out for gory graphic detail to achieve a horrific impact upon an audience. The opening scenes containing a long tracking shot through an open bedroom window at the beach house are especially effective. We then pan all the way round the room before seeing the murder victim (Moira Redmond) quarrelling with her lover. We do not see his face nor do we hear him speak. Although there is no incidental music here - nor anywhere else, for that matter - the tension is built up admirably by the distant sound of seagulls and the waves crashing against the cliffs, which finally fades into a deadly silence. 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. Yet it is insightful, absorbing and fun leading to a satisfying denouement in which all of the plot twists and clues have played fair with us to reach a logical conclusion. Writer-producer-director Val Guest opted for a semi-documentary style, which uses the Brighton, Lewes and Sussex locations to maximum effect. Part of the fun is looking at those and seeing how many of them are recognisable today and quite a few of them are, no kidding. 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. Many familiar faces pop up in the stellar British supporting cast; including Ray Barrett, Michael Goodliffe, John Horsley and John Le Mesurier. 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. It works as a whodunit, the acting, direction and settings all have the right touch. I would urge anybody who is thinking of watching it or already has to read Hilary Waugh's book too: it is well worth the read.