The Twenty Questions Murder Mystery (1950)

Surprisingly incoherent and boring

A Disappointing Continuation

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

Modest quota quickies often played in independent halls as a main feature provided there was enough appeal to capture an audience - and this little murder mystery from the tiny Southall studio seemed to tick all the boxes!! Not only were there a few sightings of some BBC radio personalities at the start (with a starry eyed fan sighing "isn't he handsome") but "20 Questions" was a very popular quiz program in it's day and the movie even featured a few of the original contestants although only Jeanne De Casalis received "guest artiste" credit!!Rona Anderson had been part of Rank's young ladies "charm school" but for some reason she just didn't stand out. She soon found herself trapped in Bs even though she once said "second features were not a good look - it looked like you hadn't quite made it"!! She was a lovely addition to any movie and her brisk resourcefulness usually gave more depth to the part than was often there. Here she played Mary vying for the big scoop with fellow reporter from a rival paper Robert Beatty and with all the chauvinistic wisecracks typical of the early 1950s. Both she and Bob happen to be in the audience of "20 Questions" when a question is sent in by a listener (an unusual occurrence) - the team get a lot of fun with linking Rikitikitavi to a mongoose!! Next morning an avid listener of the program awakes to find her husband dead - his name is Riki Tavi and a stuffed mongoose they bought back from India has pride of place on the mantle. After another murder the intrepid pair find that India is the link - and the connection is a trial where a violent man was sentenced to life for killing an Indian servant. He is now back in Britain under an assumed name and thirsting for revenge from all the people who put him behind bars!!There are boundless clues but no one seems interested - an Indian manservant Mahoomed Ali mentions a strange man who feeds the pigeons in the park but only viewers will link the clues, the cast are all too busy pointing an accusatory finger at Ali, even though he spends the movie scared witless that he is going to be the next victim!!Clifford Evans turns up in a pivotal role - he seems the only cast member who had seen better movie days (a leading role in "Love on the Dole" (1941)) but by the 1950s was firmly ensconced in the Bs!!

The real-life 20 Questions radio parlour game panel become involved in a murder mystery. The BBC stars play themselves, and come across as natural and witty, especially Jeanne de Casalis and Richard Dimbleby. There are a lot of in-jokes, several referring back to the wartime radio comedy ITMA, in which Jack Train played a bibulous Colonel. (His catchphrase was "I don't mind if I do.") There is a rather tasteless running gag about his drinking habits. The cast also send up the sonorous BBC sign-off of "Goodnight everybody, goodnight."The script is literate, and the clues require a knowledge of Shakespeare. Rona Anderson (later Mrs Gordon Jackson) is excellent as an aspiring newswoman who finds she's disbarred from the Cheshire Cheese. It's a pub, and in those days women were only allowed in the restaurant. Who wants to go back to the 50s? (30 years later, bar staff were grudgingly coming round to the idea that they might take orders from women – you just had to stand there for half an hour while they ignored you.)

As a low budget British crime film mixing fact and fiction, THE 20 QUESTIONS MURDER MYSTERY works far better than the previous attempt I saw, THE BRASS MONKEY. This one takes the real-life participants of the radio quiz show '20 Questions' and incorporates them into a plot involving a vengeful murderer who gradually works his way through a group of old soldiers. His modus operandi is to send in clues and puzzles to the '20 Questions' team before committing each crime. It's a novel premise and one that works quite well thanks to the literate script. The director, Paul L. Stein, had a lengthy career that started out in German silent cinema before he fled to the UK in 1938 and became a film director over here. He died shortly after this production, leaving the film a fitting testament to his talents.Fans of the genre will recognise various tropes here, from the intrepid reporter running rings around the police to the villain with his secret motive and the well-staged and atmospheric murders which feel like they're out of an Edgar Wallace novel. As the reporter hero, the Canadian born Robert Beatty had one of the longest careers in Hollywood history and does a fine job, and Rona Anderson is ahead of the times as the sharp female reporter. Once again, Wally Patch (SALUTE THE TOFF) steals every scene as the humorous cop assigned to bodyguard duty to protect the equally funny Jack Train, and Kynaston Reeves plays in support.

Based around a guessing game radio show that that was very popular in America and the UK in the 40s and 50s, this film stars the cast of the British version. An anonymous listener is mailing questions into the show to be solved on the air, and these clues are lining up with actual murders being committed, so it's up to our radio heroes to decipher the clues for each new letter before it's too late and the murder committed.It's old, creaky, but also quaint and light hearted with all murder and violence happening off-screen. I imagine people who were familiar with the UK program got more miles out of this than the rest of us as there are a number of in-jokes based on the panelists personalities (particularly Jack Train, who seems to be the goofball of the otherwise stuffy group), but it's still a fun, quick Sunday afternoon-type whodunit if you like the sort and even if you've never heard of the show.