Jigsaw (1962) Brighton Based Murder Mystery Puzzler

The city of Brighton and Hove on the south coast of England brings us this thrilling, twisting and turning tale of terror to our screens. A murder mystery which we get to watch from start to finish, daring us to workout who the devious culprit could possibly be. It maybe a slow burn story, leaving no stone unturned as we follow our two main detectives as they try to solve this brutal murder case. But following the clues like a jigsaw puzzle, watching these two experienced investigators slot each piece into place is brilliant to watch. Unfortunately the pieces of this particular jigsaw puzzle might not just fit together!

Tagline – Every Piece Starts To Make A Picture….

After a random small burglary is reported to Det Sgt Jim Wilks (Ronald Lewis) the detective is eager to pass on the case due to its trivial nature but under duress he has Det Insp Fred Fellows (Jack Warner) put by his side for diplomatic reasons. Lucky the two are friends as they banter to each other who’s going do the work for this time wasting case. Who would of guessed it would lead to a mystery to not only find a killer, by the letter initials of JC on a suitcase to go on but also to try and discover who the poor lady victim was.

Football mad Fred Fellows has a golden ticket for his beloved Brighton football team, as he keeps telling everyone. He’s an experienced detective on the force but even he hasn’t come across a crime so brutal as this. We watch as Fred and Jim methodically workout leads and clues, police lineups, new forensic techniques and exhausting all the avenues they can. The mystery spreads out, taking the investigation to the neighbouring town of Lewes, to further a field, Greenwich, London, right next to the Cutty Sark (where the house still stands)

Will these two detectives be able to solve the crime, work out who the unfortunate victim was and will Fred get to go to the football match?

No stranger to detective work is our Jack Warner, as he will always be remembered as Police Officer George Dixon in the long running series Dixon Of Dock Green. He also played Inspector Lomax in The Quatermass Xperiment another Val Guest film.

Directed by Val Guest who also writes the screenplay. What I’ve noticed on the three Val Guest films I’ve recently seen, is his amazing use of dialogue. The banter, quips and general conversation are relentless and such a joy to watch. Never feeling forced and having the ability to form in-depth characters, you are so engrossed into the scenes that you don’t need action every five minutes. If you haven’t seen them, I very much recommend the following two, which I’ve done posts on if you fancied a read, The Day The Earth Caught Fire and Hell Is A City.

A few choice lines.

• “I know something’s going on – you’ve got police cars running round town like someone’s stolen the Chief Constable’s golf clubs.”
• “I’m not a prude but a man like that makes me wanna take a bath!”
• “You wait all day for a break but when you get it, it ain’t worth a line of beans!”

I thoroughly recommend this detective crime thriller, it’s superb to spot all the old British cars bobbing about and seeing Brighton in the early 60’s is wonderful to see before the invasion in 1979 from hordes of Mods and Rockers in the film Quadrophenia.

At the time of writing Jigsaw (1962) is up to stream in full on Youtube.

Let me know if you see it, or have already seen it or you just fancy saying hello.

All the best and happy viewing…. Mikey The Wolfman

Advertisement