Mystery Junction

Dull, Wooden acting, even Sidney Tafler doesn't help it out much. Still better it's better than a lot of rubbish on Netflix Watch the ghost train 1941, for a much better film in as similar vain, ie stuck at station with baddies about.

Mystery writer Sidney Taffler is speaking to Christine Silver as they travel on the train, about how he writes his stories. Suddenly a scream is heard. They investigate and discover one of the crew has been knocked out and his uniform stolen. There's also a detective transporting Martin Benson to his trial. To investigate, most of the passengers are taken to a station. As they wait, a storm rises outside. A shot rings out, and the detective is killed. Half the passengers are members of Benson's gang. They prepare to leave, but Taffer points out that no one admits to killing the detective. The target was Benson. They start to work out who wants him dead.

It's a nicely composed classical locked-room mystery, decently acted, and brilliantly shot by DP Robert LaPresle, with carefully composed side-lighting to make the setting dark and oppressive, gradually giving away to brighter lighting as suspects are eliminated -- sometimes by shooting. It's good, sturdy B Movie work, composed for economy on two sets, with competent but inexpensive actors.

Compact little B-movie crime thriller starring Sydney Tafler as mystery writer Larry Gordon. Gordon is button-holed in a railway compartment by an adoring fan who wants to discuss his writing technique. Suddenly a scream is heard and the pair investigate, checking the varied array of passengers in the rest of the carriage. They find that a police officer has been murdered on the train and the ticket collector knocked unconcious and his uniform jacket stolen. All of the suspects end up in the waiting room of a snow-bound station. Then another policeman in charge of a prisoner, is shot. But, was he the intended target? And why do most of the passengers seem to have some connection with the criminal? The action and dialogue seem at times rushed and rather preposterous. Cliches and red herrings abound. Is there something else going on? Bear with it and you'll find out!

Larry Gordon wakes up on board a train journey, to an adoring fan of his crime writer, Miss Owens. The pair hear a loud scream and set off to investigate, whilst searching the train the pair stumble upon two detectives who are holding dangerous prisoner Steve Harding, who is awaiting trial for murder. Later a body is discovered, and with the horrendous weather stopping the train, Larry concludes that the killer must be a passenger on the train.

I waited with anticipation to see this film, being a huge whodunnit fan, this seemed in theory to fit the bill. Very much a B movie, although from the point of view of filming, production values etc. It looks very slick, it is very nicely made in fact. The acting is pretty good, Sydney Tafler and Barbara Murray are the standouts, both excellent in their respective parts.

I think the film attempted to cross genres, the typical British whodunit, close setting, quirky suspects, and it also tried to import some of the gangster genre that had been popular, towards the end there's a big shoot out scene, which seems oddly placed. The plot loses it a little, becoming a little messy.

It didn't satisfy me from the point of view of a whodunnit, as the actual mystery element was a little lacking, but in many other ways it worked well, overall a solid movie, but not a classic, it's watchable.

6/10.

The scenario in which a group of people find themselves in a closed environment where a murder is then committed by an unseen hand was not new when this short black and white film was made. However, Mystery Junction plays out the tale neatly and efficiently, keeping us guessing all the way, although following exactly who has done what to whom becomes increasingly difficult.

The acting is excellent, the cinematography exemplary - there are some quite classical compositions, one in particular towards the end. This is a very British film, the drama comes from tension, not from heroics. Indeed, that heroism is futile is made plain throughout, and even where violence brings results, they will ever play you false.

The quality of this film is masked by its low budget, and, on the print I just saw on television, murky resolution. Two of the cast, Sydney Tafler and Ewen Solon, went on to prominent TV careers, and most of the others found plenty of work in television. However, for Pearl Cameron, whose performance was a minor highlight of the film, this was her second, and last credit.

While not an outstanding film, Mystery Junction is worth watching if you value tight, understated drama.