The Teckman Mystery

THE TECKMAN MYSTERY is the kind of programmer that routinely appears on television but regularly released in cinemas in the Forties and Fifties. It concerns a writer, Philip Chance who is asked to write a book about a recently-deceased pilot Martin Teckman. Initially reluctant to do so, he is drawn into a web of intrigue, organized by Martin's sister (Margaret Leighton), in which Martin is revealed to be not dead at all but the victim of a conspiracy that leads to his attempt to kill himself.

The film offers some good exterior shots of mid-Fifties London, with mercifully less traffic but plenty of secret areas where corruption thrives. The cast don't have too much to do with their roles: Justin acts the part of the debonair writer in more danger than he thinks, while Leighton is marginally too old for her role. Lovers of Fifties curiosities will note that this thriller is directed by a woman, Wendy Toye, one of the few British women to be operative at that time.

I wasn't as enamored of this as some. A biographer researching a book on a dead pilot falls for the pilot's sister.

As he gets further into the pilot's death and the aircraft he was flying, people start turning up dead.

The film stars John Justin as the author and Margaret Leighton as the pilot's sister.

The story is told by director Wendy Toye without much in the way of plot - it's very no-nonsense. That makes the different twists less confusing but not very exciting. If you're looking for tension, it's not there. John Justin, however, is appealing

I felt this could have been better. It didn't draw me in. For me there wasn't enough there there.

Helen Teckman and Philip Chance are strangers sitting next to each other on a plane. She's reading a book which happens to be authored by him. He's been assigned to write a biography of test pilot Martin Teckman who died a few months earlier and happens to be her brother. He returns home to find it ransacked. He starts investigating Martin's crash of an experimental plane.

The start is intriguing. The investigating goes slowly. It's a lot of sitting around and talking. With all the murders and deaths, one expects more thrills. It lacks kinetic energy and falters in intensity. The characters are more likely to have a long relaxing smoke or drink tea than get into a fight. Time and time again. The movie likes to dwell on their boring static conversations. It's slow and the style isn't much of anything. I'm still interested in the central mystery but the movie is not making it that exciting.

A film about a missing test pilot and Cold War espionage seem a promising foundation for 90 minutes of drama and entertainment. However, despite the first hour of the film offering an exciting, if convoluted narrative, the last 30 minutes drags, meanders and eventually loses its way, mainly due to the fact that the storyline seems to present a very far fetched and tedious series of events. Likeable John Justin, puts in a sound and smooth performance as the writer, who gets caught up in a web of intrigue. The splendid Raymond Huntley, as the publisher, and Roland Culver, as the MI5 officer, offer sterling support, but their lack of screen time give them little time to display their considerable acting skills. On the other hand, Margaret Leighton is woefully miscast as the fraught sister of the missing pilot. She is too cold, detached and always dressed as if she was going to a cocktail party! When she's on the screen, she displays no nuances of emotion, and whatever the scene, her voice and manner remain the same! The ending of the film is sloppily done, disappointing and unconvincing! This is very much a film which shows great promise at the start, but then fizzles out too soon.

Nice post-war British espionage mystery. Clever and wonderfully acted. Margaret Leighton super (of course), but whole cast top notch.