The 20 Questions Murder Mystery

I really quite enjoyed this rather quirky crime thriller. It starts off with the most spurious of clues - a man writes into the famous BBC radio panel game "20 Questions" with a puzzle for them all. The answer turns out to be incredibly similar to the circumstances of a murder the next day... When this happens again, two sparring reporters get down to investigating what's going on. Robert Beattty and Rona Anderson blend their gentle journalistic competitiveness (and a gently burgeoning romance) well, and alongside Edward Lexy as the pursuing policeman ("Insp. Charlton") and the real quiz panel - including legendary British broadcasters Richard Dimbleby and Jack Train - help to keep the mystery rolling along nicely. It's just a bit too long, I felt - the story does start to recycle itself a bit and there is a great deal of dialogue, but it is still an intriguing enough watch as the brains start to piece together this complex series of evidence threads that keeps us guessing right to the end. A couple of nice cameos from Kynaston Reeves and Liam Redmond help out well, too.

It begins with some originality, even blurring the lines between reality and fiction by having several real panelists of a (rather obscure today) radio game show playing "themselves" but acting out a script. However, all of this is quickly mostly abandoned, and the film becomes a conventional, talky and overlong murder mystery. A dull male protagonist does not help much. The killer, however, is admittedly well-hidden. ** out of 4.

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.

The BBC's legendary Twenty Questions show is the subject of a killer's macabre sense of humour, sending in questions as leads to their heinous crimes.

It's a very cold and wet day, the curtains are shut, so the setting is cosy, this film has been the perfect antadote to a cold and wet day. The pace is slow, but it's engaging enough, it's atmospheric and will keep you guessing. The acting is varied to say the least, but there are some interesting characters.

It's 1950, it holds up, nice production values, although some of the attitudes are representative of the time.

Poirot's Whitehaven Mansions appear to be the external home of Mary Game.

It's a decent pot boiler, 6/10.

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.