Diagnosis: Murder

Impossible to miss this movie, played by the extraordinary Christopher Lee and directed by the very competent Sidney Hayers (I've never seen any bad movie by him, the very best being "Burn, Witch, Burn"). And Christopher Lee is a sadistic psychotic killer manipulating police. Very impressive, not gory, plenty of twists, impossible to get bored, it grips. A must see.

"Diagnosis: Murder" is a most unusual film for Christopher Lee. Instead of playing a monster, a Satanist, a maniac or Sauron, he plays a seemingly 'normal' guy. Of course, he isn't! You see, Dr. Hayward's wife is missing...and the police soon realize that he might be their number one suspect, as Hawyward has been having an affair. This is also interesting, because his story, in some ways, parallels that of the investigating officer.

Overall, this is a mildly enjoyable police drama and is worth seeing...particularly if you want to see the very prolific Lee playing something different!

By the way, if you do watch the film, note the opening credits...they are pretty creative and cool.

Christopher Lee plays a strange psychiatrist who's wife goes missing and who's the subject of letters mailed to the police saying that he has killed his wife. The police dive into the case with zeal and find that things concerning the case just don't really add up.

This is a really good thriller with a many nice twists. I like that you're over half way into the movie before you have any idea what's really going on, and once you do know, things don't take a predictable path to the end.

This is a small gem of a movie thats well acted by all concerned. The actors actually give their characters a life that isn't typical for what seems to be, but really isn't, a by the numbers mystery. Jon Finch, as the detective makes an excellent foil for Christopher Lee by simply refusing to do what he's suppose to.

My sole complaint is that the ending wasn't 100% clear, then again based on IMDb's running time the version I saw was missing about ten minutes so something may have been cut (or more likely I wasn't paying enough attention) . Definitely worth seeing, or in my case re-seeing.

I had long wanted to check out this British thriller (mainly because the Leonard Maltin Movie Guide gave it a surprisingly favourable write-up) co-starring Christopher Lee – but had been wary of the prospect since all the sources I have checked give the film's running-time as 95 minutes, whereas the only available print lasted for only 83!; with the actor's recent passing, I acquired it regardless to include in my ongoing tribute. Having watched it now, I pretty much agree with Maltin's opinion – but, to be fair, for most of the duration I was prone to slash off half-a-star from the rating; the reason for this is the fact that the film-making on display is essentially no different to what was contemporaneously being proposed on TV: one would expect a theatrical release from this era – particularly since British cinema was virtually in the doldrums by then – to include a modicum of sex and violence, but these are hardly in evidence (if at all)! As I came to learn after the fact, the film was indeed intended for TV but was released theatrically anyway; whatever the case, the opening abduction sequence plays out like something out of the cult espionage TV series THE AVENGERS (1961-69)!

The premise is straightforward and typical, but nonetheless engaging (if somewhat improbable): the wealthy wife of a doctor (Lee) goes missing and he comes under suspicion, especially since he may be carrying on an affair with his secretary (Judy Geeson); the police investigation is handled by a gaunt-looking Jon Finch (due to an as-yet untreated diabetic condition) who, apart from keeping his hair long and drinking on the job, is struggling with 'domestic' problems of his own (he contemplates quitting girlfriend Jane Merrow, who is forced to tend to her ungrateful crippled husband). Eventually, it transpires that Lee is really guilty – with Geeson soon made an unwitting accomplice – and wants to inherit his spouse's fortune (whom he keeps hidden away in a remote countryside place, leased under an alias, and is slowly poisoning); at one point, he tries to explain himself to his lover by saying that he does not have 40 years to live that he can comfortably wait for what is lawfully coming to him – in hindsight, it is quite moving to realize that Lee had exactly that amount of time at his disposal before passing away! Despite having a full schedule of patients and with a policeman constantly tailing him, the doctor is regularly able to flee his workplace in order to carry out this nefarious plan with relative ease (indeed, Lee's portrayal is perennially cool and collected – albeit with a barely-disguised sadistic streak).

The film is certainly enjoyable along the way (though the ostensibly redundant subplot involving Merrow's plight is admittedly dull) and is aided immeasurably by Laurie Johnson's pulsating score; what really gives DIAGNOSIS: MURDER (nothing to do, incidentally, with the much-later and long-running TV show starring Dick Van Dyke) its raison d'etre, however, is the clever double twist at the climax (the first of which recalls to some degree the ending of TASTE OF FEAR {1961}, also with Lee) and the second proving quite cynical (stressing the comparable situations plaguing both hero and villain within the narrative).

An obnoxious police inspector named Lomax (Jon Finch) investigates sleazy and mysterious psychiatrist Dr.Stephen Hayward (Christopher Lee) suspected of having killed his wife Julia who is nowhere to be found and may not even be dead.

But a serious of anonymous notes state straight out that he murdered his wife. Someone is determined that the police become fixated on the rude, indignant and downright creepy shrink. Hayward doesn't win a lot of sympathy and for most of his life never really cared to. But being a jerk and being a murderer are not synonymous.

Placing Hayward under surveillance 24/7 and combing every inch of his property the cops find nothing. Ordered to drop the investigation the real plot begins to peel away.

Dr.Hayward's mistress/secretary Helen (Judy Geeson) does some investigating on her own with unexpected results. Whether she will reveal what she knows goes beyond simply worrying about her own complicity. She shares something in common with Lomax and through that he has insight into what is really happening.

They are both having affairs with married people but his morality interferes with his relationship and hers does not. The juxtaposition is thus not between killer and detective but rather between detective and accomplice. In that respect it reflects the kind of police work that is often done but seldom properly dramatized.

Finch was too young to portray the cynical, edgy alcoholic police inspector but the quality of the performance takes some of the edge of the casting choice. The mystery is appealing on a lot of levels but the brisk run time suggests they had room for more and didn't use it.

The movie poster used to market this film suggests they wanted audiences to think that it was horror which it is not and which it at no time resembles. It is more mystery/thriller but audiences of the day had come to know Christopher Lee mostly as a horror film star and producers evidently wanted to exploit that. The irony is that Sir Christopher was looking to carve out a niche beyond horror around the time this was made.

Jon Finch, Judy Geeson and Tony Beckley would have done their share of horror titles before this one became available on home video which probably confused a lot of audiences who rented it thinking it was horror when it fights the niche of mystery/thriller more properly.