Mystery Broadcast

When a young radio writer's popular mystery show dramatizing unsolved crimes has a ratings drop, she promises to solve a murder on her next broadcast. However, when she airs an intriguing case, several other murders occur peripheral to the case, and she herself is almost killed.

Radio writer Ruth Terry ( a cross between Judy Garland and Angela Lansbury in looks) and Mary Treen work together to solve a murder. Despite the backstory of that historic murder a bit unclear, it's fun, fast-paced mystery with plenty of energy and humour. Nice light entertainment.

Mystery Broadcast is a fun and fast film starring Ruth Terry, Frank Albertson, and Mary Treen.

Radio personality Jan Cornell (Ruth Terry) announces that she is going to solve a cold case, that of the Crying Pines Murder, the death of a woman named Fenwick. One of the actors, Mida, seems to find this news unsettling and begs off. She calls Jan later and asks to see her, but Jan reaches her too late - she's been murdered.

A competitor radio detective, Mike Jerome (Frank Albertson) works with Jan and the sound effect person, Smitty (Treen) to investigate the old and new murder, since they're both connected. The big scene up at Crying Pines as they try to make a recording - on a record - of the pines in the wind was the best, very creepy.

Directed by George Sherman, this was most enjoyable and very '40s. Terry, Treen, and Jerome made a delightful team. Surprisingly good.

This is quite an original little mystery with Ruth Terry taking centre stage as "Jan Cornell". She hosts one of those weekly radio shows that tells stories of cold-case crime. One week, though, with ratings dwindling and the sponsors getting tetchy, she hits on the idea of the show solving a real crime - by next week! Her boss loves the idea so now allied with her fellow radio detective "Jerome" (Frank Albertson) they embark on some sleuthing. All too quickly, though, they become embroiled in a fresh murder - one of their prime suspects, no less, and who knows if they might be next! This moves along nicely with plenty of creepy scenarios to keep the interest piqued and the nerves tingling but the audio! Yikes, but were the microphones in the studio next door? Terry and Albertson do make for quite an engaging duo and the story has just enough jeopardy to keep us guessing right until the broadcast. I bet she'll never accidentally lean on the lift buttons again, either!

Trying to boost her ratings, a radio show mystery writer, Jan Cornell (Ruth Terry), promises to solve a real life murder on the following week's program. With the help of her soundman . . . er, make that soundwoman . . . she sets out to investigate. When one of her witnesses turns up dead, Jan realizes she's on the right track.

Despite the poor image and sound quality of the transfer I watched, Mystery Broadcast was still an enjoyable experience. It's pretty obvious right from the start that director George Sherman didn't have much of a budget to work with. Calling it a "B" is an understatement. Still, Sherman crafted a funny, suspenseful film that moves at a fantastic pace for its all too brief 63 minute runtime. There's a lot packed into just over an hour. Most of the fun comes from watching Terry and co-star Mary Treen (who steals almost every scene she's in) navigate the variety of sometimes spooky situations they find themselves in. The bit with the old, dark house and the crying pines is especially memorable. Terry and Treen work off each other expertly in these scenes. The ending is clever, even though there's no way you can play along and guess the killer's identity. The plot has the murderer sort of out themselves. Overall, a solid little film that should appeal to any fan of old mystery/comedies.

7/10

There's much to enjoy in this very good example of a "B" movie whodunnit. It's fun trying to figure out who the killer is as things move along toward the final climatic scene.

The female writer of a radio series about unsolved crimes makes an on-air announcement that during next week's show she will solve an old murder mystery and expose the murderer on-air. Following along with her as she searches for clues to the murderers identity while two other people also get murdered by the same killer is just plain good old fashioned fun. Enjoy....