Twenty Plus Two

"Twenty Plus Two" is a stylish, ambitious movie with a great look. It's a shame that it's filmed after the height of film noir, but it still has a few great scenes that are noir-ish, and plenty of night scenes in general. The movie starts off in Hollywood 1961 and follows Tom Alder (actor David Janssen) from coast to coast as he figures out a murder mystery and finds a missing person, all the while dealing with a LOT of different characters. I thought it was really well made.

The main problem with "Twenty Plus Two" is the casting of Dina Merrill as the female lead. Her character is about 30 years old at the time of the movie, and in flashback scenes, she's about 20. Merrill was 37 when she made this movie and she looked older. She was hardly believable as a 30-year-old woman, and definitely not as a young 20-year-old. She was badly miscast and it affected the movie.

Jeanne Crain fares better as a sort of "girl next door" but fifteen years down the line. She plays Linda, who was engaged to Tom before he was sent to Korea, but married someone else while he was away. Now, 11 years after they last saw one another, she wants him back, but he doesn't want her, and she spends half the movie chasing him. She and Janssen are kind of funny in their scenes together.

Agnes Moorehead as the missing girl's mother was superb in her scene with David Janssen. It's a long, pivotal scene. I give credit to both actors as their give-and-take was spot on. There's a lot of dialogue in this movie and these two could really deliver lines.

The most stylistic and atmospheric scene in the entire movie is a shot of Tom sitting alone in his hotel room, thinking about the past, smoking, and the camera follows the smoke as it rises to the ceiling. It is fantastic.

David Janssen is very, very good in this movie. He's cool, and the film's black and white visuals and jazzy score help to underline this. He should have become a major feature film star. As it was, he became a major TV star, and deservedly so.

"Twenty Plus Two" is an unusual film in that I re-started it about 20 minutes into the story. This is because although I was watching, I was distracted by other things....and this is NOT a film to watch when there are any distractions! It's complicated...and still worth seeing.

David Janssen plays Tom Alder, a man much like his TV character Richard Diamond, the detective. But Alder is not quite as smooth and isn't quite as irresistible to the ladies...though two women in the film clearly adore him.

Alder makes his living finding lost people. One old case that has been unsolved for well over a decade involved a rich young lady who just disappeared. The film shows the steps Alder takes to eventually find this woman and solve the mystery of her disappearance.

While I'd quickly admit that Janssen's acting is sometimes a bit wooden, I like him in his various shows and movies. He's quite good here and the story is good but almost needs a map to help you keep up with all the twists and turns. My only complaint, and it's minor, is that too many things seem coincidental...but this is a small matter. Well worth seeing.

Confusing but entertaining yarn with David Janssen trying to solve the case of a young girl who went missing years before.

Brad Dexter plays a movie star who, as usual, gives off enough vibes to make you suspect he's a rat. His secretary is bumped off, and since she seemed to have an interest in the missing person's case, enter Janssen. Jeanne Crain plays Janssen's old flame. Dina Merrill plays Crain's friend, who ultimately becomes an important part of the case. Everything gets wrapped up in the final ten minutes or so, but it's a bit of a mess getting to that point.

There is some good work by others, including William Demarest as a drunken former reporter who had written about the case, and Jacques Aubuchon, as a mysterious guy who wants Janssen to find his missing brother. It was a little odd seeing Aubuchon in a suit, since I was used to him walking around in native garb as Chief Urulu in "McHale's Navy." Silent screen star Gertrude Astor plays a dead body.

Worth a look, just to see Jeanne Crain in one of the tightest black dresses ever made.

A lawyer begins a search for a woman who went missing as a teen ten years before. He is also forced at gunpoint to take on a search for the missing brother of "the king of the confidence men." He interviews colorful characters, knocks on doors, has flashbacks to his own life, and it all comes together at the end.

The plot is intriguing. It is complicated enough to demand your full attention, but not so complicated to be hard to follow. The jazz score has been done many times before and since. It goes well with the movie, but it is inappropriately intrusive here and there.

All in all, a nice, neat job. My one complaint is that costar, Jeanne Crain, has little to do here. The costar should have been Dina Merril. I am not so much concerned about billing, I am just a devoted fan of Jeanne Crain

It's a mostly intriguing story... a young girl had gone missing years ago. now, when a woman is murdered, people start looking into the missing girl again, for various reasons. David Janssen (two years before his very successful series The Fugitive) is an investigator, and bits of his own past start coming out. some twists and surprises along the way. but also some pretty big plot holes that really should have been ironed out. pretty weak script. the acting is fine, but just some sloppy directing and creaky screenplay. some fun co-stars here.. Agnes Moorehead was so good in Dark Passage and the many projects with orson wells. Bill Demarest was in so many old films and My Three Sons... both actors getting up there by now. Demarest's character was so old, wrinkled, and ornery, I didn't recognize him when I saw him in the bar scene. Dina Merrill, who I knew from Desk Set. 20 + 2 directed by Joe Newman. never did anything too big. written by Frank Gruber; wrote lots of westerns and murder stories. and has an interesting quote that there are really only seven basic westerns. check it out on his imdb page. the film is very watchable, but has its flaws. Janssen died at 48... heart attack, according to wikipedia dot org. check it out... some huge names at his funeral. we should all be so lucky.