Jigsaw (1962)

the audience applauded

People are voting emotionally.

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

Solid, well-made police procedural, about the investigation into the murder of a young woman whose dismembered body is found in a suitcase. "Jigsaw" really is a procedural, meaning that it focuses on the procedures and methods used to discover culprits and bring them to justice. Many of these methods are mundane and boring beyond belief - but then, "they also serve who only stand and wait", even watching a certain house from behind a tactically located gardenia bush can help apprehend a criminal and save innocent lives... The movie's plot is logical, the clues and hints are handed out fairly and the solution is satisfying to the intellect. On the other hand the movie threatens to become somewhat dry : it would have benefitted from a bit more emotion or wit. Watching a movie like this always reminds me of the strange fact that there really, truly are human beings who can say sensible things about the height of a random stranger they saw crossing the street three weeks before. Quite often these are also the same people capable of pinpointing exact dates : "Yes, yes, I saw a blonde lady in a tan coat with a toddler on her arm, this was on January 12th, at eight o'clock". It impresses the hell out of me, since I work on entirely different principles : when it comes to the small details of everyday life, nature has given me a colander instead of a memory. Aaah, well, that's human difference for you...

This film is based on the real Brighton Trunk murders that occurred in Massachusetts. The setting is changed to Brighton England, which gives the film a special atmosphere.The film opens with two lovers lying in bed. When her lover awakens, the woman announces that she is pregnant and nags him that they should be together always. He comes toward, she screams, and that's the end of the scene.Meanwhile, in Brighton, the police are investigating a break-in that occurred in a rental management company. The company's book of leases is the only thing stolen. Inspector Fred Fellows (Jack Warner) is brought in on the case. Fellows begins by looking at leases that were nearly expired. They find one of the houses deserted, except that in a trunk in the garage, they find a dismembered woman.Really excellent and intricate story that manages to be interesting and exciting despite the fact that the police have to do grunt work and run into dead ends. The acting is very good, and Val Guest, often a director for Hammer films, does a great job keeping the film moving. He also shows how people lived in that era, which was in a very basic, economical way. Ronald Lewis, Ray Barrett, Michael Goodliffe, and Guest's real-life wife, Yolande Donlan, are all very good. Highly recommended.

It's Brighton in the early 60s. A lonely house. A tarty blond gets out of bed and informs her boyfriend that she's pregnant so they'll have to be married. This is a big mistake on her part. The boyfriend evidently doesn't want to build a home because he kills her, chops her up, and stashes her in a trunk in the garage -- most of her, anyway.We never do see the killer and thereby hangs a tail. The renter of the house, Brian Oulton, is all upset because the occupants are behind in their payments so the police are called in. They are Jack Warner and Ronald Lewis. At first, knowing only that the "Campbells" skipped on the rent, they poke around the house in a leisurely fashion, examining the furniture, the furnace, and so on, all quite disinterestedly, despite being nettled by Oulton, the impatient owner. Once the body is uncovered, the police shift into high gear and the film turns into a nifty policier.The director, Val Guest, also wrote the screenplay. He doesn't waste a moment. There is occasional overlapping dialog, some brisk but friendly banter, orders are casually snapped out and followed at once. The police have no names, neither the victim nor the presumed killer, and begin visiting neighbors and shops, trying to piece together enough independent data to complete a picture of what happened. I presume that's where the title, "Jigsaw", comes from, and not from the fact that the girl's body was so gruesomely mishandled.The story itself is too complicated to describe in any detail. Most of these detective stories are. There are many red herrings before the final capture, but the movie ends on a cute note. The killer's alibi rests on an excuse that it was an accident. The poor girl tripped and bashed her head in. In a panic, the killer ran out and bought the instruments that sawed her up. But that was after she was already dead, a Monday night. The alibi is disproved in the last shot when Warner points to a poster advertising a musical performance featuring Beethoven's Piano Concerto, Schubert's Fourth Symphony, and something by Malcolm Arnold. The performance was on Monday night -- Easter -- so all the hardware shops were closed. He must have bought the instruments earlier, so the murder was deliberate. The gag is Malcolm Arnold's name. He scored every British movie ever made between 1900 and 2014, and all his scores were conducted and recorded by Muir Matheson.It's a little long but thoroughly enjoyable for what it is.

Despite the presence of Jack Warner as a senior policeman, the world of "Jigsaw" is a far cry from the cosy atmosphere of "Dixon of Dock Green". Effective camerawork makes Brighton a faintly sinister setting for this murder mystery. The standard of acting is generally high, (although I found Yolande Donlan's performance a little overwrought for my taste) and a strong script from Guest ensures that the detailed police investigation contains enough action (and unexpected revelations) to hold the viewer's interest to the very end.