screenman It's Jack Warner, in yet another copper's outing. But Dixon has advanced to detective in his old age...I had never seen nor even heard of this movie until I stumbled upon it for free on YouTube. Apart from a short and slightly incongruous beginning in which the victim is seen alive shortly before her murder, the rest of the movie hammers away relentlessly. There's no blood and gore, we are left to infer things from the characters' expressions. A retiring detective (Warner) is given the task of solving the crime, and so begins a detailed and entirely believable fly-on-the-wall police procedural. Brighton has a gloomy 'Brighton Rock' feel to it as clues unfold and dead-ends are encountered. It's an excellent view of the early 1960's, with proper coppers, nice old period cars and social mannerisms. The plot is tight and convoluted and involves locations as far afield as Greenwich. Apart from the early digression, this movie is a most absorbing watch despite its vintage and sometimes slightly vignetted appearance. Everyone gives a believable turn and technical issues are all up to snuff. Better than many much later offerings. Get on YouTube and have look...

Brucey D A pregnant girlfriend is murdered by her lover, who we the audience don't see. A police investigation follows. We get to see the investigation from the perspective of the police, lead by Jack Warner. Eventually the murderer is discovered.This is a wee gem of a film, set in and around Brighton in the early 1960's. Post-war austerity is fading, and the swinging sixties are just around the corner, but the Brighton area looks a little seedy and run down, for the most part, and the locals fit right it. The film is shot in black and white, which somehow suits the film rather better than colour might have.Jack Warner (better know to the audience as Dixon of Dock Green at that time)is promoted to Detective Inspector in this film and he plays the role convincingly enough; in fact overall, the whole cast is excellent. However I agree with another reviewer regarding Yolanda Donlan's performance; 'a little overwrought' indeed. Maybe the director's wife gets special treatment...? John Barron has a small role in this film. Many will have seen him in 'The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin' in the 1970s, masterfully playing the irredeemably pompous and overbearing manager known as 'CJ'.John Le Mesurier has a great cameo role too.The film isn't fast-paced per se, but there isn't a moment in the ninety-odd that is wasted either. I found it quite engaging.Certainly worth watching, this one.

robert-temple-1 This film starring Jack Warner as a police Deputy Inspector was made during Warner's peak of fame. For 21 years, from 1955 to 1976, Warner played the policeman George Dixon in DIXON OF DOCK GREEN, in a total of an astonishing 432 episodes. This film was therefore guaranteed a good reception by the British public because Warner as a policeman had become a national institution by this time. The film was extremely well directed by Val Guest, who will probably always be best remembered for his superior science fiction films THE QUATERMASS XPERIMENT (sic; also starring Jack Warner, 1955) and THE DAY THE EARTH CAUGHT FIRE (1959). The female lead in the film is the American actress Yolande Donlan, Val Guest's wife. He had already directed her in ESPRESSO BONGO in 1959, the film he made before this one. Donlan is very good in the part. Val and Yolande were a very pleasant couple. I visited them at their home in St. John's Wood in London and they were charming and excellent conversationalists. That was long ago, when Yolande was in her forties and very much still a vibrantly attractive woman with a lively personality. I do not know why she did not appear in more films and chose to retire in 1981. She only died a few months ago at the age of 94. This film is based on a novel by the American mystery writer Hillary Waugh, who was no relation to Evelyn Waugh. There are many Waughs in Britain related to Evelyn, and I suppose one could call them the long-tailed Waughs, in which case Hillary Waugh might be styled a short-tailed Waugh, in order to differentiate him from the British variants of his species. They all come from Ireland anyway, and in the mists of time they must all have been one big Oneness, sitting by their peat fires dug from the same bog. The story is a good one, and the title refers to the fact that the police are trying to fit together the pieces of an exasperating jigsaw in order to solve a woman's murder. There are so few clues that the story of detection is fascinating. The film is set in Brighton, and there is a great deal of location shooting there and in Lewes, which show the towns as they were back then, nearly deserted and entirely lacking the sleaze of modern commercialism and identikit chain stores. Living conditions in Britain in 1961 were so basic, and that comes across well. John Le Mesurier has a minor role in this film, and has to do a lot of emoting and crying, for which he was by means noted in his later career as a droll and comic figure. One simply is not used to seeing Le Mesurier sobbing like that, so it makes a change. Le Mesurier commenced his film acting career as long ago as 1938 so he was very much a veteran of the screen already by this early date, six years before he became a national institution as one of the stars of the popular TV series DAD'S ARMY. Le Mesurier had however already made a name for himself in comedy by appearing with Tony Hancock in various episodes of HANCOCK'S HALF HOUR (1957-1960), which are now considered prize classics of their genre. Supporting Jack Warner as the other main policeman is that stalwart of TV and screen, Ronald Lewis. It is sobering to think that he was 41 years younger than Yolande Donlan when he died. This film is certainly a very good yarn, and highly entertaining.

n_adams1 I bought this film on E bay a couple of months ago but never got around to watching it until last night, wished I had watched it sooner and I will again before long.Firstly I should say that the copy I have is not brilliant but I can follow the dialogue easily enough.The film is set in Brighton, it is a murder mystery with Jack Warner excelling as the Inspector and Ronald Lewis as his Seargeant, seeking to track down the monster who mutilated a young woman. Great part played by Michael Goodliffe as the charming ladies man.Great pictures of Brighton in the sixties, I especially enjoyed the bit when Jack Warner missed the football match he was so looking forward to so he could investigate the crime, it turned out his local team got hammered!Great unexpected ending but a word of warning don't look at the IMDb cast list or it will give the game away.Highly enjoyable little known British thriller.