Mystery Junction (1951)

Larry Gordon wakes up on board a train journey, to an adoring fan of his crime writing Miss Owens. The pair hear a loud scream and set off to investigate, whilst searching the train the pair stumble upon two detectives who are holding dangerous prisoner Steve Harding, who is awaiting trial for murder. Later a body is discovered, and with the horrendous weather stopping the train, Larry concludes that the killer must be a passenger on the train.I waited with anticipation to see this film, being a huge whodunit fan, this seemed in theory to fit the bill. Very much a B movie, although from the point of view of filming, production values etc. it looks very slick, very nicely made in fact. The acting is pretty good, Sydney Tafler and Barbara Murray are the standouts, both excellent in truth. I think the film attempted to cross genres, the typical British whodunit, close setting, quirky suspects, and it also tried to import some of the gangster genre that had been popular, towards the end there's a big shoot out scene, which seems oddly placed. The plot loses it a little, becoming a little messy.It didn't satisfy me from the point of view of a whodunit, as to be honest I couldn't have cared, but in many other ways it's a solid movie, not a classic, but watchable. 6/10

Director: MICHAEL McCARTHY. Script: Michael McCarthy. Photography: Bob Lapresle. Film editor: Geoffrey Muller. Art director: George Haslam. Music: Michael Sarsfield. Camera operator: Leo Rogers. Make- up: Jack Craig. Hair styles: Jane Seymour. Set continuity: Biddy Chrystal. Production manager: George Mills. Assistant director: Ted Holliday. Sound re-recording: Dick Smith, Ronald Abbott. Western Electric Sound System. Producer: William H. Williams.A Merton Park Studios Production, released in the U.K. by Anglo Amalgamated: 26 July 1952 (sic). London trade show: September 1951. Not copyrighted or theatrically released in the U.S.A. Probably released in Australia by British Empire Films, but no record of a release date. 6,050 feet. 67 minutes.SYNOPSIS: Miss Owens is immensely excited when she recognizes her traveling companion as the author of a detective story she is reading. She demands to know how he sets about writing a thriller and Larry outlines for her a plot involving people on the train.Petersen and Constable Blake are escorting Steve Harding to his trial for murder; Harding causes trouble and when the train is held up by snow, and the passengers are together in the waiting room, he seizes a gun and holds them up, but is unable to escape through the snow. During the night Petersen and the stationmaster are murdered.COMMENT: It's hard to decide which is the worst feature of this film — the doggedly clichéd and totally uninteresting variation on the it-was-all-a-dream plot, acted out by stodgy characters in a couple of cramped sets; the patently second-rate cast (even Barbara Murray makes little impression); or the dull, lifelessly uninvolving direction; or the tiresome, endlessly see-sawing dialogue. True, there's a tiny bit of action and the movie would probably cut down to a passably entertaining two-reeler (despite its poor performances). But, padded out to feature length, it's an unqualified bore.

This is a thriller which starts well ,then rather looses its way in talk,before ending a shootout more typical of Westerns.Unusually Sidney Tafler plays the hero.It starts on a train where he is recognised for his crime writing by a fellow passenger.Whilst the action is on the train it is quite interesting.However when the passengers get off at the snow bound station it rather hits the buffers.Texhniques beloved of quota quickies.i counted 10 characters in one shot.each would speak his piece and it would then be the turn of the next actor,so no editing is required.this middle section is over talkative and dull.However towards the end the pace picks up again with lots of gun play.The last scene is very reminiscent of "Woman In The Window".In the end a fairly average British B film.

It's actually a British film. We think at the beginning of an Agatha Christie story, or something like Alfred Hitchcock's LADY VANISHES, a suspense aboard a train. A sort of closed theatre topic. And it is. But not in the way we may expect. It turns to have some kind of American point of view, in the middle of the film. It is more interesting than the films made in the early talkies, boring at the most. Of course, this feature is much talkative, we could not wait for action or gunfights.I don't know the director, maybe he made some stuff for TV later. Well, let's be generous, it's not a bad programmer. I won't describe the exact story and spoil you the film, even if I could with a warning.