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Jigsaw is a 1962 British crime film written and directed by Val Guest and starring Jack Warner and Ronald Lewis. It is based on the police procedural novel Sleep Long, My Love by Hillary Waugh,[1] with the setting changed from the fictional small town of Stockford, Connecticut,[n 1] to Brighton, Sussex, while retaining the names and basic natures of its two police protagonists and most of the other characters. It was filmed with the full cooperation of the Brighton Borough Police, which was under the shadow of a major corruption scandal, and the East Sussex Constabulary.[n 2]

Jigsaw
Directed by	Val Guest
Screenplay by	Val Guest
Based on	a novel by Hillary Waugh
Produced by	Val Guest
Starring	Jack Warner Ronald Lewis Yolande Donlan Michael Goodliffe John Le Mesurier
Cinematography	Arthur Grant
Edited by	Bill Lenny
Color process	Black and white
Production company	Figaro
Distributed by	Brittania Films
Release date	12 August 1962 (1962-08-12) (London)
Running time	107 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English

Plot

A woman is found partially dismembered in Saltdean, near Brighton. Two local detectives, following up a simple burglary of an estate agent's office, discover the body and take on the investigation of the death. The dead woman cannot be identified but they initially think she is called Jean Sherman, since a suitcase with the initials JS had been left at the scene. The main suspect is an unidentified man who has used the false identity of John Campbell to rent the house in which the woman was found. The detectives methodically develop and follow up leads to identify both people, mostly in Brighton, but also further afield in Lewes and Greenwich.

DI Fellows goes to Jean Sherman's house and discovers that she is still alive. He tricks her into giving him a name and address to get a sample of her handwriting, which is the same as that found in the victim's house. Flashback scenes in her story specifically exclude the viewer from seeing the man John Campbell. Miss Sherman admits a one-night stand with Campbell.

They track down and arrest a suspect described by several persons as the man who occupied the house, but the case takes an unexpected turn when he admits that he was with the victim but denies any involvement in her murder.

After the dead woman is positively identified, the veteran inspector leading the case develops a "wild idea" about the identity of another suspect, then orders a standard procedure that confirms his theory in a non-standard fashion. This suspect admits knowledge of the death but his contention that it was accidental appears to be unshakeable until the detectives realise that he has lied about a crucial detail.[2]

Cast

• Jack Warner as Detective Inspector Fred Fellows
• Ronald Lewis as Detective Sergeant Jim Wilks
• Yolande Donlan as Jean Sherman
• Michael Goodliffe as Clyde Burchard
• John Le Mesurier as Mr Simpson
• Moira Redmond as Joan Simpson
• Christine Bocca as Mrs Simpson
• Brian Oulton as Frank Restlin
• Ray Barrett as Sergeant Gorman
• Norman Chappell as Andy Roach
• John Barron as Ray Tenby
• Joan Newell as Mrs Banks

Critical response

Britmovie wrote that Jigsaw is "a chilling murder mystery," adding that, "at 107 minutes, the film is long but never tiresome";[3] while The Guardian described the film as "one of the finest postwar British crime movies and possibly the best depiction of the seaside town on film. Caught in its seedy corruption, Brighton emerges as a far cry from the bumbling world with which (Val) Guest had until then been associated."

The Duke of Edinburgh spoke to the film director. He thought working on a murder mystery with the Brighton police would be "bloody boring". [4]

Notes

Footnotes

References

The film was shot in CinemaScope, but this is uncredited.

External links

• Jigsaw at IMDb

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