ShangLuda Admirable film.

TaryBiggBall It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

Portia Hilton Blistering performances.

Zandra The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

clanciai Val Guest was a prolific screenwriter and director, and he knew his business. Among his many triumphs are "Oh Mr Porter!" with Will Hay and "Murder at the Windmill" of a murder at the legendary Windmill theatre that kept open throughout the war, with other witty and often ingenious comedies and thrillers, but here he is dealing with a real murder that occurred in reality. The inspectors understand nothing of it. The murderer has left no trace, the murdered woman is unknown and cannot be identified, all clues lead astray, and although the murderer is present in flashbacks you never see his face. It's meticulous arduous methodical police work all the way, very much like Jules Dassin's "Naked City" from New York 15 years earlier, like a criminal documentary, but it's expertly done. You can't lose interest for a moment, the dialogue is constantly sustained and pregnant, the investigation leads on, and ultimately you come closer to the target, who of course never could be suspected at all.The camerawork is impressive with its constant shifts by association, a jigsaw puzzle introducing the cryptic way ahead, one face shifting into another in flashbacks, one car shifting into another, and so forth. It's cinematic and dramaturgic eloquence all the way, and when the final piece of the puzzle suddenly is found there is nothing more to add although the story goes on - the picture is completed, and that's enough.

ianlouisiana A few years before "Jigsaw" the County Borough of Brighton Police as it was called in those days was embroiled in one of the worst corruption scandals of the 20th century. From Chief Constable downwards many officers were arrested,some charged others sacked over a culture of taking bungs from local villains. It was known as the "Bucket of blood" case after the eponymous drinking club where the money changed hands. As a result morale fell exponentially and a once - proud force struggled for some years to restore public confidence. By 1962 green shoots were showing and detectives were able to set relatively confidently about their tasks without general opprobrium. Hence messrs Warner and Lewis were reflecting a more bullish attitude than they might have done a little earlier. Certainly the town had its seedy side.It was still the go -to place for dirty weekends with obliging landladies welcoming cash - bearing adulterers with open arms and certainly the shady relationship between the murderer and victim wouldn't have raised an eyebrow within or without the C.I.D. The film reflects the grinding monotony of most police work. In fact without DNA,CCTV,computers or other such aids it is remarkable that any serious crime was detected at all. A tribute to the doggedness of the officers and their determination to get not just "a" result - but the right result. Before it became a "Rainbow" city Brighton was very suitable to monochrome photography and "Jigsaw" captures its elusive spirit very well. It has become fashionable to dismiss British films before the New Wave directors got their middle - class Oxbridge hands on them as dull and provincial. This excellent example of the genre gives the lie to that calumny.

LeonLouisRicci Writer/Director Val Guest had a Long and Varied Career. A Low-Budget Filmmaker that always tried to make His Films look Professional and was Not Afraid to Improvise and Loved Playing with the Tools of Cinema.His most Successful Films Critically were done for Hammer Studios in the Sci-Fi Genre. Here He made a "Police Procedural" and in the True Definition of the Genre. It is Nothing More than that and that's Exactly what it is and it Never Strays from Format.What Guest does to make it seem More than that, is the Pacing. It has a Frenetic Style of Rapid Dialog and Quick Moving Scenes. No Passage of Banter or Anything is wasted. It's Economically Energetic and has a Sense of Urgency befitting the Lack of Clues, and the Legwork, and Heavy Lifting needed to Piece Together this "Jigsaw".The Movie is a bit Long but Never Seems Dull or Boring. Helped by one of England's Actor Icons Jack Warner, who made His Name doing exactly what He is doing here. Solving Crimes on the Telly. Worth a Watch for Val Guest's Intense Crafting, Jack Warner as an Aging and Cynical Policeman, and for its Crackerjack Plot. You have No Clue throughout what Prize Piece of the Puzzle will Pop Up or When.

ted puff Now I knew the story of this film, because I'd read the novel it was based on, so the unmasking of the villain was no surprise. (And mindful of 'spoilers' I'm not going to say who it was here.) But what really makes this ingenious detective film stand out, is its brilliant script by Val Guest shifting the setting from Massachusets to Brighton, it is as tight as a drum, plays absolutely fair with the audience, and is a model of crispness and authority. The actors respond in kind, all performances are superb, but I must single out the ever reliable Michael Goodliffe, so good in everything he appears in as Clyde Burchard.The setting, a seedy Brighton of 1962 is evocative, you feel the undercurrent of crime in every shot. Nothing is overlooked to hold you gripped in your chair until the denoument. Val Guest made another classic the same year, the sci-fi 'The Day the Earth Caught Fire' a picture of Fleet Street. These two films stand as his monument. Two of the best films to come out of Britain in the post war period.