Jigsaw (1949)

New York Assistant District Attorney Howard Malloy investigates a series of murders and uncovers an extremist group.

Director:

Fletcher Markle

Writers:

Fletcher Markle (screen play by), Vincent McConnor (screen play by)

Stars:

Franchot Tone, Jean Wallace, Myron McCormick

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Franchot Tone	...	Howard Malloy
Jean Wallace	...	Barbara Whitfield
Myron McCormick	...	Charles Riggs
Marc Lawrence	...	Angelo Agostini
Winifred Lenihan	...	Mrs. Hartley
Doe Avedon	...	Caroline Riggs (as Betty Harper)
Hedley Rainnie	...	Sigmund Kosterich
Walter Vaughn	...	District Attorney Walker
George Breen	...	Knuckles
Robert Gist	...	Tommy Quigley
Hester Sondergaard	...	Mrs. Borg
Luella Gear	...	Pet Shop Owner
Alexander Campbell	...	Pemberton
Robert Noe	...	Waldron
Alexander Lockwood	...	Nichols

Storyline

When the owner of a printing shop is found dead, the District Attorney assumes that it was a suicide. But the Assistant D.A., Howard Malloy, suspects that there is a connection with an extremist political group called the 'Crusaders'. When a journalist whose articles had attacked the Crusaders is also killed, Malloy is convinced. With help from the widow of a prominent judge, he conducts an investigation. As he does so, he meets a peculiar political boss and also an attractive night club singer, each of whom could become either a source of help or a source of danger.

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Plot Keywords:

printing shop | reference to william shakespeare | reference to shakespeare's hamlet | one word title | falling from height | 

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Taglines:

Trapped in the maze of a murderous racket! (dvd)

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Film-Noir

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Certificate:

Passed

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

11 March 1949 (USA)

Also Known As:

Gun Moll

Filming Locations:

Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$400,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Tower Pictures Inc.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

72 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The failure of the original copyright holder to renew the film's copyright resulted in it falling into public domain, meaning that virtually anyone could duplicate and sell a VHS/DVD copy of the film. Therefore, many of the versions of this film available on the market are either severely (and usually badly) edited and/or of extremely poor quality, having been duped from second- or third-generation (or more) copies of the film.

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Quotes

Angelo Agostini: You're a tough guy, Mr. Malloy. I can see that, and I like tough guys who are tough about the right thing.

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Connections

References The Blue Angel (1930)

User Reviews

Noir Mercury Theater

Many purists will find this film not a noir. A great deal of the cinematography,lighting and camera angles, however, is textbook noir and this alone makes the film worth watching. Jean Wallace plays herself but it's a great play. The main character is sufficiently morally ambiguous--he knows his promotion comes from dubious sources and when he defeats these sources we don't see him disavowing the new job. The political angle doesn't work today in the way it might have at the time; watching this 1949 film today it's worth recalling that this was a period, just before McCarthy and Korea, when everything seemed up for grabs in the U.S. Prosperity was still, for a lot of folks, 'just around the corner' and the film in some ways portrays the fear that Nazis, communists, whoever, had infiltrated social and political elites. The director and others involved were part of the Mercury Theater grouping, associated in various ways with Orson Welles. There's a remarkable sequence in the party scene in the middle of the film where the camera assumes first person position...a bit like the earlier Lady in the Lake by Robert Montgomery, for a few minutes. I found the use of voice-over and first person camera an interesting wrinkle on noir's interrogation if the 'inner subject.' Markle would go on to head the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and had earlier worked as an uncredited screenwriter for Orson Welles.