Mystery Junction *** (1951, Sydney Tafler, Barbara Murray, Martin Benson, Patricia Owens, Christine Silver, John Salew, Ewen Solon) – Classic Movie Review 10,048

The inventively written and capably directed 1951 British B-movie black and white thriller film Mystery Junction stars Sydney Tafler as a writer who narrates his crime story to a fellow passenger (Christine Silver) on a train journey.

Writer-director Michael McCarthy’s 1951 film Mystery Junction is an above-average British B-movie black and white crime thriller, inventively written and capably directed, and enthusiastically performed by the stalwart cast of actors, including Sydney Tafler, Barbara Murray, Patricia Owens, Martin Benson, Christine Silver, John Salew, and Ewen Solon. Sydney Tafler stars a writer who narrates his crime story to a fellow passenger (Christine Silver) on a train journey.

Avid detective story reader Miss Owens (Christine Silver) is travelling on a train in the same railway compartment as a well-known thriller novelist, crime writer Larry Gordon (Sydney Tafler). She happens to be reading one of his books, recognises him and asks how her writes one of his stories. So he tells her.

But also aboard the train is a prisoner under escort to appear in court the next day on trial for the murder of a young woman. Larry Gordon and Miss Owens hear a scream and investigate. The guard has been mugged, a man murdered, and another man is arrested.

While the armed police (Ewen Solon as Sergeant Peterson) taking Steve Harding (Martin Benson) by train to his murder trial, a rescue attempt aboard the train claims a policeman’s life, and Harding flees with a snatched gun.

Larry Gordon organises the rail travellers to probe the crime after the passengers become snowbound at a remote snow-swept railway station by night, which is the setting for more murder.

Other members of the cast are Philip Dale, David Davies, Pearl Cameron, John Salew, Charles Irwin, Ewen Solon, Denis Webb, Cyril Smith, Sidney Monckton and Stanley Rose.

It is quite stagey and creaky, but engagingly so, and there are reasons for that in the film’s format as a story made up and narrated by the novelist passenger to his fellow train traveller. That idea also covers the cast of stereotypes and the series of melodramatic developments. The story itself is reasonably complex and ingenious, quite satisfying in its way, and certainly entertaining. Writer/ director Michael McCarthy keeps it compact, busy and pacy, filming with much care. It is neat and cute.

Sydney Tafler (in a rare top-billed star role) and Barbara Murray are good company as the hero and heroine, Martin Benson is a splendid villain, overacting wildly, Christine Silver is sweet as the old lady, and Ewen Solon is so commandingly strong as the police officer sergeant that he’s much missed when he disappears from the story. 

The small-scale, low-budget production is surprisingly impressive, a credit to the art direction of George Haslam.

Mystery Junction is directed by Michael McCarthy, run 67 minutes, is made by Merton Park Studios, is released by Anglo-Amalgamated Film Distributors (1951) (UK), is written by Michael McCarthy, is shot in black and white by Robert LaPresle [Bob Lapresle], is produced by William H Williams, and scored by Hubert Clifford [Michael Sarsfield], with art direction by George Haslam.

Filming took place at Merton Park Studios, Long Lodge, 269 Kingston Road in Merton Park, South London, in April 1951.

Release date: September 1951 (UK).

Believed to be lost for decades, it was released by Network Distributing on a Region 2 DVD in a new transfer from the original film elements in its theatrical aspect ratio on 17 April 2019.

The cast

The cast are Sydney Tafler as Larry Gordon, Barbara Murray as Pat Dawn, Patricia Owens as Mabel Dawn, Ewen Solon as Sergeant Peterson, Martin Benson as Steve Harding, Christine Silver as Miss Owens, Cyril Smith as Station Master, Philip Dale as Elliot Foster, Pearl Cameron as Helen Mason, John Salew as John Martin, Denis Webb as Inspector Clarke, David Davies as Bert Benson, and Charles Irwin as Edward Hooker.

Merton Park Studios

Anglo-Amalgamated began making films at Merton Park in 1950. They produced an average of one second feature a month there from 1957 to 1959. They produced The Edgar Wallace Mysteries (1960 to 1965) series of 48 hour-long feature films.

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 10,048

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com

Martin Benson, Barbara Murray and Sydney Tafler at gunpoint in Mystery Junction (1951).