The Teckman Mystery *** (1954, Margaret Leighton, John Justin, Roland Culver, Michael Medwin, Duncan Lamont) – Classic Movie Review 10,046

Margaret Leighton, John Justin, Roland Culver, Michael Medwin and Duncan Lamont star in the 1954 British black and white film noir Cold War mystery thriller The Teckman Mystery, another intriguing case for crime writer Philip Chance, created by novelist Francis Durbridge, also the creator of Paul Temple.

Philip Chance is commissioned by his publisher to write the biography of Martin Teckman, a young airman who crashed and died while testing a new plane. But then Chance suffers a series of ‘accidents’, suggesting there are people who do not want Teckman’s past investigated.

The fragrance of British 1950s TV serial viewing comes back strong to those old enough to remember in this labyrinthine thriller from its then master Francis Durbridge.

Director Wendy Toye’s 1954 The Teckman Mystery is motored in top gear by a fast moving, keep-you-guessing plot about the crime novelist Philip Chance (John Justin) who finds himself in mortal peril from spies while researching a memorial book he is paid to research on the titular Teckman (Michael Medwin), an aviator with plane secrets, who turns out not to be dead after all, otherwise Michael Medwin would not have had a role.

Acting and direction are briskly handled in a film with lots of artificial climaxes left over from the TV serial that still entertains nicely. Margaret Leighton is very good as Medwin’s enigmatic and possibly duplicitous sister, Helen, Roland Culver and Duncan Lamont are ideal as Inspector Harris and Inspector Hilton, and Raymond Huntley is indispensable in support as Maurice Miller.

Francis Durbridge and James Matthews’s complex, twisty screenplay is based on Durbridge’s BBC serial.

John Justin is joined on a plane by Margaret Leighton (as Helen Teckman) at the start of the film and by his real-life wife Barbara Murray at the end of the film.

The Teckman Mystery is released on a 25 January 2016 Region 2 DVD from Network in a new transfer from the original film elements, with its theatrical aspect ratio.

Other members of the cast are Meier Tzelniker, George Coulouris, Jane Wenham, Harry Locke, Barbara Murray, Frances Rowe, Warwick Ashton, Irene Lister, Gwen Nelson, Mary Grant and Ben Williams.

The Teckman Mystery is directed by Wendy Toye, runs 90 minutes, is made by Corona Productions and London Films, is released by British Lion Film Corporation (1954) (UK) and Associated Artists Productions (1955) (US), is written by Francis Durbridge and James Matthews, is shot in black and white by Jack Hilyard, is produced by Josef Somlo and is scored by Clifton Parker.

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 10,046

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