User reviews

A film about a missing test pilot and Cold War espionage seem a promising foundation for 90 minutes of drama and entertainment. However, despite the first hour of the film offering an exciting, if convoluted narrative, the last 30 minutes drags, meanders and eventually loses its way, mainly due to the fact that the storyline seems to present a very far fetched and tedious series of events. Likeable John Justin, puts in a sound and smooth performance as the writer, who gets caught up in a web of intrigue. The splendid Raymond Huntley, as the publisher, and Roland Culver, as the MI5 officer, offer sterling support, but their lack of screen time give them little time to display their considerable acting skills. On the other hand, Margaret Leighton is woefully miscast as the fraught sister of the missing pilot. She is too cold, detached and always dressed as if she was going to a cocktail party! When she's on the screen, she displays no nuances of emotion, and whatever the scene, her voice and manner remain the same! The ending of the film is sloppily done, disappointing and unconvincing! This is very much a film which shows great promise at the start, but then fizzles out too soon.

Helen Teckman and Philip Chance are strangers sitting next to each other on a plane. She's reading a book which happens to be authored by him. He's been assigned to write a biography of test pilot Martin Teckman who died a few months earlier and happens to be her brother. He returns home to find it ransacked. He starts investigating Martin's crash of an experimental plane.

The start is intriguing. The investigating goes slowly. It's a lot of sitting around and talking. With all the murders and deaths, one expects more thrills. It lacks kinetic energy and falters in intensity. The characters are more likely to have a long relaxing smoke or drink tea than get into a fight. Time and time again. The movie likes to dwell on their boring static conversations. It's slow and the style isn't much of anything. I'm still interested in the central mystery but the movie is not making it that exciting.

John Justin is a writer flying home to London to argue that he shouldn't write the biography of a test pilot whose plane crashed. As he sits on the plane, Margaret Leighton is seated next to him, reading a magazine with a story by him. They get to chatting and he discovers she is the sister of the pilot. He decides to write the book, but as he does his research, the people he wishes to speak to keep dying.

It's a nice little mystery, with director Wendy Toye adhering to many of the conventions of the British film genre, including the police actually knowing how to do their job. It's not a terribly deep mystery, but it does turn into an interesting movie in terms of suspense: The audience and Justin have all the clues they need, and Justin's inability to see the solution puts him at risk. It makes you want to shout at him.

THE TECKMAN MYSTERY is the kind of programmer that routinely appears on television but regularly released in cinemas in the Forties and Fifties. It concerns a writer, Philip Chance who is asked to write a book about a recently-deceased pilot Martin Teckman. Initially reluctant to do so, he is drawn into a web of intrigue, organized by Martin's sister (Margaret Leighton), in which Martin is revealed to be not dead at all but the victim of a conspiracy that leads to his attempt to kill himself.

The film offers some good exterior shots of mid-Fifties London, with mercifully less traffic but plenty of secret areas where corruption thrives. The cast don't have too much to do with their roles: Justin acts the part of the debonair writer in more danger than he thinks, while Leighton is marginally too old for her role. Lovers of Fifties curiosities will note that this thriller is directed by a woman, Wendy Toye, one of the few British women to be operative at that time.

I wasn't as enamored of this as some. A biographer researching a book on a dead pilot falls for the pilot's sister.

As he gets further into the pilot's death and the aircraft he was flying, people start turning up dead.

The film stars John Justin as the author and Margaret Leighton as the pilot's sister.

The story is told by director Wendy Toye without much in the way of plot - it's very no-nonsense. That makes the different twists less confusing but not very exciting. If you're looking for tension, it's not there. John Justin, however, is appealing

I felt this could have been better. It didn't draw me in. For me there wasn't enough there there.

Just enjoy the neat scripting and plot subtleties.

I just wanted to say a few words about this gem of a film. I gladly watched the 90 minutes and enjoyed all of the suspense. I ordered this film as I like British Film Noir and I happened to notice Margaret Leighton's name topping the cast. I am also a John Justin and Raymond Huntley fan too! It is always nice to see Jane Wenhem who is little known. The photography is really done very nicely. Once I started watching I had to see what happened to the brother who was suspiciously murdered. From the first engaging moments through the rest of the film I really got caught up in the suspense! I think the entire film was wrapped up in a tidy way. At the end we find that things work out unexpectedly! But we still have enjoyed watching.

Writer Philip Chance meets attractive Helen on his flight from France to London. Helen happens to be the sister of Martin, a test pilot who disappeared six months previously and about whom Philip's publisher wants Philip to write a biography. What are the chances?

In the meantime, Philip's flat is burglarized and then a homicide takes place there. The hapless Philip starts to suspect that Martin may be alive while falling in love with the mysterious Helen.

Some sequences reminded me of Hitchcock, although the whole movie doesn't stand the test because the McGuffin is too flimsy even for a McGuffin. Still, a decent thriller with a plot that works even without a deafening soundtrack or freely unleashed profanities as is the case nowadays.

I have never been keen on Francis Durbridges thriller.This underlines the reasons.The complex plotting undermines rather than adds to suspense.You loose track of what is going on.So the film could easily loose 20 minutes.Margaret Leighton is miscast.This was a part for Jean Kent or Googie Withers.

A writer (John Justin) finds himself stumbling into a mystery involving a murdered test pilot and a mysterious woman (Margaret Leighton).

Based off a novel and adapted by Frances Durbridge, this is a pretty standard crime film among the hundreds that were churned out in the 1950s, but good fun.

Not much of a mystery or a movie, either. Indeed, if it weren't for the fact that it was directed by a woman at a time when gals not named Ida Lupino weren't doing that kind of thing it'd hardly be worth mentioning. Solid C. PS...John Justin and Margaret Leighton have less sexual chem than Dwight and Mamie Eisenhower.

Nice post-war British espionage mystery. Clever and wonderfully acted. Margaret Leighton super (of course), but whole cast top notch.

Whenever I watch a movie, I remind myself that anyone who writes a story has a right to have whatever elements they want, contained in said story. However, we the public are to whom the story is being presented; and we are the final judges of what worked and what did not. So my comments will pertain to that, as oppose to the actors and the film production.

The story seemed to want to appear as more than it actually was. There were numerous elements within the story that were either useless, or totally meaningless. After a quick intro, we discover the lead male's flat has been burglarized, and a distinctive button found. That info is tossed around for much of the movie (totally meaningless). The button plays no role in the actual mystery, and gets a sound-stage explanation that is barely audible. So too is the reason for the burglary; the man-servant's key; a picture of two key characters (where 1 is never shown or appears), just to name a few. Among the useless were : a dead body being moved (never explained how, or why); the 2nd inspector (Harris); the model airplane with the dead body (his name sufficed); bloodless crime scenes; and a couple more elements that tend to border me being petty.

As a whole, the story was likeable. The production quality of the film was 1st rate, the various locations were well photographed, good atmosphere and a natural flow within all the scenes (even the final scene), and the wardrobe worn by the actors were very effective. The story, however, seemed to reach beyond the range of what it actually was able to manage.

Brilliant from start to finish.can't understand low review of some.Excellent plot start middle and end.

In response to the review that felt this movie was slow: well, it didn't open with machine guns blazing, if that's what you mean.

For an older British espionage movie, this film actually moves along quite briskly.

If you like British movies, you are sure to like this. Even if you don't normally watch British film, you may well like this.

If you watched and enjoyed the original Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, you will certainly enjoy this, as the action is sizzling in comparison.