Mystery at the Burlesque

In order to find out who fired the fatal shot during a performance the windmill theatre cast each have to go through their entire routine - in front of a police inspector.

This film is actually just an excuse for us to sit back and watch an entire Windmill theatre performance. The cast in the film are the actual girls who worked there and the routines are what they really did - week in week out.

The Windmill (now sadly long closed,) was in Soho, London - just off Piccadilly circus and a whole generation of actors and comedians got their first break there. The formulae was simple, strippers and erotic dancers would perform on the stage and a comedian would come on in between each act. So, to get the attention of a crowd of sleazy men who had snuck in for a glimpse of flesh you had to be good. And a glimpse was all they ever got - the British censorship laws prohibited anything else. There used to be a plaque of names outside the door with a list of who had played there with names like David Niven, Harry Seacom and a host of others (Norman Wisdom failed the audition). The plaque also boasted that during WW2 `We never closed'.

A lot of countries would think that a slice of history like this would be worth preserving but not us British. As with the Liverpool Cavern club (now replaced with a silly replica,) The Bronte museum (full of phoney replaced artefacts,) and other places where the short term profit from a slice of land or property was more important than any heritage.

So, if you can get a copy this film it is a (slightly sanitised) snapshot of a world long gone. When Piccadilly circus had a real round about with the Eros statue in its centre and every building in the circus had a huge fantastic neon advert. A very enjoyable old film with the subject matter not quite as sleazy as it really was.

An early indication that despite having served his apprenticeship at Gainsborough on the comedies of Will Hay Val Guest's crime films tended to be better than his comedies.

'Murder at the Windmill' rather unsatisfactorily combines elements of both by detailing a police investigation against the backdrop of the variety acts; one of which even manages to feature (SLIGHT SPOILER COMING:) a fleeting appearance by Jon Pertwee doing his impression of Danny Kaye.

Murder most foul as Miss Marple would say has been done at the famous Windmill Theater in London. The famed theater for which a very ambitious Rita Hayworth wartime film Tonight And Every Night used as a model is the scene of a homicide. The victim sat in the very front row and was shot as forensics would have it right from the stage during the last performance.

The victim was a makeup salesman who was always trying to make a sale among the chorus girls of himself and his products. The only way that Inspector Garry Marsh and Sergeant Jon Pertwee can solve this thing if the show is run again. So the weary cast goes through its paces again after the last show.

Murder At The Windmill is an interesting if strange film. The rather thin murder plot is just an excuse to put on the Windmill revue for our benefit. The numbers are nice but not spectacular and the murderer is extremely obvious from the start.

The film's best asset are the incredibly patient Garry Marsh and his assistant Pertwee who seems to think that he will dazzle his superior with all kinds of arcane knowledge. Marsh just takes it all in stride.

Murder At The Windmill is a curious little film, more musical than murder.

I believe this is the single worst movie I have ever seen. I kept hoping something would improve. Cant believe I sat through the whole thing. The acting was astonishingly horrible. The script ridiculous. The conclusion was improbable and not worth having suffered through all the previous minutes.

A Detective and his Sergeant investigate a murder at The Windmill Theatre, how in Earth was a man killed in the front row during a performance, surely one of the cast must have committed the act? The cast perform the show for The Police to determine when, where and whodunnit.

It's a charming film, a comedy, musical whodunnit. It's sentimental, funny and really sweet. Expect laughs, entertainment and a raft of famous faces. The identity of the killer almost becomes insignificant as you're lost in a raft of musical numbers and dances.

The best scene is surely the alluring tableaux, in 1949 that would have been incredibly risqué, it's somehow sexy, but classy and captivating, she had some real talent.

Some very fine performances, as a massive Jon Pertwee fan, I loved seeing him in an early role, it's crazy how much he and his son look alike.

Cameos for Peter Butterworth, who appears in some very funny scenes.

Charming.

6/10.