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Mystery at the Burlesque

Original title: Murder at the Windmill
  • 1949
  • Approved
  • 58m
IMDb RATING
5.4/10
173
YOUR RATING
Mystery at the Burlesque (1949)
DramaMusicalMystery

A man watching a musical show at the Windmill theatre is shot apparently from the stage. The cast continues the performance so that the detective can solve the murder.A man watching a musical show at the Windmill theatre is shot apparently from the stage. The cast continues the performance so that the detective can solve the murder.A man watching a musical show at the Windmill theatre is shot apparently from the stage. The cast continues the performance so that the detective can solve the murder.

  • Director
    • Val Guest
  • Writer
    • Val Guest
  • Stars
    • Garry Marsh
    • Jack Livesey
    • Jon Pertwee
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    5.4/10
    173
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Val Guest
    • Writer
      • Val Guest
    • Stars
      • Garry Marsh
      • Jack Livesey
      • Jon Pertwee
    • 17User reviews
    • 4Critic reviews
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • Photos5

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    Top cast28

    Edit
    Garry Marsh
    Garry Marsh
    • Detective Inspector
    Jack Livesey
    Jack Livesey
    • Vivian Van Damm
    Jon Pertwee
    Jon Pertwee
    • Sergeant
    Eliot Makeham
    Eliot Makeham
    • Gimpy
    Diana Decker
    Diana Decker
    • Frankie
    Donald Clive
    • Donald
    Jill Anstey
    • Patsy
    Jimmy Edwards
    • Self
    Margo Johns
    • Box Office Girl
    • (as Margot Johns)
    Genine Graham
    • 1st Usherette
    • (as Genine Grahame)
    Pamela Deeming
    • Pamela
    Peter Butterworth
    Peter Butterworth
    • 1st Policeman
    Ivan Craig
    • 2nd Policeman
    • (as Ivan Graig)
    Johnnie Gale
    • Johnnie
    John Powe
    • Commissionaire
    Mary Vallange
    • 2nd Usherette
    Constance Smith
    Constance Smith
    • Cloakroom Girl
    Barry O'Neill
    • Police Surgeon
    • (as Barry O'Neil)
    • Director
      • Val Guest
    • Writer
      • Val Guest
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews17

    5.4173
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    Featured reviews

    1JANMAYFEB1

    Unbelievable Waste of Celluloid

    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.
    5malcolmgsw

    No Nudes Is Good Nudes

    Well thats what the BBFC censor of the day would have said.I decided to make this post to correct some errors made in other posts.Up till 1967 when theatre censorship was abolished all stage performances came under the auspices of the Lord Chamberlain.Nudity on the stage was allowed provided that the nude did not move.So the maxim "if it moves its rude".So there were no strippers or nude dancing of any kind at The Windmill.There were "tableaux vivant" as they were called.Artfully posed nudes.So the show we see on screen is nothing like the one that would actually be performed on the stage.This film was made when the Windmill was still at its peak.In the fifties strip clubs would open up in adjacent Soho so men could go to see striptease without having to see variety acts,music hall at that time also dying.By the early sixties The Windmill had to close.The Theatre is still there but i believe that it is now a nightclub.This film is a historic reminder of what used to happen there.As they used to say "We Never Clothed".
    6bkoganbing

    Shot In The Very Front Row

    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.
    4richardchatten

    The Body in the Stalls

    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.
    6boblipton

    Walk Down Windmill Street

    A man is killed at that most dangerous place in the world: a theater. Movie stalwart Detective Inspector Garry Marsh shows up with comic-relief sergeant Jon Pertwee to investigate. This involves recreating the show, during which the front-row victim was offed.

    The Windmill, for those of you who haven't seen MRS HENDERSON PRESENTS, was the London music hall that included tableaux vivantes to get around British law that forbade nudity on the stage -- unless the performer didn't move. Alas, the film producers never offer much more than the sort of semi-revealing costumes that I saw at Radio City Music Hall as a child. Neither was I terribly impressed by the mystery aspect. I spotted the killer early on, but found no clue leading to the detection until the final revelation.

    Still, there are some good, if not particularly memorable revue numbers, and the performers are pretty young women. There is also one particularly funny bit in which a comic, used to a large, appreciative audience, is forced to go through his routine for two tired, stony-faced detectives. Although it's strictly a B movie, it's a very pleasant, bright time-waster.

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    Related interests

    Mahershala Ali and Alex R. Hibbert in Moonlight (2016)
    Drama
    Julie Andrews in The Sound of Music (1965)
    Musical
    Jack Nicholson and Faye Dunaway in Chinatown (1974)
    Mystery

    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Described by Jon Pertwee as "My earliest film of any merit."
    • Connections
      Featured in Aweful Movies with Deadly Earnest: Murder at the Windmill (1968)
    • Soundtracks
      Two Little Dogs
      Written by Val Guest

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    FAQ15

    • How long is Mystery at the Burlesque?Powered by Alexa

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • April 16, 1950 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United Kingdom
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Murder at the Windmill
    • Filming locations
      • Nettlefold Studios, Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, England, UK
    • Production company
      • Angel Productions
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      • 58m
    • Color
      • Black and White
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.37 : 1

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