Twenty Plus Two

The film starts with the murder scene of a woman who manages the fan mail for film star LeRoy Dane. Private detective Tom Alder (David Janssen) is told about the details of the case by a cop friend of his who drops by for a drink. Actually, Alder is a particular kind of private detective - He tracks down the long-lost beneficiaries of estates for a cut of the proceeds.

But the murdered woman's entire estate was less than three thousand dollars, so why the interest? Alder looks around the murder scene late at night - apparently crime scene tape was not in the budget - and finds some old clippings in the murdered woman's apartment concerning a rich couple's 16-year-old daughter who went missing 13 years before. This is what apparently piques his interest, although there is no estate involved, and nobody has hired him, and thus nobody is paying him to do any investigation. And yet he spends more on airlines and hotels than the Beatles on tour as he goes about looking for answers. Along the way he meets a host of colorful characters, none of whom seem related to any of the others, but all with an interest in his investigation. Complications ensue.

The "Big Sleep" this is not, but it has some of the same problems and features, but for its time versus the time of The Big Sleep. It's a great example of an industry in transition - one that is exiting the production code era and entering the swinging sixties. It's just not quite there yet, and it has a great jazz score. But the plot just wanders all over the place.

It scores some in the casting department - William Demarest as a washed-up homicide detective who has turned alcoholic and waxes poetic. And it busts some there too - Brad Dexter looks more like the muscle for the mob than he does some matinee idol that teens go crazy at the sight of. And I always liked Jeanne Craine in her 20th Century Fox vehicles, but she is cringeworthy here as someone from Alder's past who sees him one night in a bar after ten years apart, and then pesters the guy, apparently proud that her breaking his heart years ago caused him to become hard and cynical - at least so she believes.

"Twenty Plus Two" is a stylish, ambitious movie with a great look. It's a shame that it's filmed after the height of film noir, but it still has a few great scenes that are noir-ish, and plenty of night scenes in general. The movie starts off in Hollywood 1961 and follows Tom Alder (actor David Janssen) from coast to coast as he figures out a murder mystery and finds a missing person, all the while dealing with a LOT of different characters. I thought it was really well made.

The main problem with "Twenty Plus Two" is the casting of Dina Merrill as the female lead. Her character is about 30 years old at the time of the movie, and in flashback scenes, she's about 20. Merrill was 37 when she made this movie and she looked older. She was hardly believable as a 30-year-old woman, and definitely not as a young 20-year-old. She was badly miscast and it affected the movie.

Jeanne Crain fares better as a sort of "girl next door" but fifteen years down the line. She plays Linda, who was engaged to Tom before he was sent to Korea, but married someone else while he was away. Now, 11 years after they last saw one another, she wants him back, but he doesn't want her, and she spends half the movie chasing him. She and Janssen are kind of funny in their scenes together.

Agnes Moorehead as the missing girl's mother was superb in her scene with David Janssen. It's a long, pivotal scene. I give credit to both actors as their give-and-take was spot on. There's a lot of dialogue in this movie and these two could really deliver lines.

The most stylistic and atmospheric scene in the entire movie is a shot of Tom sitting alone in his hotel room, thinking about the past, smoking, and the camera follows the smoke as it rises to the ceiling. It is fantastic.

David Janssen is very, very good in this movie. He's cool, and the film's black and white visuals and jazzy score help to underline this. He should have become a major feature film star. As it was, he became a major TV star, and deservedly so.

Confusing but entertaining yarn with David Janssen trying to solve the case of a young girl who went missing years before.

Brad Dexter plays a movie star who, as usual, gives off enough vibes to make you suspect he's a rat. His secretary is bumped off, and since she seemed to have an interest in the missing person's case, enter Janssen. Jeanne Crain plays Janssen's old flame. Dina Merrill plays Crain's friend, who ultimately becomes an important part of the case. Everything gets wrapped up in the final ten minutes or so, but it's a bit of a mess getting to that point.

There is some good work by others, including William Demarest as a drunken former reporter who had written about the case, and Jacques Aubuchon, as a mysterious guy who wants Janssen to find his missing brother. It was a little odd seeing Aubuchon in a suit, since I was used to him walking around in native garb as Chief Urulu in "McHale's Navy." Silent screen star Gertrude Astor plays a dead body.

Worth a look, just to see Jeanne Crain in one of the tightest black dresses ever made.

Not everyone liked this film as much as I did, and maybe some were better at second-guessing the ending than I was. I thought the plot was artfully constructed, with the realization of the ending dawning on us gradually, step by step. I didn't detect any false clues, just clues that became more and more revealing as the story went on.

David Janssen and Jeanne Crain put in fine performances, and most of the minor characters did well, too. Agnes Moorehead, who usually has enough presence to fill any role, was not convincing as a Park Avenue blueblood. Her lines didn't help, but it just seemed like she didn't have her heart in the role.

Overall, the writing was good, as was the staging. Unlike some reviewers who found that this seemed more like something written TV, I thought it was well put together.

This disjointed film noir is hobbled by a rambling narrative that spends too much time on a flashback and then devolves into a silly ending in North Dakota (with some hideous rear projection).

David Janssen stars as a finder of missing persons, especially heirs. He gets involved in a decade-old mystery in which a movie star vanished. Seems her rich daddy paid lots of hush money and she's long forgotten until her name comes up again after a woman is murdered.

Somehow, the case seems to involve a famous movie actor who seems to show up in odd places. Then there's an erudite fat man following him as well as an ex-wife who suddenly pops up.

Janssen gets hooked after visiting a a boozy ex-reporter who lets slips a few juicy details about the dead movie star. After a visit to her mother, he's on the trail that takes him, ultimately, to a shack in North Dakota.

The mystery isn't much and is given away in the flashback, after which the viewer just waits it out. But there are several excellent performances in this film. Janssen is solid. Jeanne Crain is wasted as the ex-wife. Dina Merrill is surprisingly good as Nikki. William Demarest is excellent as the boozy reporter as is Agnes Moorehead as the flinty mother. Jacques Aubuchon is also very good as the fat man, and Will Wright has a nice bit as the records keeper. Robert Strauss is good as Janssen's pal. That's TCM host Robert Osborne as the sailor with dance tickets. Brad Dexter is badly cast as the movie actor.

Certainy worth a look for some great acting and Gerald Fried's driving jazz score.