Twenty Plus Two

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.

A lawyer begins a search for a woman who went missing as a teen ten years before. He is also forced at gunpoint to take on a search for the missing brother of "the king of the confidence men." He interviews colorful characters, knocks on doors, has flashbacks to his own life, and it all comes together at the end.

The plot is intriguing. It is complicated enough to demand your full attention, but not so complicated to be hard to follow. The jazz score has been done many times before and since. It goes well with the movie, but it is inappropriately intrusive here and there.

All in all, a nice, neat job. My one complaint is that costar, Jeanne Crain, has little to do here. The costar should have been Dina Merril. I am not so much concerned about billing, I am just a devoted fan of Jeanne Crain

It's a mostly intriguing story... a young girl had gone missing years ago. now, when a woman is murdered, people start looking into the missing girl again, for various reasons. David Janssen (two years before his very successful series The Fugitive) is an investigator, and bits of his own past start coming out. some twists and surprises along the way. but also some pretty big plot holes that really should have been ironed out. pretty weak script. the acting is fine, but just some sloppy directing and creaky screenplay. some fun co-stars here.. Agnes Moorehead was so good in Dark Passage and the many projects with orson wells. Bill Demarest was in so many old films and My Three Sons... both actors getting up there by now. Demarest's character was so old, wrinkled, and ornery, I didn't recognize him when I saw him in the bar scene. Dina Merrill, who I knew from Desk Set. 20 + 2 directed by Joe Newman. never did anything too big. written by Frank Gruber; wrote lots of westerns and murder stories. and has an interesting quote that there are really only seven basic westerns. check it out on his imdb page. the film is very watchable, but has its flaws. Janssen died at 48... heart attack, according to wikipedia dot org. check it out... some huge names at his funeral. we should all be so lucky.

In Hollywood, Julia Joliet is murdered. She's a small time secretary answering fan mail for a movie star. What catches the attention of private investigator Tom Alder is that she has collected clippings from the Doris Delaney case. Delaney was a missing heiress and her parents spared no expense to find her with no success. Alder decides to follow the clue.

I generally like the hard-boiled detective style and this has an intriguing start. I don't particularly like his meandering investigation. It seems a little slow and I'm never sure about his moves. Then it loses me in a flashback. The problem is that the flashback happens without much context since the audience isn't shown the old photographs. She's also a little older than I expect. The case is over a decade old but it may need to double that. It is also very coincidental. It's unlikely that he would be investigating the case without any pictures at the start. The whole thing is a house of cards built on a knife's edge.

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.