This first of three B-movies is based on a popular radio program, "I Love a Mystery". It is about a mystery worked on by two pals, Doc and Jack...although, oddly, they are not that prominently featured in the film. The film begins with a rather grisly scene where one of the detectives goes to the morgue...and finds a decapitated man. The story then goes back in time to when Jefferson Monk (George Macready) came to the private detectives. He has a bizarro story about some weird story about being followed and later being approached by a secret society...because they want to buy his head after he dies! What happens next in the story is just odd and instead of telling you more, I'll just say it's very convoluted and unusual!The best thing about this film is the creepy atmosphere. Also, Macready was a great actor and was excellent here as well. As far as the detectives, however, they were a dull pair and really had little to do until the very end. Worth seeing but so strange you are left a bit confused by the whole thing.

Jim Bannon and Barton Yarborough are Jack and Doc, detectives: this particular case has them encountering a man with a peg leg, a woman mysteriously confined to a wheelchair, a Russian psychiatrist who apparently does not speak that language, and a man named Monk (George Macready) who is certain he is going to be decapitated within a matter of days. Told mainly in flashback, the story shows Jack and Doc unfolding the mystery and gradually discovering that not all of these characters are what they seem. Indeed—are any of them? Macready is excellent as the bizarrely-behaving threatened man who is either rattled or drugged or just unbalanced. Nina Foch is excellent as his wife—from her first appearance there is little doubt that there is more going on behind that face than she is letting on. Bannon is steady if unspectacular as the lead detective, essentially a no-nonsense straight man looking for logical answers. Yarborough's southern drawl as Doc is, I take it, meant to indicate his status as slightly comical sidekick; he says things like, "Hey, you mean all that stuff about the prophecy is just so much razzle dazzle?" but for the most part he stays out of the way.Overall, an inventive story and solid direction combine to produce a sinister atmosphere in which tension stays high and the viewer is kept guessing. Straightforward performances add weight to this excellently dark mystery.

I Love a Mystery (1945)** 1/2 (out of 4)The first of three films from Columbia based around the popular radio program I Love a Mystery. In the film, detectives Jack Packard (Jim Bannon) and Doc Long (Barton Yarborough) meet a man (George Macready) who fears he's going to die in a matter of days because a secret cult wants his head to put on the body of their mummified master. The detectives begin to unravel clues that might lead to the man's wife (Nina Foch) who is also being stalked by the cult. Due to how they were showed on TCM I ended up watching the second film in the series, THE DEVIL'S MASK, first and hated it from start to finish so I really wasn't sure what to expect from this film. Turns out that it's one of the more unique murder/mysteries from this era due to dark, foggy streets, a rich atmosphere, interesting characters and a rather ugly subject matter. The word decapitation is used throughout this film and one of the biggest plot moves is that this man is going to have his head cut off. How this got past the censors is beyond me but it's these dark touches that really make this film stick out, especially when compared to other films like this. Director Levin does a very good job at building up the atmosphere as we get several classic touches from the dark streets, people hiding in shadows and of course one plot twist happening after another. The movie actually manages to be very believable in all the twists that happen and it's helped even more by the fact that the mystery itself is a good one. Bannon is very good in the role and his laid back approach makes for an interesting leading man. Yarborough, playing pretty much a country bumpkin, isn't too bad either. Macready does a real good job playing the scared man who feels he's about to die. The film belongs to the ladies though as Foch is terrific in her few scenes as the wife and we also get a great femme fatal in Carole Mathews playing a strange woman who Macready meets in a bar. At 69-minutes the film runs just long enough to get enough right and it doesn't over welcome itself by going for too long. Fans of this genre will want to check this out just for the darker than normal subject matter and the fun performances.

***SPOILERS*** Hum dingier of a mystery involving sleuths Jack Parker and his sidekick Doc Long, Jim Bannon & Barton Yarborough,in the case of the missing head, that was foretold to happen a year in advance, of San Francisco socialite Jefferson Monk, George Macready.Monk already lost his head in a car accident just as the movie started so there was no mystery if he'll keep his head or not. It's then that we get the whole story, in flashback, from Jack Packard and Doc Long to the events that lead to Monk ending up a head shorter and about eight to ten pounds lighter.It all started three days earlier at the Samovar Club where Packard and Long were having a few drinks. Seeing Monk go crazy when his lady friend Jane Anderson, Carole Mathews, called him a coward Packard tries to get the very disturbed and angry man to settle down by offering him a strong hot Russian coffee. It's when the flaming coffee pot suddenly, and accidentally, falls and almost burns Monk that Packard and Doc Long agree to walk the very nervous Monk home. It's then that they get the story right from the horses, Jefferson Monk, mouth as to the reasons for Monks acute paranoia.Monk has been scared out of his wits after he returned from India with his now invalid wife Ellen, Nina Fuch. Being directed by this blind man, who seemed to have been following him all the way from India, that he ran into on the Streets of San Fancisco to this secret underground monastery Monk's learns the truth about himself and his destiny. Monk finds all this out from the blind mans master who calls himself Mr. "G", Justin Reeves.Mr. "G" turned out to be the Grand Master of the secret society that calls itself the Barokan. A society that originates beyond the ice locked mountains of Tibet. Monk is told that he's a dead ringer of the societies founder and spiritual leader "the Great One' who's been dead and mummified for some 1,000 years! With "The Great One's" head now quickly giving into the rigors of time and weather Mr. "G" wants Monk to replace the cults founders now decomposing head with his own! Mr."G" even goes so far as offering Monk $10,000.00 to sell his head to him! This just scratches the surface of what the movie "I Love a Mystery" has in store for it's audience. The film really has to do with murder betrayal a falling out between thieves and a number of puzzling events that all lead to the truth behind both Mr. "G" predictions as well as his true identity.Monk who seems to be normal at first, despite his paranoia, goes homicidal when he finds out the real reason for what's been happening to him since his trip with Ellan, who's suddenly falling ill was also predicted by Mr. "G", to India. This all has to do with two million dollars that Monk is to inherit under very strict and unusual circumstance's. You get the impression that Monk's head, or loss of it, has really nothing to do with what's going on in the film. Except in the cold hard fact that Monk is somehow being set up to be murdered, or forced to commit suicide, for the two million dollars that he's soon to inherit.It's only later that the prediction of Monk losing his head, in order to replace the decomposing head of "The Great One", becomes a reality that has you left wondering what all this losing your head business is really about. It's also that reality that has both Jack Packer and Doc Long who were on "the Missing Head Case" wondering, as they recall the mysterious story of the now dead and headless Jefferson Monk, if there really is something supernatural about the whole thing after all?