Jigsaw

2601. JIGSAW (Gun Moll) (1949-USA). With FRANCHOT TONE, JEAN WALLACE, MARC LAWRENCE, MYRON McCORMICK. This taut mystery drama is most effective as a biting expose of racism and religious intolerance, and it is as timely today as when it was first released. It opens with the cold-blooded killing of a man who operates a small print shop in Manhattan. He had been typesetting pamphlets linked to a Ku Klux Klan-like ultra-right wing hate group. The next murder victim is a newspaper columnist who had been editorializing against a recent influx of racist hate-mongering. “I’ve got both eyes open these days,” he declares just before he is bumped off, “Fear is a terrible weapon.” Assistant District Attorney Howard Malloy was the writer’s closest friend, and takes a special interest in both cases. Malloy is “a man with a lot of questions,” and his investigation leads him into the city’s poshest nightspots and down its darkest back alleys. Among the characters with whom he mixes are a sexy chanteuse and a crooked local politician, and what he uncovers is at once shocking and disturbing as he puts his life on the line. What makes this film exira special are the surprise cameo appearances of several top Hollywood stars. Could that be HENRY FONDA in a bit as a waiter? It sure is. That man reading a newspaper outside the political club is none other than JOHN GARFIELD. If you blink, you will miss BURGESS MEREDITH as a bartender and MARSHA HUNT as a receptionist. You’ll have to really look fast to see if you can spot MARLENE DIETRICH in a nightclub. 72 minutes. Crime Mystery Suspense