The 20 Questions Murder Mystery [Murder on the Air] ** (1950, Robert Beatty, Rona Anderson, Clifford Evans, Edward Lexy, Olga Lindo) – Classic Movie Review 13,460

Clues to a radio programme trigger a series of murders in the 1950 British second feature comedy crime film The 20 Questions Murder Mystery.

Director Paul L Stein’s 1950 The 20 Questions Murder Mystery [Murder on the Air] is written by Patric Kirwan and Victor Katona, based on a story by Charles Leeds, and stars Robert Beatty, Rona Anderson, Clifford Evans, Edward Lexy, and Olga Lindo.

The 20 Questions Murder Mystery is a really old-style whodunit thriller from the days when solving murder mysteries used to be fun, in which a serial killer tantalisingly sends clues to the Twenty Questions radio quiz – to the fury of police Detective Inspector Charlton (Edward Lexy).

The then members of the team, including Richard Dimbleby and Norman Hackforth, together with two newspaper reporters, work to find the identity of a serial killer who sends in questions for the panel that suggest his next victim.

The Twenty Questions quiz show sections at the Paris Theatre, Lower Regent Street, central London, in a studio recording of the BBC radio programme with the regular panellists and chairman (Stewart MacPherson) are threaded into the plot, as the clues trigger a series of murders, each linked to the clue.

The 20 Questions Murder Mystery is amusing and good nostalgic fun for anyone who can remember the show or the personalities involved, or indeed the film’s star and character actors. You could say that serial killing is no laughing matter, but the film is a sweet timewarp none the less.

Among the BBC wireless personalities playing themselves are Stewart MacPherson as Twenty Questions chairman, Daphne Padel as Twenty Questions panellist, Jack Train as Twenty Questions panellist, Jeanne De Casalis as Twenty Questions panellist, Richard Dimbleby as Twenty Questions panellist, and Norman Hackforth Twenty Questions mystery voice.

The BBC radio panel quiz show version aired from 28 February 1947 to 1976, originally presented by Stewart MacPherson, with a panel of Richard Dimbleby, Jack Train, Anona Winn and Joy Adamson.

The 20 Questions Murder Mystery is directed by Paul L Stein, runs 95 minutes, is made by Pax Films and Pendennis Productions, is distributed by Grand National Pictures, is written by Patric Kirwan and Victor Katona, is shot by Ernest Palmer, is produced by Victor Katona and Steven Pallos, and is scored by Hans May.

Release date: 23 January 1950.

Rona Anderson with her husband Gordon Jackson.

The cast

The cast are Robert Beatty as Bob Beacham, Rona Anderson as Mary Game, Clifford Evans as Tom Harmon, Edward Lexy as Detective Inspector Charlton, Homi Bode as Mohammed Ali, Olga Lindo as Olive Tavey, Frederick Leister as Police Commissioner, Harold Scott as Maurice Emery KC, Wally Patch as Police Officer Tiny White, Meadows White as Frederick Tavey, Kynaston Reeves as General Maitland, Stewart MacPherson as Twenty Questions chairman, Daphne Padel as Twenty Questions panellist, Jack Train as Twenty Questions panellist, Jeanne De Casalis as Twenty Questions panellist, Richard Dimbleby as Twenty Questions panellist, Norman Hackforth Twenty Questions mystery voice, Martin Boddey as plainclothes man, Michael Dear as newsboy, Howard Douglas as Police Doctor, Philip King as waiter, Gordon McLeod as Record News editor, Sonya O’Shea as Stewart MacPherson’s secretary, Norman Pierce as Golf Club barman, Liam Redmond as Echo News editor, John Salew as John Grimshaw, Merle Tottenham as Mrs Tavey’s neighbour, Beatrice Varley as Olive Tavey, June Whitfield as woman talking in queue, and Arthur Young as doctor.

Rona Anderson (3 August 1926 – 23 July 2013)

© Derek Winnert 2025 – Classic Movie Review 13,460

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Rona Anderson in 1949.