Murder on the Screen (1958)

★★★★ · Helpful for film archivists and preservationists · GE_Pretzel · 2006-01-24

Taking the form of a comedic detective story, Murder on the Screen features a hard-headed sleuth investigating the alarming discovery of a horribly mangled and sullied reel of film (referred to solely with feminine pronouns for added humour). Four individuals who were previously involved with the film's handling undergo intense interrogation, highlighting dozens of essential film care procedures while they recall exactly how they dealt with the reel before she met her sudden, mysterious demise. There are several good shots of the various period instruments used to maintain the film, making…

★★★★ · Jack Webb's out on his luck, so... · uniQ · 2004-03-19

He turns his incomprable acting to teaching ppl how to care for film. The 'interrogation' method of teaching is interesting when applied to unknown 3rd persons. -uniQ

★★★ · "I Did'nt Do It!" · Spuzz · 2003-11-17

A somewhat amusing film about what causes film damage. It's funny, as from frame one I knew that we were in Calvin film territory. I even recognized some of their actors in this film. Anyways, it uses the theme of a detective trying to figure out who 'murdered' a reel of footage, because their scratches and what not on it. He 'interrogates' people who have handled the film, like the film lab technician, the distributor, all the way to the projectionist. While it's interesting to find out about these positions, it just makes the film too darn long.

★★★ · Teaching by repetition · trafalgar · 2004-03-26

Thanks to the repetitive nature of this movie, I now know the formula for film lubricant by heart. Still it's entertaining in that Calvin way, and quite informative.