Twenty Plus Two (1961)

A private investigator (David Janssen) is digging into an old case about a 16 year old heiress who disappeared 12 years ago without a trace. When a secretary who handles fan mail for movie stars is brutally murdered, her death begins a trail that will finally unlock the ugly truth about the heiress's disappearance. Based on the novel by Frank Gruber (who adapts his book for the screen) and directed by Joseph M. Newman (DANGEROUS CROSSING). This potboiler is crammed with so many unlikely coincidences (otherwise the plot wouldn't make any sense) that any semblance of logic or reality flies out the window. The film also cheats. Two photographs which are very important in solving the mystery are viewed by Janssen but not by us, the viewer, because if we see the photographs so early in the film, we don't need Janssen to solve the mystery for us, we can figure it out for ourselves. The dialogue by Frank Gruber (who also produced) is pretty awful and some of the casting is dubious. Poor Jeanne Crain! Despite being second billed, her character is so extraneous to anything pertinent that the film drops her from the film midway through without any explanation. The jazz score is by Gerald Fried. With Dina Merrill (who at 37 has to pass for 19 in one scene), Agnes Moorehead (who has the best scene in the film), William Demarest, Brad Dexter, Robert Strauss and Jacques Aubuchon.