Twenty Plus Two (1961)

Memorable, crazy movie

A lot of fun.

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Interesting late film noir, let down by some plot and casting flaws. David Janssen plays the quasi-detective character Tom Adler with an affected booziness; he's not imposing enough to make this Marlon Brando-mumbling-in-a-slick-suit thing work. I do like that his job is nebulous; he seems to have to explain himself repeatedly. It's as though, in true noir fashion, he's really not sure who or what he is.As others have noted, Dina Merrill looks positively middle-aged when she's supposed to be just twenty in the Tokyo flashback. Thankfully, Agnes Moorehead, William Demarest, and Jacques Aubuchon inject Twenty Plus Two with enough life to sustain interest.I like how the reviewer pierrotlunaire0 pointed out the plot holes. I can sort of see Tom falling for Linda all over again, especially as she keeps throwing herself at him. But it's just too convenient that she's also friends with Nikki, his other lost love. Since we never see the 'grown-up' picture that her mom shows him, we don't know that he then suspects that Nikki is Doris. At least that part of the mystery works well.Then there's Brad Dexter's Leroy, who is the actual murderer, going free and easy because he framed Doris. The cabin-in-the-sticks denouement is stagey; but for all of its exposition, it still doesn't add up. How is it that Dane, of all people, doesn't recognize Doris/Nikki until she tells him who she is? Why did he have to kill his buddy anyway? Doris had fled, knowing she had shot Lane. She's still in hot water, and, given the mores of the times (in 1948, even in 1961), her pregnancy makes it worse for her.Lane would have to fear repercussions from her wealthy family; but she'd probably be so relieved when she discovered that she hadn't killed anyone, that nothing more would happen. On the other hand, given that Dexter's character recreates himself as Lane, and became a celebrity, he should've at least been under suspicion as a rapist, if not a murderer.Well, if we can squint our perception of the plot, there are those larger-than-life performances from the supporting cast to entertain us. The flasback sequence is masterfully set up by its ascending webs of smoke signalling Adler's reverie. Thanks to the black and white filming, we not so far from the smoky, boozy, hat-wearing late 40s noir golden age. The editing is pretty good too; we're not allowed to get too comfortable before sweeping into another scene. The exceptions would be the interlude with Agnes Moorehead, which was so good it even made Jannsen look important, the cool 'interview' Tom has with the down-and-out bum in the bar, and the scene in the cabin, which dragged a bit. I'd have been happier with Doris and Tom's scene under the tree giving us a little more, and then letting the shoot-out happen quickly.The music was irritating at times. Kind of like the nervous demeanor Janssen displays when he's not mumbling. Like others, I wonder what the title refers to. The better noir movies have abrupt, dangerous sounding titles that hint at what we're going to see. Other than a presumption that Doris is about twenty years old when she's in Tokyo, there's no twenty, or two, or twenty-two of anything here. Still, a fun movie, with a good premise and some fine scenes.

This disjointed film noir is hobbled by a rambling narrative that spends too much time on a flashback and then devolves into a silly ending in North Dakota (with some hideous rear projection).David Janssen stars as a finder of missing persons, especially heirs. He gets involved in a decade-old mystery in which a movie star vanished. Seems her rich daddy paid lots of hush money and she's long forgotten until her name comes up again after a woman is murdered.Somehow, the case seems to involve a famous movie actor who seems to show up in odd places. Then there's an erudite fat man following him as well as an ex-wife who suddenly pops up.Janssen gets hooked after visiting a a boozy ex-reporter who lets slips a few juicy details about the dead movie star. After a visit to her mother, he's on the trail that takes him, ultimately, to a shack in North Dakota.The mystery isn't much and is given away in the flashback, after which the viewer just waits it out. But there are several excellent performances in this film. Janssen is solid. Jeanne Crain is wasted as the ex-wife. Dina Merrill is surprisingly good as Nikki. William Demarest is excellent as the boozy reporter as is Agnes Moorehead as the flinty mother. Jacques Aubuchon is also very good as the fat man, and Will Wright has a nice bit as the records keeper. Robert Strauss is good as Janssen's pal. That's TCM host Robert Osborne as the sailor with dance tickets. Brad Dexter is badly cast as the movie actor.Certainy worth a look for some great acting and Gerald Fried's driving jazz score.

"Twenty Plus Two" is a stylish, ambitious movie with a great look. It's a shame that it's filmed after the height of film noir, but it still has a few great scenes that are noir-ish, and plenty of night scenes in general. The movie starts off in Hollywood 1961 and follows Tom Alder (actor David Janssen) from coast to coast as he figures out a murder mystery and finds a missing person, all the while dealing with a LOT of different characters. I thought it was really well made.The main problem with "Twenty Plus Two" is the casting of Dina Merrill as the female lead. Her character is about 30 years old at the time of the movie, and in flashback scenes, she's about 20. Merrill was 37 when she made this movie and she looked older. She was hardly believable as a 30-year-old woman, and definitely not as a young 20-year-old. She was badly miscast and it affected the movie.Jeanne Crain fares better as a sort of "girl next door" but fifteen years down the line. She plays Linda, who was engaged to Tom before he was sent to Korea, but married someone else while he was away. Now, 11 years after they last saw one another, she wants him back, but he doesn't want her, and she spends half the movie chasing him. She and Janssen are kind of funny in their scenes together.Agnes Moorehead as the missing girl's mother was superb in her scene with David Janssen. It's a long, pivotal scene. I give credit to both actors as their give-and-take was spot on. There's a lot of dialogue in this movie and these two could really deliver lines.The most stylistic and atmospheric scene in the entire movie is a shot of Tom sitting alone in his hotel room, thinking about the past, smoking, and the camera follows the smoke as it rises to the ceiling. It is fantastic.David Janssen is very, very good in this movie. He's cool, and the film's black and white visuals and jazzy score help to underline this. He should have become a major feature film star. As it was, he became a major TV star, and deservedly so.

This poor excuse for a movie only has one line in the whole film that has any sparkle. It was when the woman says to David Janssen that he wouldn't make the first move. You can imply from this that he would fancy a woman, but not chat her up, especially if she is giving him any signals to offer friendship. Instead, he is quite prepared to spend $100 on a call girl just to talk to him. The one scene with Agnes Moorehead lifts the film in terms of performance, but it doesn't make it a good film. It comes nowhere near the quality of any Moorehead projects like 'Black Jack' or 'The Invaders' from season two of 'The Twilight Zone'. In short, stay away from this poorly made film because it's not a movie. I don't know what it is.