The movie begins with an odd little framing device, wherein a crime reporter questions a morgue attendant and we learn that one Jefferson Monk has been...well, decapitated in a car crash. The entry is actually entitled "The Decapitation of Jefferson Monk", so the film really begins with the ending. The film answers the "How?". So in flashback detectives Jack Packard (Jim Bannon) and Doc Long (Barton Yarborough) talk about how they tried to help wealthy Jefferson Monk (George Macready) just days before when they met in the very restaurant in which they are sitting.Monk tells Doc and Jack that his death has been prophesied to occur in three days. However, the prediction was made a year earlier, shortly after returning from a vacation to the orient with his wife where he felt he had been followed about. Back in San Francisco, Monk's wife was kidnapped by a mysterious oriental cult and the cult leader only agreed to free them both if Jefferson agreed to sell the cult his head upon his death for 10000 dollars. It turns out that the cult worships the one thousand year old preserved body of their deceased leader, who was a dead ringer for Jefferson, and the corpse needs a fresh head as the embalmers' skill had reached their limit. However, this does not mean that the cult will kill Jefferson. Instead, they merely prophesy when he is going to die and will collect the head at that time. To bring home that they might be right, the month before the cult sent Jefferson a prophesy saying his wife would become paralyzed. Three days later she was unable to move her legs and has been wheelchair bound since.Now at first Packard and Long think they are dealing with a nervous rich guy with too active an imagination, but then they witness a freak accident in the restaurant that would have killed Monk had he been sitting at his original table, and there is a one legged man who follows Jefferson home every night with a small satchel - just the size for a man's head, or so Jefferson Monk claims. But then Packard and Long actually see the guy, so maybe there is something to all of this.Now this film is worth watching just for the atmosphere, acting - especially Macready, and the plot twists alone. As for the mystery, the film itself reveals what is going on too early in my opinion. Plus, if you listen to Jefferson Monk recount his story to Packard and Long you are going to see the common thread in the tale long before the mystery is unwound. Why this elaborate ruse? That is for Packard to reveal later in the film.Henry Levin directed all three films in the series and he gives this one some nice noirish touches and a general air of fatalistic doom. It's a good start to the series, and things only get better from there. Nobody in the 40s could make a cheap B mystery film that didn't seem like a cheap B mystery film like Columbia. Recommended.

"Oh, the cleverness of me!" I recall as a kid saying that to myself and others when I came up with a smart answer or a particularly good paper in school, and I can just hear the writers of this intelligent but smug mystery saying that as they put their final stamp on the completed script. The first of a three part series of little "B" mysteries is intriguing but bogs down with chatty plot development that takes this down a convoluted road. It starts off fine with the seemingly accidental death of a prominent citizen (George Macready), decapitated in a car accident. Jim Bannon is detective Jack Packard who arrives at the mortuary, not at all surprised by what has happened to Macready. Through flashbacks, a confusing mix of Asian cult religion and marital discord between MacReady and his supposedly wheelchair bound wife (Nina Foch) is examined, taking this into areas that are often morbid, frequently thrilling, but ultimately a tangled mess that tosses the viewer into a state of frenzy.In spite of all this in the state of confusion, there is something to be said for the imagination which went into this, and even if everything is explained in the horrific outcome, it takes a lot of thought afterwords to put it all together. A lot of the characters are not who they appear to be, utilizing disguises, alternate personalities and phony illnesses to achieve a nefarious goal. Other than Bannon, the characters are mostly morally bankrupt, and as the world moved from the end of World War II into a very cynical age, this was appropriately novel in its approach. Like any major piece of modern art, this is to be taken at an individual face value by each viewer as to what they get out of it. For me, it's an impressive attempt for a screenwriter to be very literary but ultimately just drops into a huge abyss where the writer must dig themselves out with the force of volcanic emotion erupting beneath him.

First of three B detective films from Columbia featuring Jack Packard (Jim Bannon) and his sidekick Doc Long (Barton Yarborough). The story here begins with the decapitation of a man named Jefferson Monk (what a name -- sounds like a superhero's secret identity). Through flashback, we find out Monk approached Packard and Doc for help earlier. He was told by a cult leader he would be dead within a year if he didn't sell them his head! Now the year is almost up. I can't even begin to describe anything else without ruining it for you.This series was also a popular radio series back in the day. I listened to a lot of old time radio shows on satellite radio years ago. I don't remember ever hearing this program but I do remember Barton Yarborough quite well from other shows. Nobody who's heard his Huckleberry Hound accent is likely to forget it anytime soon. It's a little annoying but he's the comic relief sidekick so I tried to tolerate it. This is one of three films Nina Foch made with George Macready for Columbia in 1945. The most notable one being My Name Is Julia Ross.Employs the dreaded "flashback-within-a-flashback" device but it doesn't hurt as the plot is simple enough to follow. Some nice atmosphere and creepy moments, such as when a peg-legged man with a mask attacks Monk on a foggy street. The decapitation angle seems pretty risqué for the time. It's a bizarre and enjoyable entry into a very crowded genre.

I am a fan of mystery movies, and this is one of my all time favorites. I love the plot twists and the eerie atmosphere. I remember when I first saw this film, many years ago, how astonished I was when the villains are murdered one by one. My only complaint with the film is the phony arrest and jail break of Jack Packard. This was silly and unnecessary. Jack Packard should have been able to nail the killer without these shenanigans. This being said, I recommend this film, especially if you like mysteries and are looking for something different. Jack Packard, played by Jim Bannon, is an excellent screen detective, and Doc Long, played by Barton Yarborough, is a likeable sidekick who provides some comic relief, and best of all is Jefferson Monk played by George Macready.