Directed by the versatile Val Guest 'Murder at the Windmill' combines a mystery with musical numbers. Set in the well known Windmill Theatre it starts with the ending of a performance. Then it is discovered that a man in the front row has been shot dead. To re-enact the crime a Detective Inspector orders the last half hour of the performance to be repeated. So we then get bland musical numbers and a bit of unfunny comedy while the theatre staff interact with each other backstage and the police investigate. It's more of a curio than anything else but passably entertaining.
The reliable Garry Marsh plays the Detective Inspector and John Pertwee is his eccentric Detective Sergeant. Some of the real Windmill performers also appear in the film. Familiar Peter Butterworth, of many film and TV credits, plays a policeman here in only his second film
Interesting use is made of two people narrating including one who is the killer but you only find that out at the end in a nice twist. The time of the murder is fixed because everyone stood up for the National Anthem at the end so the victim could not have been dead beforehand, a plot detail that certainly dates the film!
The reliable Garry Marsh plays the Detective Inspector and John Pertwee is his eccentric Detective Sergeant. Some of the real Windmill performers also appear in the film. Familiar Peter Butterworth, of many film and TV credits, plays a policeman here in only his second film
Interesting use is made of two people narrating including one who is the killer but you only find that out at the end in a nice twist. The time of the murder is fixed because everyone stood up for the National Anthem at the end so the victim could not have been dead beforehand, a plot detail that certainly dates the film!