https://en.bharatpedia.org/w/index.php?action=history&feed=atom&title=Mystery_filmMystery film - Revision history2026-11-03T22:36:56ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.43.6https://en.bharatpedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mystery_film&diff=416110&oldid=prevAjay Kumar: Created a new article2023-08-20T09:44:01Z<p>Created a new article</p>
<p><b>New page</b></p><div>{{Short description|Genre of film}}<br />
[[File:Nick-Carter-b.jpg|thumb|right|185px|''[[Nick Carter (literary character)|Nick Carter]]'', from [[France]], is one of the first mystery-detective film series (1908–1909).]]<br />
A '''mystery film''' is a genre of film that revolves around the solution of a problem or a crime. It focuses on the efforts of the [[detective]], [[private investigator]] or amateur [[Detective|sleuth]] to solve the mysterious circumstances of an issue by means of clues, investigation, and clever deduction. By 2022, mystery films are generally referred to as [[detective fiction]].<br />
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While cinema featured characters such as [[Sherlock Holmes]] in the early 1900s, several other Sherlock Holmes likes characters appeared such as [[Boston Blackie]] and [[Lone Wolf (character)|The Lone Wolf]]. Several series of mystery films started in the 1930s with major studios featuring detectives like [[Nick and Nora Charles]], [[Perry Mason]], [[Nancy Drew]] and [[Charlie Chan]]. <br />
While original mystery film series were based on novels, by the 1940s many were sourced from comics and radio series. Towards the 1940s these series were predominantly produced as [[b-movies]], with nearly no mystery series being developed by the 1950s.<br />
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Around the 2020s a wave of popular theatrical straight mystery films were released theatrically including [[Kenneth Brannagh]]'s ''[[Murder on the Orient Express (2017 film)|Murder on the Orient Express]]'' (2017) and [[Rian Johnson]]'s ''[[Knives Out]]'' (2019) as well as on streaming services with the parodic ''[[Murder Mystery (film)|Murder Mystery]]'' (2019) starring [[Adam Sandler]].<br />
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==Definition and characteristics==<br />
Mystery films mainly focus on solving a [[crime]] or a [[puzzle]]. The mystery generally revolves around a [[murder]] which must then be solved by [[Police officer|policemen]], private [[detective]]s, or amateur sleuths. The viewer is presented with a series of likely [[suspect]]s, some of whom are "[[red herring]]s", –persons who have the motive to commit the crime but did not actually do it–, and attempts to solve the puzzle along with the investigator. At times the viewer is presented with information not available to the main character. The central character usually explores the unsolved crime, unmasks the perpetrator, and puts an end to the effects of the villainy.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.allmovie.com/genre/mystery-d651 |title=Genre - Mystery|accessdate=March 23, 2023|publisher=[[AllMovie]]}}</ref><br />
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In their essay on horror and mystery cinema from 2022, Mark Jancovich and Shane Brown stated that mystery films generally referred to detective fiction in 2022.{{sfn|Jancovich|Brown|2022|p=180}}<br />
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==History==<br />
The works of [[Arthur Conan Doyle]] were often adapted to the screen in early cinema, specifically with [[Sherlock Holmes]] such as ''[[Sherlock Holmes Baffled]]'' (1900). [[Gary Don Rhodes]] wrote that the large volume of detective films released in the 1910s either owed to Sherlock Holmes but that contemporary reviews such as that of ''[[Moving Picture World]]'' in 1911 bemoaned the lack of a proper Sherlock Holmes adaptation in "Doctor Doyle's finished style."{{sfn|Rhodes|2018|p=342}} By 1915, the same trade paper stated that "strange as it may seem, the story of crime mystery is fast degenerating into one of stock properties."{{sfn|Rhodes|2018|p=342}}<br />
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There were several mystery and detective films produced during the [[silent film]] era, including numerous films involving Sherlock Holmes, [[Boston Blackie]] and [[Lone Wolf (character)|The Lone Wolf]].{{sfn|Backer|2010|p=1}} Mystery and detective films were among the most popular genres of the silent film era. This ranged to American, British, German and Danish adaptations of Sherlock Holmes and European series like [[Nick Carter (character)|Nick Carter]], Nat Pinkerton and Miss Nobody.{{sfn|Wlaschin|2009|p=1}}<br />
With the beginning of [[sound film]], mystery film series came into their own with [[Philo Vance]] in the 1929 film ''[[The Canary Murder Case (film)|The Canary Murder Case]]''.A series of films continued in until 1947.{{sfn|Backer|2010|p=1}} Other series followed such as Charlie Chan which began in 1931 and ended in 1949 with 44 films produced.{{sfn|Backer|2010|p=1}}<br />
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In the 1930s, most of the major Hollywood film studios produced mystery series, with [[MGM]] having [[Nick and Nora Charles]] and Joel and Garda Sloane, [[Warner Bros.]] having [[Perry Mason]], [[Torchy Blane]], [[Brass Bancroft]] and [[Nancy Drew]]. Universal had [[Bill Crane]] while Fox had Charlie Chan and [[Mr. Moto]].{{sfn|Backer|2012|p=2}} <br />
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[[File:Rathbone as Holmes - F&R.png|thumb|left|[[Basil Rathbone]] as Sherlock Holmes]]<br />
American mystery film series of the 1930s predominantly relied on mystery literature for inspiration. About every character from the 1930s drew from literature, such as Charlie Chan, Nick and Nora Charles, [[Thatcher Colt]], Perry Mason, and [[Mr. Wong (fictional detective)|Mr. Wong]]. The 1930s featured many female detectives of various ages from Nancy Drew, Torchy Blane and [[Hildegarde Withers]] while the 1940s had none.{{sfn|Backer|2012|p=1}} <br />
Productions in the 1930s were occasionally A-budget pictures such as ''[[The Black Camel (film)|The Black Camel]]'' (1931), ''[[Arsène Lupin (1932 film)|Aresene Lupin]]'' (1932) and ''[[The Thin Man (film)|The Thin Man]]'' (1934).{{sfn|Backer|2012|p=2}} <br />
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By the 1940s, film detectives came from multiple sources such as radio and comic strips and many others had original scripts.{{sfn|Backer|2012|p=1}} MGM, Warner Brothers, and Paramount had generally halted their production of mystery films by 1942 leaving production to these films being made by [[RKO]], [[Columbia Pictures|Columbia]], Universal and other more minor studios.{{sfn|Backer|2012|p=2}} This led to what author Ron Backer described as 1940s mystery films as being "almost always B-productions" with actors who were "past their prime".{{sfn|Backer|2012|p=2}} These included [[Chester Morris]] as Boston Blackie, [[Warner Baxter]] as the [[Crime Doctor (character)|Crime Doctor]], [[Warren William]] as the Lone Wolf and [[Basil Rathbone]] as Sherlock Holmes.{{sfn|Backer|2010|p=1}} These smaller budget films led to more major productions such as [[John Huston]]'s ''[[The Maltese Falcon (1941 film)|The Maltese Falcon]]'' (1941) while ''[[Murder, My Sweet]]'' (1944) introduced the character [[Philip Marlowe]] to film. Marlowe would appear again in ''[[The Big Sleep (1946 film)|The Big Sleep]]'' (1946) while other films author Martin Rubin deemed as notable detective mysteries included ''[[Laura (1944 film)|Laura]]'' (1944).{{sfn|Rubin|1999|p=88}} These detective films drew upon thriller and thriller-related genres with their nocturnal atmosphere and style influenced by [[expressionism]].{{sfn|Rubin|1999|p=88}} They often overlapped with ''[[film noir]]'', which arose in the mid-1940s and was coined by French critics in 1946.{{sfn|Rubin|1999|p=89-90}} The style was not acknowledge by American filmmakers, critics or audiences while these films were being developed until the 1970s.{{sfn|Rubin|1999|p=90}}<br />
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Mystery films series disappeared by the 1950s.{{sfn|Backer|2012|p=2}} With the exception of [[Miss Marple]] films in the 1960s, it was rare to find films with a female lead that had any sequels.{{sfn|Backer|2012|p=1}} Bran Nicol found that the more traditional "clue-puzzle mystery" was "well-served" by 1960s and 70s film adaptations like ''[[The Alphabet Murders]]'' (1965), ''[[Murder on the Orient Express (1974 film)|Murder on the Orient Express]]'' (1974), and ''[[Death on the Nile (1978 film)|Death on the Nile]]'' (1978), the decades following it left mystery adaptations to be made for television as the "default home of sumptuous Golden Age adaptations"{{sfn|Sandberg|2020}} <br />
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Eric Sandberg (''Crime Fiction Studies'') stated that while [[Video on demand|film streaming]] services were predominantly dominated by iterations of [[Nordic noir|Nordic ''noir'']] and [[police procedurals]], there have been works inspired the classical mystery fiction, such as the parodic ''[[Murder Mystery (film)|Murder Mystery]]'' starring [[Adam Sandler]] and [[Jennifer Aniston]] which was one of Netflix's most popular films of 2019.{{sfn|Sandberg|2020}} Sandberg noted that only by the 2020s, specifically with [[Kenneth Branagh]]'s 2017 ''[[Murder on the Orient Express (2017 film)|The Murder on the Orient Express]]'' had the genre been financially successful again with more than $350 million grossed worldwide, leading to a sequel ''[[Death on the Nile (2022 film)|Death on the Nile]]'' (2022).{{sfn|Sandberg|2020}} Other variations of included [[Rian Johnson]]'s ''[[Knives Out]]'' which was not an adaptation of a golden age work, but was Johnson's first foray into the "puzzle-mystery" style, and was the second highest-grossing film in America in 2019.{{sfn|Sandberg|2020}}<br />
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==See also==<br />
* [[Mystery fiction]]<br />
* [[List of mystery films]]<br />
* [[List of film noir]]<br />
* [[List of female detective characters]]<br />
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==References==<br />
===Citations===<br />
{{Reflist}}<br />
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===Sources===<br />
* {{cite book|title=Mystery Movie Series of 1930s Hollywood|last=Backer|first=Ron|publisher=McFarland & Company, Inc.|year=2012|isbn=978-0-7864-6975-8}}<br />
* {{cite book|title=Mystery Movie Series of 1940s Hollywood|last=Backer|first=Ron|publisher=McFarland & Company, Inc.|year=2010|isbn=978-0-7864-4864-7}}<br />
* {{cite journal|title='Most Stories of This Type': Genre, Horror and Mystery in the Silent Cinema|last1=Jancovich|first1=Mark|last2=Brown|first2=Shane|journal=Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television|volume=42|issue=2|doi=10.1080/01439685.2021.1922036|year=2022|pages=168–190 |s2cid=235529190 }}<br />
* {{cite book|last=Pitts|first=Michael R.|title=Famous Movie Detectives|year=1979|publisher=Scarecrow Press|isbn=0-8108-1236-3}}<br />
* {{cite book|last=Rhodes|first=Gary D.|title=The Birth of the American Horror Film|publisher=Edinburgh University Press|year=2018|isbn=978-1-4744-3086-9|author-link=Gary D. Rhodes}}<br />
* {{cite book|title=Thrillers|last=Rubin|first=Martin|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|year=1999|isbn=0-521-58183-4}}<br />
* {{cite journal|journal=Crime Fiction Studies|volume=1|issue=2|last=Sandberg|first=Eric|title=Detective Fiction, Nostalgia and Rian Johnson's Knives Out: Making the Golden Age Great Again|doi=10.3366/cfs.2020.0023|year=2020|pages=237–253|s2cid=225312170}}<br />
* {{cite book|last=Sennett|first=Ted|title=Great Hollywood Movies|year=1986|isbn=0-8109-8075-4}}<br />
* {{cite book|title=Silent Mystery and Detective Movies: A Comprehensive Filmography|last=Wlaschin|first=Ken|publisher=McFarland & Company, Inc.|year=2009|isbn=978-0-7864-4350-5}}<br />
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{{Film genres}}<br />
{{Films by genre}}<br />
{{Crime fiction}}<br />
{{Authority control}}<br />
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[[Category:Film genres]]<br />
[[Category:Mystery films| ]]<br />
[[Category:Mystery fiction|Film]]</div>Ajay Kumar