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28-411: The Alphabet Murders (also known as ABC Murders ) is a 1965 British detective film directed by Frank Tashlin and starring Tony Randall , Anita Ekberg and Robert Morley . It is based on the 1936 novel The A.B.C. Murders by Agatha Christie . Albert Aachen, a clown with a unique diving act, is found dead, the murder weapon happens to be a poison dart. When a woman named Betty Barnard becomes

56-529: A noun , first as an abstract noun meaning 'the state or condition of being puzzled', and later developing the meaning of 'a perplexing problem'. The OED ' s earliest clear citation in the sense of 'a toy that tests the player's ingenuity' is from Sir Walter Scott 's 1814 novel Waverley , referring to a toy known as a "reel in a bottle". The etymology of the verb puzzle is described by OED as "unknown"; unproven hypotheses regarding its origin include an Old English verb puslian meaning 'pick out', and

84-508: A derivation of the verb pose . Puzzles can be categorized as: Solutions of puzzles often require the recognition of patterns and the adherence to a particular kind of order. People with a high level of inductive reasoning aptitude may be better at solving such puzzles compared to others. But puzzles based upon inquiry and discovery may be solved more easily by those with good deduction skills . Deductive reasoning improves with practice. Mathematical puzzles often involve BODMAS. BODMAS

112-429: A logical way, in order to find the solution of the puzzle. There are different genres of puzzles, such as crossword puzzles , word-search puzzles, number puzzles, relational puzzles, and logic puzzles. The academic study of puzzles is called enigmatology . Puzzles are often created to be a form of entertainment but they can also arise from serious mathematical or logical problems. In such cases, their solution may be

140-482: A series of four films as the characters produced by MGM between 1961 and 1964. Austin Trevor, who plays the butler Judson, had played Poirot in three British films in the early 1930s: Alibi (1931), Black Coffee (1931) and Lord Edgware Dies (1934). The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "Depressingly unfunny comedy-thriller: though directed by Tashlin, virtually none of the misadventures encountered by Poirot during

168-507: A significant contribution to mathematical research. The Oxford English Dictionary dates the word puzzle (as a verb ) to the end of the 16th century. Its earliest use documented in the OED was in a book titled The Voyage of Robert Dudley ...to the West Indies, 1594–95, narrated by Capt. Wyatt, by himself, and by Abram Kendall, master (published circa 1595). The word later came to be used as

196-522: A wave of popular theatrical straight mystery films were released theatrically including Kenneth Brannagh 's Murder on the Orient Express (2017) and Rian Johnson 's Knives Out (2019) as well as on streaming services with the parodic Murder Mystery (2019) starring Adam Sandler . Mystery films mainly focus on a crime or a puzzle , usually a murder , which must then be solved by policemen , private detectives , or amateur sleuths. The viewer

224-400: Is an acronym which stands for Bracket, Of, Division, Multiplication, Addition and Subtraction. In certain regions, PEMDAS (Parentheses, Exponents, Multiplication, Division, Addition and Subtraction) is the synonym of BODMAS. It explains the order of operations to solve an expression. Some mathematical puzzles require Top to Bottom convention to avoid the ambiguity in the order of operations. It

252-451: Is an elegantly simple idea that relies, as sudoku does, on the requirement that numbers appear only once starting from top to bottom as coming along. Puzzle makers are people who make puzzles. In general terms of occupation, a puzzler or puzzlist is someone who composes and/or solves puzzles. Some notable creators of puzzles are: The nine linked-rings puzzle, an advanced puzzle device that requires mathematical calculation to solve,

280-416: Is presented with a series of suspects who have a motive to commit the crime but did not actually do it, and whom the investigator must eliminate during the course of the investigation. 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. During

308-860: The Crime Doctor , Warren William as the Lone Wolf and Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes. These smaller budget films led to more major productions such as John Huston 's 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) while other films author Martin Rubin deemed as notable detective mysteries included Laura (1944). These detective films drew upon thriller and thriller-related genres with their nocturnal atmosphere and style influenced by expressionism . They often overlapped with film noir , which arose in

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336-453: The silent film era, including numerous films involving Sherlock Holmes, Boston Blackie and The Lone Wolf . 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 , Nat Pinkerton and Miss Nobody. With the beginning of sound film , mystery film series came into their own with Philo Vance in

364-425: 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." 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." There were several mystery and detective films produced during

392-535: The 1929 film The Canary Murder Case .A series of films continued in until 1947. Other series followed such as Charlie Chan which began in 1931 and ended in 1949 with 44 films produced. 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 . American mystery film series of

420-565: 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 . The 1930s featured many female detectives of various ages from Nancy Drew, Torchy Blane and Hildegarde Withers while the 1940s had none. Productions in the 1930s were occasionally A-budget pictures such as The Black Camel (1931), Aresene Lupin (1932) and The Thin Man (1934). By

448-399: The 1930s with major studios featuring detectives like Nick and Nora Charles , Perry Mason , Nancy Drew and Charlie Chan . 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. Around the 2020s

476-549: The 1940s, film detectives came from multiple sources such as radio and comic strips and many others had original scripts. 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 , Universal and other more minor studios. 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". These included Chester Morris as Boston Blackie, Warner Baxter as

504-552: The Nile (2022). 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. Puzzle A puzzle is a game , problem , or toy that tests a person's ingenuity or knowledge . In a puzzle, the solver is expected to put pieces together ( or take them apart ) in

532-417: The classical mystery fiction, such as the parodic Murder Mystery starring Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston which was one of Netflix's most popular films of 2019. Sandberg noted that only by the 2020s, specifically with Kenneth Branagh 's 2017 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

560-481: The course of his case raise even the slightest smile. Even the tangled mystery, solved by a typical Agatha Christie 'surprise', is unusually dreary." Leonard Maltin gives the film 2 1/2 out of 4 stars, calling it an "odd adaptation" of Christie's book. Maltin goes on to say, "the strange casting of Randall ... and a little too much slapstick make this more a curiosity than anything else." TCM calls Randall's Poirot "an Inspector Clouseau -style bumbler", noting that

588-406: The early 20th century, there was substantial overlap between the genres of detective film and horror film , and the term "mystery" was used to encompass both. 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

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616-427: The mid-1940s and was coined by French critics in 1946. The style was not acknowledge by American filmmakers, critics or audiences while these films were being developed until the 1970s. Mystery films series disappeared by the 1950s. With the exception of Miss Marple films in the 1960s, it was rare to find films with a female lead that had any sequels. Bran Nicol found that the more traditional "clue-puzzle mystery"

644-499: The next victim, detective Hercule Poirot suspects that Sir Carmichael Clarke could be in grave danger. As Poirot and Captain Hastings look into the crimes, a beautiful woman with an interesting monogram named Amanda Beatrice Cross becomes the focus of their investigation, at least until she leaps into the Thames . The part of Poirot had originally been intended for Zero Mostel but the film

672-485: The primary use of jigsaw puzzles until about 1820. The largest puzzle (40,320 pieces) is made by a German game company Ravensburger . The smallest puzzle ever made was created at LaserZentrum Hannover. It is only five square millimeters, the size of a sand grain. The puzzles that were first documented are riddles . In Europe, Greek mythology produced riddles like the riddle of the Sphinx . Many riddles were produced during

700-508: The second installment of the Pink Panther series had been well-received the previous year. A. H. Weiler of The New York Times dismissed the film as "a routine run through of clichés and clues." Detective film While cinema featured characters such as Sherlock Holmes in the early 1900s, several other Sherlock Holmes likes characters appeared such as Boston Blackie and The Lone Wolf . Several series of mystery films started in

728-505: Was "well-served" by 1960s and 70s film adaptations like The Alphabet Murders (1965), Murder on the Orient Express (1974), and 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" Eric Sandberg ( Crime Fiction Studies ) stated that while film streaming services were predominantly dominated by iterations of Nordic noir and police procedurals , there have been works inspired

756-517: Was delayed because Agatha Christie objected to the script; amongst the things objected to was the intention to put in a bedroom scene with Hercule Poirot. The film varies significantly from the novel and emphasises comedy, the specialty of director Frank Tashlin . Poirot is given buffoonish characteristics, while still remaining a brilliant detective. The film features uncredited cameos by Margaret Rutherford as Miss Marple and Stringer Davis as her friend Mr Stringer. The pair had previously appeared in

784-548: Was invented in China during the Warring States period (475-221 BCE). Jigsaw puzzles were invented around 1760, when John Spilsbury , a British engraver and cartographer , mounted a map on a sheet of wood, which he then sawed around the outline of each individual country on the map. He then used the resulting pieces as an aid for the teaching of geography. After becoming popular among the public, this kind of teaching aid remained

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