Face the Music

Kenny Baker's trumpet playing does most of the heavy lifting here in this otherwise rather long and daft crime drama. An enthusiastic Alex Nicol ("Bradley") is the box-office "star" brought over to augment this story of a newly-arrived, acclaimed, trumpeter who finds himself jet-lagged and embroiled in the killing of a singer. Trying to convince "Insp. MacKenzie" (Fred Johnson) of his innocence he determines to investigate the crime himself - and he quickly discovers that there is no shortage of suspects nor motives as we are exposed to some of the less savoury aspects of the music business. It's ending smacks more of "Poirot" as we end up with everyone in a room facing our sleuth who goes through them all one-by-one. If you like a good jazz trumpet soundtrack to a film, then you will certainly get more from this, otherwise it's a bit too long and it was pretty easy to guess whodunit early on.