Terror by Night
| Terror by Night | |
|---|---|
 Promotional movie poster for the film | |
| Directed by | Roy William Neill |
| Written by | Frank Gruber based on characters created by Arthur Conan Doyle |
| Produced by | Roy William Neill |
| Starring | Basil Rathbone Nigel Bruce Alan Mowbray Dennis Hoey Renee Godfrey |
| Cinematography | Maury Gertsman |
| Music by | Hans Salter |
| Distributed by | Universal Studios |
Release date | February 11946 |
Running time | 60 min. |
| Country |  United States |
| Language | English |
Terror by Night is a 1946 Sherlock Holmes mystery film inspired by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, loosely based on The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax and The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle. It was directed by Roy William Neill.
Plot
In London, Vivian Vedder (Renee Godfrey), visits coffin makers Mock and Son to verify the completion of a coffin for her mother's body, which she is transporting to Scotland that evening on the Scotch Express. As the Express pulls out of the Victoria Station, the late-arriving Dr. Watson (Nigel Bruce) just manages to board the train with a companion, Major Duncan-Bleek (Alan Mowbray), whom the doctor introduces to Holmes as a member of his club. That night, Holmes (Basil Rathbone) and Watson meet Inspector Lestrade (Dennis Hoey) on a speeding train to Scotland. Lady Margaret Carstairs (Mary Forbes) and her son Roland (Geoffrey Steele) employ Holmes to guard an enormous 423-carat diamond: The famous diamond The Star of Rhodesia. Holmes examines it.
Durring dinner, Roland is killed, possibly poison, as deduced by Holmes. Watson's friend, Watson, Holmes, and Inspector Lestrade (Dennis Hoey) question everyone on the train, as it is possible that one of them is the murderer. Holmes then figures out that there is a coffin on the train (brought in by the woman named Vivian and that it has a secret compartment. However, there is no diamond. He also deduces that one of the people on the train is his nemesis, Colonel Sebastian Moran. Moran and Major Duncan-Bleek are actually one and the same, and Watson has no idea of either his friend's true identity nor of his criminal past. When Holmes goes to inspect a mysteriously open door, he is nearly pushed out the train to his death.
Holmes and Lestrade question Vivian, she admits that a man paid her to transport the coffin. Watson and Duncan-Bleek join the group and Holmes astounds them all by revealing the Star has not been stolen, but was in his possession the entire time as he used the opportunity of examining it earlier to switch the genuine stone with an imitation. Lestrade quickly takes possession of the authentic jewel.
In the luggage compartment, Holmes and Watson find a train guard has been murdered by a tiny poisonous dart made out of a dissolving substance. Meanwhile, unknown to the others, Duncan-Bleek is joined in his compartment by Sands (Skelton Knaggs), a rough street criminal who came aboard via the coffin's hidden compartment and is the major's cohort in the crime. Sands knocks out a train conductor and then Sands and Moran deceide to steal the diamond from Lestrade.
The Colonel and Sands knock out Lestrade and steal the diamond. However, Moran double-crosses Sands and kills him with a poison dart (which is what killed Roland). The train makes an unexpected stop in a small village to pick up several policemen led by Inspector McDonald (Boyd Davis) of the Scottish police. During the subsequent questioning, Vivian has been unwittingly involved in that she brought Sands onto the train in the coffin. (The film's plot is arranged so that the viewer will think that she is in cahoots with the criminals, when actually she is not.)
Holmes informs McDonald that Duncan-Bleek is really Sebastian Moran, but when McDonald arrests Duncan-Bleek and the police lead him away, the lights on the train are turned off and a scuffle ensues. Holmes recaptures Duncan-Bleek by throwing a coat over him in the darkness, and the officers supposedly hustle away their prisoner. As the train departs, Holmes reveals that McDonald and his men were impostors in league with Duncan-Bleek, whom Holmes had secretly handcuffed and hidden under the table during the scuffle. McDonald's prisoner is actually Lestrade, whose face was obscured by the coat. Lestrade later captures the thieves in the train station, and Holmes admits that had recognized the phony Inspector, having met the real one once. Holmes then pulls out the real diamond, which he had all along.
Cast
- Basil Rathbone – Sherlock Holmes
- Nigel Bruce – Dr John H. Watson
- Alan Mowbray – Major Duncan Bleek (Colonel Sebastian Moran)
- Dennis Hoey – Inspector Lestrade
- Renee Godfrey – Vivian Vedder
- Frederick Worlock – Professor Kilbane
- Mary Forbes – Lady Margaret Carstairs
- Skelton Knaggs – Sands
- Geoffrey Steele – Roland Carstairs
Trivia
- The character of Sebastian Moran is a Sherlock Holmes character, appearing in The Adventure of the Empty House. Elements from The Sign of Four are also part of the story.
- Comic relief is provided by Inspector Lestrade arresting a pair of Hotel thieves who had stolen a teapot-and a mathematics professor who is quite rude to Watson.
- The film differs from several of the other Rathbone-Bruce Sherlock Holmes films set in modern-day England by not including any flag-waving speeches, Nazi criminals, or other propagandistic efforts on behalf of the Second World War. This is because the film was released in 1946, and the studios no longer found it necessary to mention World War II, which had ended the year before.
Quotes
- Watson: I broke 'em down. Gave 'em the old third degree.