This two disc set includes Terror By Night (1946) and Dressed To Kill (1946). These films star Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes and Nigel Bruce as Dr. John Watson.



TERROR BY NIGHT (1946)

In London, Vivian Vedder (Renee Godfrey) verifies that a carpenter has completed a coffin for her recently deceased mother's body, which she is transporting to Scotland by train. She boards the train that evening, as do Lady Margaret Carstairs (Mary Forbes), who owns and is transporting the famous Star of Rhodesia diamond; Lady Margaret's son Roland (Geoffrey Steele); Holmes, whom Roland has hired to protect the diamond; Inspector Lestrade (Dennis Hoey), who is also worried about the diamond's safety; and Watson and his friend Major Duncan-Bleek (Alan Mowbray). Holmes briefly examines the diamond.

Shortly afterward, Roland is murdered and the diamond is stolen. Lestrade, Holmes, and Watson learn nothing conclusive in questioning the other passengers, and Holmes is pushed out of the train, nearly to his death, but he climbs back inside and discovers a secret compartment in the coffin carrying Miss Vedder's mother. He suspects that one of the people on the train is the notorious jewel thief Colonel Sebastian Moran.

Upon further questioning, Miss Vedder admits that a man paid her to transport the coffin. As Watson and Duncan-Bleek join the group, Holmes reveals that he swapped the diamond with an imitation while examining it. Lestrade takes possession of the real diamond.

In the luggage compartment, Holmes and Watson find a train guard murdered with a poisoned dart. Meanwhile, a street criminal named Sands (Skelton Knaggs) incapacitates the conductor. Sands was hidden inside the coffin, and is in cahoots with Duncan-Bleek, who is in fact Colonel Moran. Sands and Moran go to Lestrade's room, where Sands knocks him unconscious and steals the diamond from him, but Moran double-crosses Sands, shooting him dead with the same dart gun he used to kill Roland and the guard.

The train makes an unexpected stop to pick up several Scottish policemen led by Inspector McDonald (Boyd Davis). Holmes informs McDonald that Duncan-Bleek is really Moran, and McDonald arrests Moran and finds the diamond in his vest, but Moran seizes a policeman's gun and pulls the emergency cord to stop the train. During a scuffle in which the lights are turned off, Holmes subdues and handcuffs Moran, then secretly hides him under a table. When the lights are turned on again, the officers leave the train with Lestrade, his coat covering his face, believing he is Moran. As the train departs, Lestrade captures the thieves in the train station, and Holmes reveals to Watson and Moran that he recognized McDonald as an impostor and recovered the diamond from him during the fight.

CAST

Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes
Nigel Bruce as Doctor Watson
Alan Mowbray as Major Duncan-Bleek/Colonel Sebastian Moran
Dennis Hoey as Inspector Lestrade
Renee Godfrey as Vivian Vedder
Frederick Worlock as Professor Kilbane
Mary Forbes as Lady Margaret Carstairs
Skelton Knaggs as Sands
Billy Bevan as Ticket Collector
Geoffrey Steele as The Honourable Roland Carstairs
Harry Cording as Mock the coffin maker



DRESSED TO KILL (1946)

Dressed to Kill starts in Dartmoor prison as convicted thief John Davidson (Cyril Delevanti) puts the finishing touches to a handmade music box. He hides the location of stolen Bank of England printing plates inside three music boxes (each of which plays a subtly different version of "The Swagman"). The boxes are sold at a local auction house.

Jump to Gaylord Art Gallery where three plain wooden music boxes are put up for auction and fetch very little money from three separate bidders. After the auction the gallery's owner Ebenezer Crabtree (Herbert Holmes) is paid a visit by a Colonel Cavanaugh (Frederick Warlock) who shows a great deal of interest in the three music boxes, when he is told that they have been sold Cavanaugh pays Crabtree to let him know who brought them.

An old friend of Dr. Watson (Nigel Bruce) named Julian 'Stinky' Emery (Edmund Breon) pays him and Sherlock Holmes (Basil Rathbone) a visit and tells a tale of how he was knocked out and a seemingly worthless music box stolen from his house. Holmes becomes intrigued why a thief would leave valuable possessions and steal a wooden music box. Later that night Emery is murdered for another music box, the music box he brought from the auction. Holmes believes that the owners of the other music boxes are also in danger and that these boxes are some sort of coded message.

The criminal gang's brains belong to a darkly beautiful, ruthless woman, who is also a "consummate actress", as Holmes learns. She disguises herself as a charwoman and speaking Cockney, insults and berates both Holmes and Watson, whom she pretends not to recognize, and leaves with a music box right under their noses. Holmes must recover the last music box to crack the secret code contained in the tune before it is too late.

This is a good solid mystery that focuses on the finding of the plates rather than focus on the murder aspect. It moves along at a nice pace, is never boring and is engaging. The film makes for good entertainment, is a good way to pass 70 minutes and has a few nice twists, turns and doublecrosses.

Director Roy William Neill was a old hand at these Holmes mysteries by the time Dressed to Kill was completed and the film is well made. The usual horror overtones are almost completely absent, apart from Hamid (Harry Cording) the knife throwing killer.

Technically Dressed to Kill is well made with nice black and white photography, good production values and suitably ambient sets. Nigel Bruce as Watson plays it for laughs again, Patricia Morison as the main villain Hilda Courtney does well. I definitely think it's well worth watching especially for mystery and Holmes fans alike.

CAST

Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes
Nigel Bruce as Doctor Watson
Patricia Morison as Hilda Courtney/Charwoman
Edmund Breon as "Stinky" Emery
Frederick Worlock as Colonel Cavanaugh
Carl Harbord as Inspector Hopkins
Patricia Cameron as Evelyn Clifford
Holmes Herbert as Ebenezer Crabtree
Harry Cording as Hamid
Mary Gordon as Mrs. Hudson
Ian Wolfe as Commissioner of Scotland Yard
Anita Sharp-Bolster as the Schoolteacher on a Museum Tour

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