Saturday, December 8, 1973 (Noon): Sherlock Holmes in Terror By Night (1946)

Synopsis: The fabled Star of Rhodesia diamond is owned by Lady Margaret Carstairs (Mary Forbes), and her son Roland (Geoffrey Steele) has reason to believe an attempt will soon by the sinister master criminal Col. Sebastian Moran to steal it. He engages the services of famed detective Sherlock Holmes (Basil Rathbone), who concludes that the most likely time for the theft to occur is when Lady Margaret is on a London to Edinburgh passenger train. Holmes and Watson book passage on the train, and meet Lestrade (Dennis Hoey) who is also taking the London-to-Scotland trip to protect the diamond.

Holmes fully expects Col. Moran’s operatives to be on the train, and perhaps even Moran himself, but since no one knows what the arch criminal looks like, identifying him is certain to be a challenge. The Star of Rhodesia is stolen, but it is soon revealed to have been a fake, swapped out by Holmes himself shortly after the train trip began. Roland Carstairs is murdered by Moran’s henchman Sands (Skelton Knaggs), who employs an airgun that fires poison darts in order to commit his murders quietly.

Meanwhile, Holmes must determine which of the train passengers is working in league with Col. Moran. He has plenty of suspects to choose from, including the ill-tempered Professor Kilbane (Frederic Warlock), Watson’s old army buddy Major Duncan – Bleek (Alan Mowbay), and the beautiful but sinister Vivian Vedder (Renee Godfrey)…

Comments: The Basil Rathbone / Nigel Bruce cycle of Sherlock Holmes films are often derided by fans of the stories for straying too far from the source material. This is valid criticism; but it is also true that even when taken on their own terms, most of these films just aren’t very good. The mysteries tend to be perfunctory and lack real suspense, the attempts at comic relief are overly broad and despite attempts to attach world-shattering import to the goings-on, the stakes often seem contrived and unconvincing.

But Terror by Night isn’t like the others. It’s a crackerjack drawing-room mystery set on a passenger train, paced quickly and offering lots of red herrings, the occasional murder and a pleasing conclusion. Even Watson’s blustering comic relief is used sparingly here. Holmes’ powers of deduction are hardly on display; he just magically knows what Col. Moran’s next move will be, and we just go along with it. The story really owes more to Agatha Christie than to Conan Doyle, and while the McGuffin in question (the priceless Star of Rhodesia!) is a rather shopworn and dreary device, the movie as a whole works well and has a cozy old-time feel about it. It’s the perfect sort of movie for when you’re stuck at home on a rainy afternoon and have nothing particular in mind to watch.

Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce are old hands at their roles and are splendid company, as is Dennis Hoey’s dim-witted Lestrade who has (for some reason that’s never adequately explained) joined the train bound for Edinburgh. Alan Mowbray is splendid as Maj. Duncan-Bleek, Watson’s old army chum. Skelton Knaggs — whom we’ve seen in a number of Val Lewton films — delivers his usual unsettling performance as the assassin Sands, and the lovely Renee Godfrey is a perfect femme fatale as Vivian Vedder.