Dressed to Kill (1946 film): Difference between revisions

Dressed to Kill
Dressed to Kill
Directed by	Roy William Neill
Written by	Frank Gruber; Leonard Lee
Based on	The Adventure of the Six Napoleons; 1903 short stories (56); by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Produced by	Roy William Neill
Starring	Basil Rathbone; Nigel Bruce; Patricia Morison
Cinematography	Maury Gertsman
Edited by	Saul A. Goodkind
Music by	Milton Rosen
Production; company	Universal Pictures
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release dates	May 24, 1946 (New York City, New York); June 7, 1946 (United States);
Running time	76 minutes; (copyright length); 72 minutes; (restored version)
Country	United States
Language	English

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Dressed to Kill

Dressed to Kill is a 1946 American mystery film directed by Roy William Neill. Released by Universal Pictures, it is the last of fourteen films starring Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes and Nigel Bruce as Doctor Watson.^[1] It is also known by the alternative titles Prelude to Murder (working title) and Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Code in the United Kingdom.^[2]

The film has an original story, but combines elements of the short stories "The Adventure of the Six Napoleons" and "A Scandal in Bohemia." It is one of four films in the series which are in the public domain and is available online.^[3]^[4]

Plot

John Davidson, a convicted thief in Dartmoor prison, embeds code revealing the hidden location of extremely valuable stolen Bank of England currency printing plates in the melody notes of three music boxes that he crafts to be sold at auction. Each box plays a subtly different version of an Australian tune, "The Swagman". At the auction each is purchased by a different buyer.

Dr. Watson's friend, Julian Emery, a music box collector, pays him and Sherlock Holmes a visit and tells them of an attempted burglary in his house the previous night of a plain cheap box (similar to the one he bought at auction) while leaving other much more valuable ones. Holmes and Watson ask to see and are shown Emery's collection. After they leave, Emery welcomes a female acquaintance, Hilda Courtney, who tries unsuccessfully to buy the auctioned box. When Emery declines, a male friend of Courtney's who has sneaked in murders Emery.

At this murder Holmes becomes even more curious and learns to whom else the boxes were auctioned off. Holmes and Watson arrive at the house of the person who bought the second one, just as a strange maid (Courtney in disguise) is on her way "to go shopping". They later realize it was not a maid: she locked a child in a closet in order to steal the box from the child.

Holmes is able to buy the third box, and upon examination discovers that its variant musical notes' numbers correlate to letters of the alphabet. Scotland Yard fills him in on the stolen bank plates to which the music boxes connect, but all three are needed to decipher the message.

Back at home, their flat is found ransacked, and a cigarette with a distinct type of tobacco is the sole clue. Holmes tracks down the woman who bought the tobacco, Courtney.

While confronting her, Holmes is ambushed by her accomplices, handcuffed, taken to a warehouse, hung by a rafter, and left with poison gas filling the room. While Holmes is narrowly escaping death, Courtney visits the flat and steals the box from Watson.

Holmes manages to make it back in one piece and, while conversing with him, Watson offhandedly mentions a quote from Dr. Samuel Johnson. Thinking about this quote, Holmes makes a connection as to where the stolen plates may be hidden.

Having stolen all the boxes and deciphered their message, Courtney and gang join a tour group at Dr. Samuel Johnson's house, now a museum, where they slip away and find the plates hidden within a bookshelf. Courtney is stealing the plates when Holmes ambushes the group. Scotland Yard officers arrest them, and the plates are returned to the bank.

Cast

Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes
Nigel Bruce as Dr. John H. Watson
Patricia Morison as Hilda Courtney/Charwoman
Edmund Breon as Julian "Stinky" Emery (as Edmond Breon)
Frederick Worlock as Colonel Cavanaugh (as Frederic Worlock)
Carl Harbord as Inspector Hopkins
Patricia Cameron as Evelyn Clifford
Holmes Herbert as Ebenezer Crabtree
Harry Cording as Hamid
Leyland Hodgson as Tour Guide
Mary Gordon as Mrs. Hudson
Ian Wolfe as Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis
Anita Sharp-Bolster as the Schoolteacher on a Museum Tour
Cyril Delavanti as John Davidson (uncredited)
Harry Allen as William Kilgour (uncredited)
Topsy Glyn as The Kilgour Child (uncredited)

References

^ "Australian Centre for the Moving Image | Dressed to kill". www.acmi.net.au. Retrieved 2023-11-27.
^ "Film Threat Your Independent Movie Guide | Dressed to Kill". 2015-01-16. Retrieved 2023-11-27.
^ Sherlock Holmes – Dressed to Kill (1946) | Roy William Neill | 4K Remastered [FULL MOVIE], retrieved 2023-11-27
^ PublicDomainMovies (2023-03-25). "Dressed to Kill, 1946 starring Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes". Public Domain Movies. Retrieved 2023-11-27.

External links

Dressed to Kill at IMDb
Dressed to Kill at the TCM Movie Database
Dressed to Kill at AllMovie
Dressed to Kill at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films
Dressed to Kill is available for free viewing and download at the Internet Archive

[1] "Australian Centre for the Moving Image | Dressed to kill". www.acmi.net.au. Retrieved 2023-11-27.

[2] "Film Threat Your Independent Movie Guide | Dressed to Kill". 2015-01-16. Retrieved 2023-11-27.

[3] Sherlock Holmes – Dressed to Kill (1946) | Roy William Neill | 4K Remastered [FULL MOVIE], retrieved 2023-11-27

[4] PublicDomainMovies (2023-03-25). "Dressed to Kill, 1946 starring Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes". Public Domain Movies. Retrieved 2023-11-27.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 {{short description|1946 film by Roy William Neill}}
+{{Other uses|Dressed to Kill (disambiguation){{!}}Dressed to Kill}}
 {{more citations needed|date=August 2016}}
 {{Infobox film
@@ Line 9: / Line 10: @@
 | writer         = [[Frank Gruber (writer)|Frank Gruber]]<br>Leonard Lee
 | starring       = [[Basil Rathbone]]<br>[[Nigel Bruce]]<br>[[Patricia Morison]]
-| music          =
+| music          = Milton Rosen
 | cinematography = [[Maury Gertsman]]
 | editing        = Saul A. Goodkind
-| studio         = Universal Pictures
+| studio         = [[Universal Pictures]]
-| distributor    = [[Universal Pictures]]
+| distributor    = Universal Pictures
 | released       = {{Film date|1946|05|24|New York City, New York|1946|06|07|United States}}
 | runtime        = 76 minutes<br>(copyright length)<br>72 minutes<br>(restored version)
@@ Line 21: / Line 22: @@
 [[File:Dressed to Kill (1946).webm|thumb|thumbtime=35|upright=1.5|''Dressed to Kill'']]
-'''''Dressed to Kill''''', released in 1946, also known as '''''Prelude to Murder''''' (working title) and '''''Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Code''''' in the United Kingdom, is the last of [[Sherlock Holmes (1939 film series)|fourteen films]] starring  [[Basil Rathbone]] as [[Sherlock Holmes]] and [[Nigel Bruce]] as [[Doctor Watson]].
+'''''Dressed to Kill''''' is a 1946 American [[mystery film]] directed by [[Roy William Neill]]. Released by [[Universal Pictures]], it is the last of [[Sherlock Holmes (1939 film series)|fourteen films]] starring  [[Basil Rathbone]] as [[Sherlock Holmes]] and [[Nigel Bruce]] as [[Doctor Watson]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Australian Centre for the Moving Image {{!}} Dressed to kill |url=https://www.acmi.net.au/works/95419--dressed-to-kill/ |access-date=2023-11-27 |website=www.acmi.net.au |language=en}}</ref> It is also known by the [[alternative titles]] '''''Prelude to Murder''''' (working title) and '''''Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Code''''' in the United Kingdom.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2015-01-16 |title=Film Threat Your Independent Movie Guide {{!}} Dressed to Kill |url=https://filmthreat.com/features/the-bootleg-files-dressed-to-kill/ |access-date=2023-11-27 |language=en-US}}</ref>
+The film has an original story, but combines elements of the short stories "[[The Adventure of the Six Napoleons]]" and "[[A Scandal in Bohemia]]."  It is one of four films in the series which are in the [[public domain]] and is available online.<ref>{{Citation |title=Sherlock Holmes – Dressed to Kill (1946) {{!}} Roy William Neill {{!}} 4K Remastered [FULL MOVIE] |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRWZEe8gpQ4 |access-date=2023-11-27 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=PublicDomainMovies |date=2023-03-25 |title=Dressed to Kill, 1946 starring Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes |url=https://publicdomainmovies.info/dressed-kill-1946-starring-basil-rathbone-sherlock-holmes/ |access-date=2023-11-27 |website=Public Domain Movies |language=en-US}}</ref>
 ==Plot==
-John Davidson, a convicted thief in [[Dartmoor prison]] (played by an uncredited [[Cyril Delevanti]]) hides the location of stolen Bank of England printing plates inside three [[music box]]es (each of which plays a subtly different version of "The Swagman"). The boxes are sold at a local auction house.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.allmovie.com/movie/dressed-to-kill-v14785|title=Dressed to Kill|website=[[AllMovie]]|accessdate=August 9, 2016}}</ref>
+John Davidson, a convicted thief in [[Dartmoor prison]], embeds code revealing the hidden location of extremely valuable stolen Bank of England currency printing plates in the melody notes of three [[music box]]es that he crafts to be sold at auction. Each box plays a subtly different version of an Australian tune, "The Swagman". At the auction each is purchased by a different buyer.
-When Dr Watson friend Julian 'Stinky' Emery a avid collector, pays Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson a visit and tells them a about a strange robbery in his house the previous night, in which someone stole a music box that he had bought at a auction for a measly two pounds. Later that night it is discovered that Stink is Murdered, and Holmes and Watson realize that someone is willing to kill to obtain the three music boxes. When Holmes and Watson go to the house of the people who bought the second music box, they find it stolen as well.<ref>{{Citation|title=Dressed to Kill (1946) - IMDb|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0038494/plotsummary|language=en|access-date=2020-07-14}}</ref>
+[[Dr. Watson]]'s friend, Julian Emery, a music box collector, pays him and [[Sherlock Holmes]] a visit and tells them of an attempted burglary in his house the previous night of a plain cheap box (similar to the one he bought at auction) while leaving other much more valuable ones. Holmes and Watson ask to see and are shown Emery's collection. After they leave, Emery welcomes a female acquaintance, Hilda Courtney, who tries unsuccessfully to buy the auctioned box. When Emery declines, a male friend of Courtney's who has sneaked in murders Emery.
+At this murder Holmes becomes even more curious and learns to whom else the boxes were auctioned off. Holmes and Watson arrive at the house of the person who bought the second one, just as a strange maid (Courtney in disguise) is on her way "to go shopping".  They later realize it was not a maid: she locked a child in a closet in order to steal the box from the child.
-Sherlock Holmes is able to buy the third music box, and ask Scotland Yard to track down the suspects. Later it is found out that the Inspector who had been tracking the suspects has been murdered. Holmes and Watson soon crack the code of the music box and discovered the numbers on the keys correlates to a letter in the alphabet, unfortunately they are only partial able to de code the whole message because the suspects have the other two music boxes.
+Holmes is able to buy the third box, and upon examination discovers that its variant musical notes' numbers correlate to letters of the alphabet. Scotland Yard fills him in on the stolen bank plates to which the music boxes connect, but all three are needed to decipher the message.
-When Holmes he discovers his flat has been ransacked in a attempt to find the third music box, he notice a cigarette with a distinct type of tobacco. Holmes tracks down the lady (Hilda Courtney) who bought the tobacco and confronts her. While Holmes is confronting her he is ambushed and tied up and led to a warehouse. Back at Holmes and Watson flat  Hilda Courtney steals the music box from Dr. Watson. Holmes escapes from the warehouse  nearly escaping death and returns to the flat where Watson tell Holmes that the music box has been stolen. While talking to Holmes, Watson cracks the code for the location of the five pound engraving plate, when he tells Holmes about a quote from [[Samuel Johnson|Dr. Samual Johnson]].
+Back at home, their flat is found ransacked, and a cigarette with a distinct type of tobacco is the sole clue. Holmes tracks down the woman who bought the tobacco, Courtney.
-Hilda Courtney and her gang decipher the code leading them to go to the house of Dr. Samuel Johnson. While Courtney is stealing the plates Holmes ambushes them and Scotland Yard arrest Courtney and her constituents before they can get away and returns the plates back to the Bank of England.
+While confronting her, Holmes is ambushed by her accomplices, handcuffed, taken to a warehouse, hung by a rafter, and left with poison gas filling the room. While Holmes is narrowly escaping death, Courtney visits the flat and steals the box from Watson.
+Holmes manages to make it back in one piece and, while conversing with him, Watson offhandedly mentions a quote from [[Samuel Johnson|Dr. Samuel Johnson]]. Thinking about this quote, Holmes makes a connection as to where the stolen plates may be hidden.
+Having stolen all the boxes and deciphered their message, Courtney and gang join a tour group at Dr. Samuel Johnson's house, now a museum, where they slip away and find the plates hidden within a bookshelf. Courtney is stealing the plates when Holmes ambushes the group. Scotland Yard officers arrest them, and the plates are returned to the bank.
 ==Cast==
@@ Line 38: / Line 47: @@
 * [[Nigel Bruce]] as [[Dr. Watson|Dr. John H. Watson]]
 * [[Patricia Morison]] as Hilda Courtney/Charwoman
-* [[Edmund Breon]] as "Stinky" Emery (as Edmond Breon)
+* [[Edmund Breon]] as Julian "Stinky" Emery (as Edmond Breon)
 * [[Frederick Worlock]] as Colonel Cavanaugh (as Frederic Worlock)
-* [[Carl Harbord]] as Inspector Hopkins
+* [[Carl Harbord]] as [[Inspector Stanley Hopkins|Inspector Hopkins]]
 * Patricia Cameron as Evelyn Clifford
 * [[Holmes Herbert]] as Ebenezer Crabtree
 * [[Harry Cording]] as Hamid
 * [[Leyland Hodgson]] as Tour Guide
-* [[Mary Gordon (actor)|Mary Gordon]] as Mrs. Hudson
+* [[Mary Gordon (actor)|Mary Gordon]] as [[Mrs. Hudson]]
-* [[Ian Wolfe]] as Commissioner of Scotland Yard
+* [[Ian Wolfe]] as [[Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis]]
 * [[Anita Sharp-Bolster]] as the Schoolteacher on a Museum Tour
+* [[Cyril Delavanti]] as John Davidson (uncredited)
+* [[Harry Allen (actor)|Harry Allen]] as William Kilgour (uncredited)
+* Topsy Glyn as The Kilgour Child (uncredited)
+==See also==
+* [[Sherlock Holmes (1939 film series)]]
+* [[Adaptations of Sherlock Holmes#Film|Adaptations of Sherlock Holmes in cinema]]
 ==References==
@@ Line 55: / Line 71: @@
 {{wikiquote}}
 * {{IMDb title|0038494|Dressed to Kill}}
-* {{tcmdb title|556008|Dressed to Kill}}
+* {{TCMDb title|556008|Dressed to Kill}}
-* {{amg movie|14785|Dressed to Kill}}
+* {{allMovie title|14785|Dressed to Kill}}
 * {{AFI film|id=24768|title=Dressed to Kill}}
 * {{Internet Archive film|dressed_to_kill|Dressed to Kill}}
@@ Line 66: / Line 82: @@
 [[Category:1946 films]]
 [[Category:1946 mystery films]]
-[[Category:American films]]
+[[Category:American detective films]]
 [[Category:American mystery films]]
 [[Category:American black-and-white films]]
-[[Category:English-language films]]
 [[Category:Sherlock Holmes films]]
 [[Category:Universal Pictures films]]
 [[Category:Films directed by Roy William Neill]]
 [[Category:Articles containing video clips]]
+[[Category:1940s English-language films]]
+[[Category:1940s American films]]
+[[Category:Films set in London]]
+[[Category:English-language mystery films]]

v t e Films directed by Roy William Neill
1910s	The Mother Instinct (1917) The Price Mark (1917) Vive la France! (1918) The Bandbox (1919)
1920s	The Woman Gives (1920) Yes or No? (1920) Dangerous Business (1920) Something Different (1920) The Idol of the North (1921) The Conquest of Canaan (1921) The Iron Trail (1921) What's Wrong with the Women? (1922) The Man from M.A.R.S (1922) Toilers of the Sea (1923) By Divine Right (1924) Vanity's Price (1924) Broken Laws (1924) Percy (1925) Marriage in Transit (1925) The Kiss Barrier (1925) Greater Than a Crown (1925) The Cowboy and the Countess (1926) The Fighting Buckaroo (1926) A Man Four-Square (1926) Black Paradise (1926) The City (1926) Marriage (1927) The Arizona Wildcat (1927) The Olympic Hero (1928) Lady Raffles (1928) The Viking (1928) San Francisco Nights (1928) Wall Street (1929)
1930s	Just Like Heaven (1930) The Melody Man (1930) Fifty Fathoms Deep (1931) The Menace (1932) That's My Boy (1932) Above the Clouds (1933) The Circus Queen Murder (1933) Fury of the Jungle (1933) The Ninth Guest (1934) Black Moon (1934) I'll Fix It (1934) Jealousy (1934) Eight Bells (1935) The Black Room (1935) Gypsy (1937) Doctor Syn (1937) The Viper (1938) Simply Terrific (1938) Thank Evans (1938) Many Tanks Mr. Atkins (1938) Everything Happens to Me (1938) A Gentleman's Gentleman (1939) Murder Will Out (1939)
1940s	His Brother's Keeper (1940) Hoots Mon! (1940) The Good Old Days (1940) Eyes of the Underworld (1942) Madame Spy (1942) Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon (1943) Sherlock Holmes in Washington (1943) Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943) Rhythm of the Islands (1943) Sherlock Holmes Faces Death (1943) The Spider Woman (1944) The Scarlet Claw (1944) The Pearl of Death (1944) Gypsy Wildcat (1944) Sherlock Holmes and the House of Fear (1945) The Woman in Green (1945) Pursuit to Algiers (1945) Terror by Night (1946) Dressed to Kill (1946) Black Angel (1946)