Dressed to Kill (1946 film)

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
Production company	Universal Pictures
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release dates	May 24, 1946 (1946-05-24) (New York City, New York) June 7, 1946 (1946-06-07) (United States)
Running time	76 minutes (copyright length) 72 minutes (restored version)
Country	United States
Language	English

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 fourteen films starring Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes and Nigel Bruce as Doctor Watson.

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 boxes (each of which plays a subtly different version of "The Swagman"). The boxes are sold at a local auction house.

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.

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.

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 Dr. Samual Johnson.

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.

Cast

• Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes
• Nigel Bruce as Dr. John H. Watson
• Patricia Morison as Hilda Courtney/Charwoman
• Edmund Breon as "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 Scotland Yard
• Anita Sharp-Bolster as the Schoolteacher on a Museum Tour
• Cyril Delavanti as John Davidson (uncredited)

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