Dressed to Kill (1946 film): Difference between revisions
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==Plot== |
==Plot== |
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John Davidson, a convicted thief in [[Dartmoor prison]] (played by an uncredited [[Cyril Delevanti]]) |
John Davidson, a convicted thief in [[Dartmoor prison]] (played by an uncredited [[Cyril Delevanti]]) codes the hidden location of extremely valuable stolen Bank of England currency printing plates. The code is embedded 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 "The Swagman". At the auction each is purchased by a different buyer, and one of the buyers is a mysterious female accomplice of Davidson. |
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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. Holmes and Watson ask to see and are shown Emery's collection. After they leave, Emery welcomes a female friend, but hours later, he turns up dead and the music box he bought at auction is missing. |
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Holmes wonders, what would make ordinary small wood music boxes worth killing over? Pursuing the case, he learns that three identical boxes were auctioned off. Locating the house of the person who bought the second one, Holmes and Watson arrive just as a strange female thief in a maid's disguise slips away; they later realize it was not a maid and the woman stole a music box from that family. |
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Sherlock Holmes is able to buy the third music box, and asks [[Scotland Yard]] to track down the suspects. Later it is discovered that the Inspector who had been tracking the suspects has been murdered. Holmes and Watson soon crack the code of the music box and discover the numbers on the keys correlate to letters of the alphabet. Unfortunately they are only partially able to decode the whole message, because the suspects have the other two music boxes. |
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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. |
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When Holmes discovers his flat has been ransacked in an attempt to find the third music box, he notices 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, tied up and led to a warehouse and left with poison gas filling the room. Back at Holmes and Watson's flat, Hilda Courtney steals the music box from Dr. Watson. Holmes escapes from the warehouse, narrowly escaping death, and returns to the flat where Watson tells 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. Samuel Johnson]]. |
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Back at home, the flat is found ransacked, and a cigarette with a distinct type of tobacco is the sole clue. Holmes tracks down the woman, Hilda Courtney, who bought the tobacco. The viewer is shown that Courtney was the auction buyer of one of the boxes, Emery's late night visitor, and also the maid in disguise. |
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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 steals the third box from Watson. |
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Holmes manages to make it back in one piece and while conversing, 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. |
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| ⚫ | Having stolen all the boxes and deciphered their message, Courtney and gang have joined a tour group at Dr. Samuel Johnson's house, now a museum, where they slipped away and found 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. |
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==Cast== |
==Cast== |
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Revision as of 00:00, 17 June 2021
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (August 2016) |
| 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 |
|
Running time | 76 minutes (copyright length) 72 minutes (restored version) |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
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) codes the hidden location of extremely valuable stolen Bank of England currency printing plates. The code is embedded in the melody notes of three music boxes that he crafts to be sold at auction. Each box plays a subtly different version of "The Swagman". At the auction each is purchased by a different buyer, and one of the buyers is a mysterious female accomplice of Davidson.
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. Holmes and Watson ask to see and are shown Emery's collection. After they leave, Emery welcomes a female friend, but hours later, he turns up dead and the music box he bought at auction is missing.
Holmes wonders, what would make ordinary small wood music boxes worth killing over? Pursuing the case, he learns that three identical boxes were auctioned off. Locating the house of the person who bought the second one, Holmes and Watson arrive just as a strange female thief in a maid's disguise slips away; they later realize it was not a maid and the woman stole a music box from that family.
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, the flat is found ransacked, and a cigarette with a distinct type of tobacco is the sole clue. Holmes tracks down the woman, Hilda Courtney, who bought the tobacco. The viewer is shown that Courtney was the auction buyer of one of the boxes, Emery's late night visitor, and also the maid in disguise.
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 steals the third box from Watson.
Holmes manages to make it back in one piece and while conversing, 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 have joined a tour group at Dr. Samuel Johnson's house, now a museum, where they slipped away and found 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 "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)
- Harry Allen as William Kilgour (uncredited)
- Topsy Glyn as The Kilgour Child (uncredited)
References
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