Thu 19 Mar 2026
TERROR BY NIGHT. Universal Pictures, 1946. Basil Rathbone, Nigel Bruce, Alan Mowbray, Dennis Hoey, Renee Godfrey. Screenplay: Frank Gruber, based on characters created by Arthur Conan Doyle. Director: Roy William Neill.
Sherlock Holmes is hired to guard the fabulous “Star of Rhodesia” diamond, being taken back to Scotland by train, but murder is committed under his nose instead. Dr. Watson tries his hand at investigating, in competition with Inspector Lestrade, to little avail.
The first half of this movie is splendid – there is something about murder on a train to bring out the detective in anyone -– but the story falls apart when the perpetrator is identified with absolutely no detective work being done at all. Sheer frustration.
March 21st, 2026 at 1:31 am
This was late in the series, and everyone involved was starting to get a bit bored by the whole thing.
March 22nd, 2026 at 1:28 pm
I liked all of the Basil Rathbone/Nigel Bruce films, but I’ve never loved them. They’re better than B-level, but never (to me) quite A-level either. They (all of them) could have so much better.
March 29th, 2026 at 3:53 am
Robert J. Harris has a series (well two) of Holmes pastiche set in the 40’s based partially in Doyle but in the style of the Rathbone and Bruce films. Well done fun instead of regurgitated Doyle like some pastiche. A nice companion piece to Harris three Richard Hannay books set during the War.
April 6th, 2026 at 11:54 am
Robert J. Harris’s Holmes and Hannay pastiches are currently available on the Hoopla digital service, offered by many public libraries to their cardholders. Due to the imprecise results of Hoopla’s “people search” (includes authors and subjects), a better way to find an author’s works is to first search on a known title by the author. Second, click on the record for the title and click on the highlighted name of the author. Thirty-one Kings works for R.J. Harris, retrieving ebooks and audio-books.