Terror by Night

"One way ticket to DEATH..!"

1946 1h 0m EN

👍

6.6

SOLID

★6.6TMDB · 161

MysteryCrimeThriller

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Holmes and Watson board a passenger train bound from London to Edinburgh, to guard the Star of Rhodesia, an enormous diamond worth a fortune belonging to an elderly woman of wealth; but within the first hour of the trip, the woman's son is murdered and the diamond stolen and any of the passengers in their car could be the killer thief.

“One way ticket to DEATH..!”

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Cast

Basil Rathbone
Sherlock Holmes
Nigel Bruce
Dr. John H. Watson
Alan Mowbray
Major Duncan-Bleek
Dennis Hoey
Inspector Lestrade
Renee Godfrey
Vivian Vedder
Frederick Worlock
Prof. William Kilbane
Mary Forbes
Lady Margaret Carstairs
Skelton Knaggs
Sands - Moran's Accomplice

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Roy William Neill
Writers: Frank Gruber
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

RUNTIME

Did you know

Tight 60-minute runtime — shorter than most television pilots.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

80 years old — a genuine piece of film history.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

CINEMA

Did you know

Part of the "Sherlock Holmes (Basil Rathbone) Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Roy William Neill, shot by Maury Gertsman. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Saul A. Goodkind shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce and Alan Mowbray carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "One way ticket to DEATH..!".

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0039017 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Roy William Neill directs. Maury Gertsman behind the camera. Saul A. Goodkind cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Tight 60-minute runtime — shorter than most television pilots.
280 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
3Part of the "Sherlock Holmes (Basil Rathbone) Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
4Directed by Roy William Neill, shot by Maury Gertsman. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
5Editor Saul A. Goodkind shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
6Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce and Alan Mowbray carry the top of the cast.
7Marketing tagline: "One way ticket to DEATH..!".
8IMDB entry: tt0039017 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

The technical file

Cinematography: Maury Gertsman
Editing: Saul A. Goodkind
Costume design: Vera West
Makeup / hair: Jack Pierce
Runtime: 60 min · 1h 0m
Status: Released
Original language: EN
IMDB: Terror by Night (1946)

Part of

Sherlock Holmes (Basil Rathbone) Collection

A series of fourteen films based on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories was released between 1939 and 1946; the British actors Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce played Holmes and Dr. John Watson, respectively. The first two films in the series were produced by 20th Century Fox and released in 1939. The studio stopped making the films after these, but Universal Pictures acquired the rights from the Doyle estate and produced a further twelve films. Although the films from 20th Century Fox had large budgets, high production values, and were set in the Victorian era, Universal updated the films to the contemporary era of the Second World War, and produced them as B pictures with lower budgets. Both Rathbone and Bruce continued their roles when the series changed studios, as did Mary Gordon, who played the recurring character, Mrs. Hudson.

Also by

Roy William Neill

Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

CinemaSerf2022-07-07
★ 7/10
A wealthy young aristocrat employs "Holmes" to escort himself and his mother on a train from London to Edinburgh alongside the legendary Star of Rhodesia - a diamond the size of a duck egg. Together with trusty sidekick "Dr. Watson" and "Insp. Lestrade" who is ostensibly off fishing for salmon (it isn't quite the season) they embark on a singularly dangerous train journey. It's got plenty of dud trails for our duo, even some appropriated tea pots and a coffin - before we finally identify that the arch criminal "Col. Moran" is also on the train and he will stop at nothing to procure the ice. The pace rattles along as quickly as the train, and builds nicely to quite a quirky conclusion with a few near misses along the way. Great way to spend a hour!

Production companies