Dressed to Kill

"Queen…of a crime cult!"

1946 1h 12m EN

👍

6.7

SOLID

★6.7TMDB · 145

MysteryCrimeThriller

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

A convicted thief in Dartmoor prison hides the location of the stolen Bank of England printing plates inside three music boxes. When the innocent purchasers of the boxes start to be murdered, Holmes and Watson investigate.

“Queen…of a crime cult!”

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Cast

Basil Rathbone
Sherlock Holmes
Nigel Bruce
Dr. John H. Watson
Patricia Morison
Mrs. Hilda Courtney
Frederick Worlock
Colonel Cavanaugh
Harry Cording
Hamid
Carl Harbord
Inspector Hopkins
Holmes Herbert
Ebenezer Crabtree
Edmund Breon
Julian 'Stinky' Emery

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Roy William Neill
Writers: Leonard Lee, Arthur Conan Doyle
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 72-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 Patricia Morison carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "Queen…of a crime cult!".

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0038494 — 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 72-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 Patricia Morison carry the top of the cast.
7Marketing tagline: "Queen…of a crime cult!".
8IMDB entry: tt0038494 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
9Released under 11 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: Maury Gertsman
Editing: Saul A. Goodkind
Costume design: Vera West
Makeup / hair: Jack Pierce
Runtime: 72 min · 1h 12m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Original language: EN
Certification (US): NR
IMDB: Dressed to Kill (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

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What people are saying

CinemaSerf2022-07-07
★ 7/10
I rather enjoyed this final outing for our deductive duo, as they have to get to the bottom of the mysterious murder of the rather unfortunately monikered "Stinky" (Edmund Breon) who went to school with "Dr. Watson". His rather brutal murder is inexplicable, but for the theft from his home of a rather ordinary musical box made at Dartmoor prison. Further investigation reveals the boxes were made by a felon with a very important secret to keep, one which "Mrs. Hilda Courtney" (Patrcia Morison) who likes a little perique in her cigarettes, and her henchman "Hamid" (Harry Cording) will stop at nothing to possess. Again, as with so many of these - it's actually Nigel Bruce ("Watson") who steals the show and saves the day - and together with Basil Rathbone they sign off this series on good form and in good spirits. PS: What did Dr. Samuel Johnson die of...?

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