- Dressed to Kill (1946 film)
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Dressed to Kill 
Directed by Roy William Neill Produced by Roy William Neill Written by Arthur Conan Doyle (characters)
Frank Gruber
Leonard LeeStarring Basil Rathbone
Nigel Bruce
Patricia MorisonMusic by Jack Brooks Cinematography Maury Gertsman Editing by Saul A. Goodkind Distributed by Universal Pictures Release date(s) June 7, 1946 Running time 76 minutes Country United States Language English Dressed to Kill (also known as Prelude to Murder or Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Code in the UK), is the last of fourteen films starring Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes and Nigel Bruce as Doctor Watson.
Though not directly based on any of Arthur Conan Doyle's Holmes stories, the film features several references to "A Scandal in Bohemia", with Holmes and Watson discussing the recent publication of the story in The Strand Magazine, and the villain of the film using the same trick on Watson that Holmes uses on Irene Adler in the story. The plot also bears some resemblance to "The Adventure of the Six Napoleons", which had previously been used for the Rathbone-Bruce film The Pearl of Death.
Contents
Plot
Three cheap musical boxes (each one playing a subtly different version of "The Swagman"), manufactured in Dartmoor Prison, are sold at a local auction house. However, a criminal gang is determined to steal and recover all three, even if it means committing murder. Sherlock Holmes tries to recover the music boxes and crack the secret code contained in the tune before the gang can get what they want.
Cast
- Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes
- Nigel Bruce as Dr. John H. Watson
- Patricia Morison as Mrs. Hilda Courtney
- 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
References
External links
- Dressed to Kill at the Internet Movie Database
- Dressed to Kill at the TCM Movie Database
- Dressed to Kill at AllRovi
- Dressed to Kill is available for free download at the Internet Archive [more]
- Dressed to Kill at Google Videos (Adobe Flash video)
Screen adaptations of Sherlock Holmes stories Silent films - Sherlock Holmes Baffled (1900)
- Adventures of Sherlock Holmes; or, Held for Ransom (1905)
- Arsène Lupin contra Sherlock Holmes (1910)
- A Study in Scarlet (1914)
- Sherlock Holmes (1916)
- The Hound of the Baskervilles (1921)
- Sherlock Holmes (1922)
- The Sign of Four (1923)
Wontner series - The Sleeping Cardinal (1931)
- The Missing Rembrandt (1932)
- The Sign of Four (1932)
- The Triumph of Sherlock Holmes (1935)
- Silver Blaze (1937)
Rathbone-Bruce
series- The Hound of the Baskervilles (1939)
- The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1939)
- Voice of Terror (1942)
- Secret Weapon (1943)
- Sherlock Holmes in Washington (1943)
- Sherlock Holmes Faces Death (1943)
- The Spider Woman (1944)
- The Scarlet Claw (1944)
- The Pearl of Death (1944)
- House of Fear (1945)
- The Woman in Green (1945)
- Pursuit to Algiers (1945)
- Terror by Night (1946)
- Dressed to Kill (1946)
Igor Maslennikov
series- Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson (1979)
- The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson (1980)
- The Hound of the Baskervilles (1981)
- The Treasures of Agra (1983)
- The Twentieth Century Approaches (1986)
By actor - The Hound of the Baskervilles (1959)
- The Masks of Death (1984)
- Silver Blaze (1977)
- Murder by Decree (1979)
- The Sign of Four (1983)
- The Hound of the Baskervilles (1983)
- The Hound of the Baskervilles (2000)
- The Sign of Four (2001)
- The Case of the Whitechapel Vampire (2002)
- The Royal Scandal (2003)
Ian Hart (as Watson)- Sherlock Holmes (2009)
- A Game of Shadows (2011)
Other films - The Speckled Band (1931)
- Sherlock Holmes (1932)
- A Study in Scarlet (1933)
- A Study in Terror (1965)
- The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (1970)
- Sherlock Holmes in New York (1976)
- The Seven-Per-Cent Solution (1976)
- Young Sherlock Holmes (1985)
- The Return of Sherlock Holmes (1987)
- Sherlock Holmes Returns (1993)
- Sherlock: Case of Evil (2002)
- Sherlock Holmes and the Baker Street Irregulars (2007)
- Sherlock Holmes (2010)
- Tom and Jerry Meet Sherlock Holmes (2010)
Comedies
and parodies- The Man Who Was Sherlock Holmes (1937)
- They Might Be Giants (1971)
- The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother (1975)
- The Strange Case of the End of Civilization as We Know It (1977)
- The Hound of the Baskervilles (1978)
- The Great Mouse Detective (1986)
- Without a Clue (1988)
- A Samba for Sherlock (2001)
Television series - Sherlock Holmes (1954)
- Sherlock Holmes (1965–1968)
- Young Sherlock: The Mystery of the Manor House (1982)
- The Baker Street Boys (1983)
- Sherlock Hound (1984–1985)
- The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1984–1994)
- Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century (1999–2001)
- Murder Rooms: The Dark Beginnings of Sherlock Holmes (2000)
- Sherlock (2010)
Categories:- American films
- English-language films
- 1946 films
- 1940s mystery films
- Sherlock Holmes films
- Films directed by Roy William Neill
- Universal Pictures films
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