Sherlock Holmes: Terror by Night

An engaging mystery that leaves you guessing till the last second. Watson also finally provides comic relief that's consistently funny. Second to last, this is an entry truly worthy of Holmes.

If I'd been born about fifty years earlier and seen this in theaters, I have no doubt I'd have found it to be the awesomest shit ever, but I've seen a million train-set murder mystery films and TV episodes and Death on the Nile and that one episode where Monk solves the murder on the plane, so it just doesn't pack the same punch for me any more. It's still decent fun though.

Not bad for being a pre-50's rendition of Holmes, luckily it was saw fit to trim the fat on this one leaving the movie at just over an hour--which turns out to be exactly as long as it should be. Bruce's Watson is still too much of a bumbling dolt and Holmes is a bit more clever than Rathbone's portrayal in other movies, even borderline true to the character. It ends up being one of the must see Rathbone/Bruce Holmes movies.

The train setting makes this a little more memorable than the other Rathbone/Bruce films I've seen, but they're all much of a muchness really. This one has a nice build-up and some interesting supporting characters, but the ending turned out to be rather anti-climactic. Liked the model railway doubling for a real locomotive in the exterior shots, though!

Pretty good story, and as usual for this series of Holmes films its entertaining enough. Disappointing that Watson is completely useless again.

Leaves some dangling loose ends (so why was Lady Carstairs so unconcerned with the death of her son?) but somewhat satisfying. Watson is actually useful for a few seconds, but the rest of the time is his usual bungling self.

A rather intricate and claustrophilic case, but it leaves some loose ends uncharacteristic of Holmes' classic style. One aspect is particularly difficult to fathom, but the rest of the story makes up for it.

The mystery has some embellishments you may not see coming, but as soon as the culprit appears on screen you'll know that's who the bad guy is. The stock/model footage of the train fits poorly. The direction was sloppy & instead of feeling like the story is set on a train to give a sense of confinement with a killer you just get the feeling that its set on a train so they could get by on the cheap with only 2 small sets.

The mystery of the missing Star of Rhodesia and the murder of Roland Cartiers do make for entertaining viewing in this tale set upon a train. But there are two more worthwhile reasons to watch this film: 1) the ethereal Renee Godfrey as Vivian Vedder 2) the use of miniatures to portray the outside of the train in motion.

Not bad.

This very late entry in the Universal Holmes series is not the most tightly plotted mystery ... key information is never supplied (we're told how someone got on the train, but not how he managed to walk past two separate guards unnoticed) and you can easily identify the culprit by about halfway through the film by process of elimination ... but Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce are, as always, an extremely entertaining diversion. It's a bit of fast paced fun that clocks in at only an hour.

Lean and cheap little Holmes mystery from the Rathbone series. It gets in and out and does its job in an hour, but the mystery solution isn't terribly satisfying (we never really learn exactly how Holmes reached his conclusions, etc.) The characterization of Watson is also very much on the bungling idiot side. Manages to hide its cheapness pretty well with limited sets. Nothing remarkable at all but an entertaining enough diversion. Would have been rated higher with a more satisfying conclusion.

There's something about mysteries on trains. And when you have Sherlock Holmes involved, you know it's gonna be good. Quality, though minor, I would say, Holmes investigation involving a valuable diamond. Fun for the Dr. Watson moments. He was on form fumbling things up.