20th Century Fox present "PRELUDE TO MURDER" (aka: Dressed To Kill) (Released: 7 June 1946/72 mins) (Fully Restored/Dolby Digitally Remastered) --- now in COLOR and Glorious Black and White --- Under Roy William Neill (Director / Producer), Arthur Conan Doyle (Short Story Author),Frank Gruber (Screenwriter), Leonard Lee (Screenwriter), Maury Gertsman (Cinematographer), Jack Brooks (Songwriter), Milton Rosen (Musical Direction/Supervision / Composer (Music Score), Hans Salter (Composer (Music Score),Saul A. Goodkind (Editor), Martin Obzina (Art Director), Jack Otterson (Art Director), Howard Benedict (Executive Producer), Russell A. Gausman (Set Designer), E.R. Robinson (Set Designer), Edward Ray Robinson (Set Designer), Vera West (Costume Designer), Glenn E. Anderson (Sound/Sound Designer), Bernard B. Brown (Sound/Sound Designer), Jack Pierce (Makeup), Melville Shyer (First Assistant Director) - - - - - - the story line and plot, The last in a wonderful run of 14 films by a different major production company but always kept the brilliant duo of lead actors Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce as Sherlock Holmes and his loyal assistant Dr. Watson --- as this is another marvelously scripted and professionally directed detective adventure! --- an old school friend of Dr. Watson is found murdered, Sherlock Holmes immediately suspects that this has something to do with his latest collector's item purchase, namely a wooden musical box --- Two other identical boxes were made by a convicted burglar in prison and the altered melody hides a secret code that leads his accomplices to the location of two stolen Bank of England printing plates! --- another very compelling mystery film.fast-paced and loaded with intriguing dialogue --- As usual, Bruce's character Dr. Watson provides the story with a couple of neat comical moments, most notably the scene in which he tries to comfort a little girl who just got traumatized by imitating the sound of a duck --- The chemistry between Rathbone and Bruce is as ever the binding of the film --- The verbal banter between Hilda Courtney (Patricia Morrison) and Holmes is for me the most memorable aspect of the film.
the cast includes:
Basil Rathbone - Sherlock Holmes
Nigel Bruce - Dr. John H. Watson
Edmund Breon - Julian Emery
Patricia Morison - Hilda Courtney
Patricia Cameron - Evelyn Clifford
Harry Cording - Hamid
Tom Dillon - Detective Thompson
Mary Gordon - Mrs. Hudson
Carl Harbord - Inspector Hopkins
Frederic Worlock - Col. Cavanagh
Ian Wolfe - Man
Leyland Hodgson
Lillian Bronson - Tourist
BIOS
1. Basil Rathbone (aka: Philip St. John Basil Rathbone)
Date of Birth: 13 June 1892 - Johannesburg, South Africa
Date of Death: 21 July 1967 - New York, New York
2. Nigel Bruce (aka: William Nigel Ernle Bruce)
Date of Birth: 4 February 1895 - Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico
Date of Death: 8 October 1953 - Santa Monica, California
3. Roy William Neill (aka: Roland de Gostrie) (Director)
Date of Birth: 4 September 1887, (ship off Ireland)
Date of Death: 14 December 1946 - London, England, UK
Sherlock Holmes is a fictional detective of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, who first appeared in publication in 1887 --- He is the creation of Scottish born author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle --- A brilliant London-based detective, Holmes is famous for his intellectual prowess, and is renowned for his skillful use of deductive reasoning and astute observation to solve difficult cases --- He is arguably the most famous fictional detective ever created, and is one of the best known and most universally recognisable literary characters in any genre.
Conan Doyle wrote four novels and fifty-six short stories that featured Holmes --- All but four stories are narrated by Holmes' friend and biographer, Dr. John H. Watson, two are narrated by Holmes himself, and two others are written in the third person --- The first two stories, short novels, appeared in Beeton's Christmas Annual for 1887 and Lippincott's Monthly Magazine in 1890 --- The character grew tremendously in popularity with the beginning of the first series of short stories in The Strand Magazine in 1891; further series of short stories and two serialised novels appeared almost right up to Conan Doyle's death in 1930 --- The stories cover a period from around 1878 up to 1903, with a final case in 1914. (From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)
Rathbone is most widely recognized for his starring role as Sherlock Holmes in fourteen movies between 1939 and 1946, all of which co-starred Nigel Bruce as Dr. Watson --- The first two films, The Hound of the Baskervilles and The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (both 1939) were set in the late-Victorian times of the original stories --- Both of these were made by Twentieth Century Fox, later installments, made at Universal Studios, beginning with Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror (1942), were set in contemporary times, and some had World War II-related plots --- Rathbone and Bruce also reprised their film roles in a radio series, The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1939 - 1946) --- (From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)
Legend Films can restore, colorize and release many of the classic earliest black and white films --- a patented coloring and remastering process makes each film picture perfect plus more vivd than ever --- no one can resist collecting every title that Legend Films releases.
Hats off and thanks to Barry B. Sandrew Ph.D. (Founder, COO & CTO) and his Legend Films Staff --- looking forward to more high quality releases from the vintage era of the '20s, '30s & '40s --- order your copy now from Amazon where there are plenty of copies available on DVD --- if you enjoyed this title, why not check out Legend Films where they are experts in releasing long forgotten films and treasures to the collector.
Total Time: 72 mins on DVD ~ 20th Century Fox. ~ (9/06/2005)
