The Silent Passenger is a British black-and-white mystery film produced in 1935 at Ealing Studios, London.[1] It is based on an original story written by Sayers specifically for the screen. Her amateur sleuth was portrayed as a somewhat eccentric comical aristocrat who solved murders in spite of himself. As of 2014, the film is available on DVD.
The Silent Passenger | |
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![]() Film credits | |
Directed by | Reginald Denham |
Written by | Basil Mason |
Based on | a story by Dorothy L. Sayers |
Produced by | Hugh Perceval |
Starring | John Loder Peter Haddon |
Cinematography | Jan Stallich |
Edited by | Thorold Dickinson |
Music by | Percival Mackey |
Release date |
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Running time | 54 minutes 9 seconds |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
Maurice Windermere, a blackmailer, is absconding to France with Mollie Ryder, one of his victims. While waiting for the train to take them to the cross Channel ferry, he is murdered by the husband of another one of his victims, railway detective Henry Camberley (Donald Wolfit). John Ryder (John Loder), Mollie's husband, jealously searching for her, breaks into Windermere's room just after Camberley has killed Windermere and hidden him in a trunk. Ryder assaults Camberley, who he assumes is Windermere, and demands the tickets Windermere purchased for himself and Mollie, intending to surprise his wife by taking Windermere's place on the trip abroad. Camberley places the trunk containing Windermere's body with Windermere's other luggage, which Ryder obligingly takes with him on his journey to France. Windermere's body is discovered in Windermere's trunk when Ryder, using Windermere's tickets, attempts to go through French customs. The French police assume he murdered the rival for his wife's affections and return him to England by the next ferry. Fortunately for Ryder, amateur detective Lord Peter Wimsey (Peter Haddon), who already suspected Windermere of blackmail, followed Windermere's trail onto the boat train where he struck up an acquaintance with Mollie and John Ryder. Back in England Lord Peter sets about proving his newfound friend's innocence, using Ryder as "bait" to flush out the real killer and solve the murder.
The films of Reginald Denham | |
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Lord Peter Wimsey stories by Dorothy L. Sayers | |
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Novels |
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Short story collections |
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Continuations by Jill Paton Walsh |
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Adaptations |
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