#Silent passenger movie#
#Silent passenger series#

I have long thought that he should have been played by someone like Claude Hulbert, or some other silly-ass British comedian in one novel, he's said to look like Ralph Lynn. Buntner is too old, and too much the trained butler, and Haddon, although he makes a good stab at Wimsey, lacks the character's diffidence. That's hardly surprising, because Dorothy Sayers wrote an original story for this, her sole original venture into screenwriting. Good thing Peter Haddon, aka Lord Peter Wimsey is there. When it is opened, Perrins' body is inside. When they're disembarking in France, he hasn't got a key for the big trunk he says isn't theirs. Loder assaults Perrins, gets his tickets for the Channel train and demands Mary's letters.

By the time her husband, John Loder, shows up. Mary Newland is running away with Leslie Perrins, but is having second thoughts. So that means 9 minutes of lead-in action and explanatory dialogue has been jettisoned. The movie's original running time was 75 minutes, which would come down to exactly 72 minutes on DVD. It is available in a somewhat cut-about version (very noticeable in the first reel) on an Alpha DVD running 63 minutes.

#Silent passenger movie#

The movie was ably directed by Reginald Denham. Fortunately, all the other players fit neatly into their roles, particularly Aubrey Mather who makes an excellent Bunter. However, I was also not overjoyed by Peter Haddon who seemed to lack the necessary 'class' as Sir Peter Wimsey. Sir Donald must also be commended for performing all his own stunts. Fortunately, that is mostly all to the good because the character us supposed to be acting a part. The 'wrong man' switch is also quite ingenious, although Sir Donald Wolfit, obviously miscast, tends to make somewhat heavy weather of this 'wrong man'. Fortunately, it's a fast, action-packed theme that is considerably bolstered by its railroad setting which obviously necessitated extensive location filming in actual railway stations, carriages and workshops.

Admittedly, it's not based on any of the Sayers novels dealing with Lord Peter Wimsey, but on what Miss Sayers described as a 'theme' which she sold to the film company. It contains quite a few surprises, doesn't telegraph its story twists, and winds up with an excellent and really suspenseful chase sequence in some railroad sidings.” William K.The Silent Passenger (1935): As a keen Dorothy Sayers fan, this is a movie I've always wanted to see. The Silent Passenger has a tight little script, somewhat Hitchcockian, though without Hitchcock's humor. Peter Haddon is closer by far to her original concept than is Robert Montgomery in the co-feature. The Wimsey character underwent a number of changes, or to be more exact, improvements, over the years as Sayers fell in love with her creation and gradually turned him into an ideal. Presumably the producers didn't feel that Peter Haddon, as Wimsey, could carry the film alone, and while he is important to the story-line, more emphasis is placed on the traditional hero of John Loder. Sayers who wrote the story specially for the screen was reputedly not happy with the results, nor with the substantial changes wrought in the material she supplied. “Although it has its rough edges certainly, The Silent Passenger is an unusually adept British ‘B' made by Phoenix Films.

#Silent passenger series#

series a few years ago made up for the oversight to a degree, but otherwise the entire filmic career of Lord Peter is on view this evening.

“It's rather odd that one of the most popular literary detectives of them all, Peter Wimsey, should be overlooked by the movies.