The Silent Passenger

The Silent Passenger
Opening titles
Directed byReginald Denham
Written byBasil Mason
Based ona story
by Dorothy L. Sayers
Produced byHugh Perceval
StarringJohn Loder
Peter Haddon
CinematographyJan Stallich
Edited byThorold Dickinson
Music byPercival Mackey
Release date
  • 11 November 1935 (1935-11-11) (UK)
Running time
54 minutes 9 seconds
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

The Silent Passenger is a 1935 British black-and-white mystery film directed by Reginald Denham and starring John Loder, Peter Haddon and Lilian Oldland.[1] It was written by Basil Mason based on an original story written by Dorothy L. Sayers specifically for the screen. It was produced at Ealing Studios, London.

Plot

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. Bridge engineer John Ryder, 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, 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.

Cast

Reception

The Daily Film Renter wrote: "Crisply directed, splendidly staged and well acted, with Peter Haddon scoring as nobleman detective. Excellent popular entertainment."[2]

Kine Weekly wrote: "Rousing railroad melodrama with an ingenious crime motif, glorious comedy relief, and spectacular thrills framed in realistic atmosphere. Not only does the plot itself reveal arresting dramatic invention, but it makes generous provision for comprehensive by-play. Every link in the human and exciting chain is fashioned with resourceful technical skill, and each, thanks to enthusiastic team work, carries the hallmark of capital popular entertainment. It is great stuff, a proposition of box-office dimensions for young and old alike, and every member of the family."[3]

Picturegoer wrote: "An extremely well-made detective drama, novel in plot, ingenious in solution, and seasoned throughout with a real sense of humour. The production, as a whole, is unpretentious and there are minor flaws in construction, particularly in the opening; but it does achieve what it sets out to do – to entertain first and last, and all the time."[4]

Home media

The film was released on DVD in 2008 by Sinister Cinema.

References

  1. ^ "The Silent Passenger". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 14 February 2026.
  2. ^ "The Silent Passenger". The Daily Film Renter (2584): 4. 22 June 1935. ProQuest 2826301109.
  3. ^ "The Silent Passenger". Kine Weekly. 220 (1471): 34. 27 June 1935. ProQuest 2339661294.
  4. ^ "The Silent Passenger". Picturegoer. 5: 24. 3 November 1935. ProQuest 1771189783.
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