Nigel Bruce Movies

World for Ransom is an unofficial extension of the popular 1950s TV series China Smith. Most of the Smith personnel, including star Dan Duryea, director Robert Aldrich and cinematographer Joseph Biroc, are on hand for this inexpensive but well-mounted melodrama. Duryea plays a mercenary adventurer who gets mixed up in a scheme by foreign spies (who wear baggy suits and speak with Slavic accents) to kidnap a nuclear scientist. Actually it isn't the whole world that's held for ransom--only the city of Singapore, which the spies threaten with nuclear annihilation. World for Ransom star Dan Duryea is solidly supported by old pros Gene Lockhart, Patric Knowles, Reginald Denny and Nigel Bruce. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This thriller is set in Asia and follows the exciting exploits of a villainous soldier of fortune (Ronald Reagan) involved in shady shenanigans with the communists who gets caught red-handed by the authorities. He manages to escape and during his flight encounters a charming Chinese orphan who carries with him a priceless old statue. Wanting the sculpture, the mercenary allows the child to travel with him. He next teams up with a beautiful Red Cross volunteer. The three use their considerable con-artist skills to make it into a Hong Kong hotel room. There he finds himself feeling drawn towards the honest life by the woman and the child, but not before he steals the lad's statue and takes it to an art-dealer, who turns out to be a major crook. The mercenary finally goes straight after he nearly causes the boy's death. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

After suffering nobly in several heavyweight MGM dramas, Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon begged the studio to cast them together in a comedy. Though not an all-out laff riot, Julia Misbehaves strives hard to please. Garson plays an ever-in-debt British music-hall performer who relies on the largess of her friends to keep the wolf from the door. Pidgeon portrays Garson's ex-husband, who for the past 20 years has lived in Paris with their daughter Elizabeth Taylor. When Taylor becomes engaged, she sends Garson a wedding invitation. Broke again, Garson hastily joins an acrobatic act to earn steerage money, and charms British nobleman Nigel Bruce into giving her enough cash for a wedding present. Once she arrives in Paris, Garson sticks her nose into everyone's affairs, much to the dismay of the uptight Pidgeon. Garson even advises daughter Taylor to marry someone other than her betrothed. Despite her screwball behavior, Pidgeon can't help falling in love with Garson all over again--but it takes a zany sequence in and around a mountain chalet to knot together the many loose plotlines. Julia Misbehaves was adapted from The Nutmeg Tree, a novel by Margery Sharp. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Prelude to Murder is the last of the many Sherlock Holmes adaptations that starred Basil Rathbone as the observant and logical private detective alongside Nigel Bruce as his more outgoing partner, Dr. Watson. The story concerns printing plates swiped from the Bank of England as well as a collection of music boxes. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide

In this 1945 filmization of Emlyn Williams' semi-autobiographical 1938 play The Corn is Green, Bette Davis steps into the role originated on Broadway by Ethel Barrymore. Davis plays Miss Moffat, a turn-of-the-century schoolteacher in a Welsh mining town. She has opened her own school in hopes of lowering the town's illiteracy rate, thus enabling the younger residents to seek out more fulfilling lives than merely sweating away in the mines until they drop. She runs into a great deal of resistance from mine-owner Nigel Bruce, who realizes that as soon as the citizens can read and write, they'll rebel against his benevolent despotry. Even Miss Moffat concludes that her mission is hopeless until she is visited by young miner John Dall, who wants to know "what is behind all those books". Within two years, Dall has made so much progress that he has qualified for Oxford. A last-minute snag involving Dall's illegitimate child is solved when Miss Moffet herself agrees to adopt the baby so that her student can complete his education. Emlyn Williams himself came from a backward mining town, and was himself inspired to better things by a compassionate schoolteacher; the pregnancy angle was (probably) added to provide the story with a third act. The Corn is Green was remade for television in 1978, with Katharine Hepburn as Miss Moffat. Watch for one amusing gaffe in the original: despite carefully setting up the premise that the villagers are illiterate, they are shown hovering around a poster and reading it out loud in an early scene. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This excellent Sherlock Holmes adventure is based on Conan Doyle's The Five Orange Pips. Most of the action takes place in a remote Scottish mansion, home of "The Good Companions," a group of elderly eccentrics. After taking out insurance policies on one another, the club members begin dropping like flies, each death preceded by a mailed envelope containing an orange pip. Enter Sherlock Holmes (Basil Rathbone) and Dr. Watson (Nigel Bruce), who hope to not only solve the killings but also find out why the corpses mysteriously disappear after each death. For once, the usually ineffectual Watson takes an active part in the deductive process, uncovering the vital evidence that helps Holmes emerge triumphant once more. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

As part of this mid-'40s mystery double feature, Sherlock Holmes finds Terror by Night while Charlie Chan has a Meeting at Midnight. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide

This above-average entry in Universal's Sherlock Holmes series is loosely based on the Conan Doyle story The Six Napoleons. On this occasion, Holmes (Basil Rathbone) and Watson (Nigel Bruce) are assigned to guard the priceless Borgia Pearl, a "cursed" gem that has inspired scores of murders over the years. Their principal antagonist is master criminal Giles Conover (Miles Mander), who, though he is constantly thwarted in his efforts to pilfer the pearl, manages to discredit Holmes in the eyes of the public. Conover's chief assistant is the beautiful Naomi Drake (Evelyn Ankers), who adopts several clever disguises in the course of the action. Complicating matters is a series of seemingly unrelated murders, in which the victims are found with their backs broken, lying amidst piles of shattered China. Holmes deduces the connection between the murders and the Borgia Pearl, and in so doing nearly becomes the latest victim of The Creeper (Rondo Hatton), a horribly disfigured homicidal maniac. In addition to providing Basil Rathbone and Evelyn Keyes endless opportunities for bravura disguise scenes, The Pearl of Death launched the short starring career of the tragic Rondo Hatton, a real-life victim of the disfiguring disease known as acromegaly. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Though it is not based on any Conan Doyle story, The Scarlet Claw is regarded by Baker Street aficionados as the best of Universal's Sherlock Holmes series. Holmes (Basil Rathbone) and Watson (Nigel Bruce) journey to Canada to investigate a series of mysterious murders. All the victims have been found with their throats ripped out (yecch!). Halfway through the film, Holmes deduces that the culprit is a demented actor, wreaking vengeance on those who've wronged him in some way or other. The actor is a master of disguise, and could be anyone in the village -- from the constable to the postman to the reclusive, violence-prone innkeeper (Arthur Hohl). Alas, the publicity photos sent out with The Scarlet Claw gave away the identity of the killer -- something we have no intention of doing here. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

One of the silliest and most unbelievable of the Universal Sherlock Holmes series, Sherlock Holmes in Washington is also undeniably one of the most enjoyable. The story gets under way when an Allied spy (an unbilled Gerald Hamer, one of this series' "regulars") smuggles a valuable piece of microfilm into the U.S. The film is hidden in a matchbook cover that passes through several hands, ultimately ending up in the possession of Washington, D.C., socialite Nancy Partridge (Marjorie Lord). Brought to Washington from London to help locate the missing film, Sherlock Holmes (Basil Rathbone) and Dr. Watson (Nigel Bruce) do their best to rescue Nancy from the clutches of the Axis villains -- nearly losing their own lives in the process. And when the case is finally solved, Holmes reveals that there's still another twist to the proceedings -- a few minutes before he delivers his obligatory patriotic quote from Winston Churchill. One of the delights of Sherlock Holmes in Washington is the casting of George Zucco and Henry Daniell as the bad guys; both actors also played Holmes' archenemy Moriarty in other series entries. It's also fun to see poor old Watson tangle with American slang and a wad of bubble gum, and to watch as Holmes and Watson driven past a series of famous D.C. monuments -- covering several miles in a matter of seconds! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Olsen and Johnson's followup to their zany, iconoclastic Hellzapoppin' was the more conventional Crazy House. The premise: Having nearly laid waste to Universal while filming Hellzapoppin', O & J are thrown out of the studio when they arrive with plans for a new picture. Only momentarily daunted, our heroes decide to produce the film themselves, renting a studio and hiring carhop Margie (Martha O'Driscoll) as their leading lady. The success of this plan hinges upon an "angel", self-proclaimed millionaire Col. Merriweather (Percy Kilbride), who promises to advance the money for the new film. Things get sticky when the Colonel turns out to be a balmy eccentric with nary a cent to his name. After a wild courtroom trial presided over by ever-scowling Edgar Kennedy, it is decided that Olsen and Johnson will be permitted to screen their new film before a gathering of Hollywood studio executives, with distribution rights going to the highest bidder. The finale devolves into frantic slapstick when the last reel of the film turns up missing (a plot device later utilized in Mel Brooks' Silent Movie). Though Crazy House gets off to a suitably wacky start-when word arrives at Universal that Olsen and Johnson are coming, barricades are set up and armed guards posted, while every studio contractee from Leo Carrillo to "Sherlock Holmes" (Basil Rathbone) and "Dr. Watson" (Nigel Bruce) brace themselves for the comedians' invasion-the film quickly settles into a standard musical-comedy groove, complete with such guest stars as Allan Jones, Count Basie, the Delta Rhythm Boys and the Glenn Miller Singers. Still, there are plenty of hilarious moments along the way, most of them handled by raucous comedienne Cass Daley, playing a dual role. And there's seldom been a more satisfying movie finale than the last gag of Crazy House, which literally disposes of tiresome romantic leads Martha O'Driscoll and Patric Knowles. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This wartime weeper could just as well have been titled Stardom for Margaret, inasmuch as it solidified the popularity of that remarkable child actress Margaret O'Brien. While visiting London, American married couple Robert Young and Laraine Day are caught in the middle of the 1940 blitz. Losing her unborn child during the bombing, Day sadly heads back to the U.S., while her journalist husband stays behind to cover late-breaking events. Young makes the acquaintance of O'Brien and Clifford Severn, children orphaned by the blitz. After pulling the shell-shocked O'Brien out of her near-catatonic state, Young decides to adopt both children and take them back to his wife in the States. There are some tense moments as Young tilts at the stepped-up immigration restrictions, but he is finally able to bring his new family home. Journey for Margaret stars Robert Young and Margaret O'Brien would be reunited two decades later on an episode of Young's TV series Marcus Welby MD, in which Ms. O'Brien played a patient suffering from obesity. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

From the first frame of its opening credits, Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror promises (and subsequently delivers) mystery and thrills several layers deep -- following a short prologue intended to introduce Holmes to contemporary England (circa 1942), there is a series of terror broadcasts from Germany, announcing destruction throughout the British isles, and a montage of explosions and other disasters causing havoc. Sherlock Holmes (Basil Rathbone) and Dr. Watson (Nigel Bruce) are called in by Sir Evan Barham (Reginald Denny) of British intelligence's Inner Council to investigate the Voice of Terror and the accompanying sabotage. The other members of the council are disdainful of Holmes' presence, and express heightening doubts as his investigation seems to take him up several blind alleys. The case starts to break when a dying informant gives Holmes a tip that takes him and Watson to London's seedy Limehouse district, where they get a hostile reception until Kitty (Evelyn Ankers), the widow of the murdered informant, makes a patriotic speech reminding her friends that regardless of their class or their feelings about British society, this is a war for the survival of England. With Kitty leading them, the men and women of Limehouse form an invisible army and go out in search of the saboteurs. Holmes determines that the Voice of Terror is recorded on phonograph records in England and flown to Germany for broadcast; with Kitty's help, he traces the saboteurs to a deserted dockside location where he and Watson, along with intelligence chief Mr. Lloyd (Henry Daniell), are nearly killed by Meade (Thomas Gomez), the leader of the saboteurs. Holmes and company are rescued at the last moment by Kitty's army, but Meade escapes. He crosses paths with Kitty, who pretends to be a thief on the run and joins him. Working her way into his trust, she finds evidence that Meade plans to kill Sir Evan Barham; Holmes arrives just minutes behind Meade and heads off an attempt by a German plane to land on Barham's remote estate. All of these incidents of sabotage and attempted assassination are serious enough, but Holmes suspects they're part of a larger, more sinister plot that could lead to the destruction of England. The film ends with a chase to the South Coast and a bombed-out church, where Meade and his men are preparing to take over the country. Holmes captures Meade and unmasks the man behind him, and reveals just how far ahead of the Germans he has been, turning their certain victory into defeat, but he loses a good friend and ally in the process. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide