An enjoyable entry in the Sherlock Holmes series by Universal, Terror By Night is a solid 60 minutes of whodunit that director Roy William Neill keeps fast-paced and tensely mysterious given the confined setting of a “moving” train. Significant back projection helps maintain realism and Neill’s high-contrast lighting adds to the noirish look. The one failing movies taking place on trains or boats or planes have is the instability of simple motions of people walking or standing on something moving, sailing or flying; characters are always so motionless and stable while the normal jerks and bumps normally experienced in real life are not shown onscreen. The production costs for such realism can be high, but would be a welcomed sight. You can see a good copy of this movie on YouTube. The character actors appearing in the Sherlock Holmes movies were superb. To learn more about them I highly recommend reading Sherlock Holmes and the Fabulous Faces: The Universal Pictures Repertory Company by Michael A. Hoey.
