
Acting
Arthur Wontner
Born 1875-01-21 · London, England, UK
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Arthur Wontner (21 January 1875 – 10 July 1960) was a British actor best known for playing Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's master detective Sherlock Holmes in five films from 1931 to 1937. These films are: The Sleeping Cardinal (1931) (US title: Sherlock Holmes' Fatal Hour) based on Doyle's two stories, "The Adventure of the Empty House" and "The Final Problem" The Missing Rembrandt (1932) (still considered lost) based on "The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton" The Sign of Four: Sherlock Holmes' Greatest Case (1932) The Triumph of Sherlock Holmes (1935) based on The Valley of Fear Silver Blaze (1937) (US title:Murder at the Baskervilles, release 1941) based on "Silver Blaze" Reportedly, Wontner landed the role of Sherlock Holmes thanks to his performance of Holmes imitation Sexton Blake in a 1930 stage production. Of all Wontner's films as Sherlock Holmes, The Missing Rembrandt is no longer available. It is officially a lost film. It is possible to obtain all of the others. Silver Blaze was renamed Murder at the Baskervilles on its US release in order to make the most of the publicity which had been generated by Basil Rathbone's version of The Hound of the Baskervilles. In many respects Wontner's film can be seen as a sequel as it is set twenty years after the events of the more famous story. Wontner's son became the well-known hotelier and Lord Mayor of London Sir Hugh Wontner. Description above from the Wikipedia article Arthur Wontner,licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Acting credits
6.0Foppish Sir Percy Blakeney, who secretly leads a double life as the daring rescuer of French aristocrats from the guillotine during the French Revolution, fights to save his brother-in-law while his wife is manipulated by the villainous Chauvelin into helping capture him, unaware of her husband's true identity.
The Elusive Pimpernel
1950
7.5General Candy, who's overseeing an English squad in 1943, is a veteran leader who doesn't have the respect of the men he's training and is considered out-of-touch with what's needed to win the war. But it wasn't always this way. Flashing back to his early career in the Boer War and World War I, we see a dashing young officer whose life has been shaped by three different women, and by a lasting friendship with a German soldier.
The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp
1943
Ten people are invited to a summer party on an island oft the Devon coast. They are an extremely varied group from a blustering major to a frigid spinster. The only thing they have in common is that they were each involved in a case of unexpected death. They soon find something very odd about their invitations, and then they start to die, one by one. But who is the murderer and where is he hiding.
Ten Little Indians
1949
7.4A local politician in Scotland tries to break the reporter who wrote a negative story about him, and who is also in love with his daughter.
Storm in a Teacup
1937
6.0A visiting American engages in a bold business promotion, the likes of which the British have not seen.
Thunder in the City
1937
5.8Gilliatt, a fisherman-turned-smuggler on the isle of Guernsey, agrees to transport a beautiful woman to the French coast in the year 1800. She tells him she hopes to rescue her brother from the guillotine. Gilliatt finds himself falling in love and so feels betrayed when he later learns this woman is a countess helping Napoleon plan an invasion of England. In reality, however, the "countess" is an English agent working to thwart this invasion. When Gilliatt finds this out, he returns to France to rescue the woman who's true purpose has been discovered by the French.
Sea Devils
1953
6.2Penniless Blanche Fuller takes a job as a governess at the estate of her rich relations, the Fury family. To better her position in life, Blanche marries her dull cousin, Laurence Fury, who has a daughter she's fond of. But Blanche begins a tempestuous romance with steward Philip Thorn. Together, they hatch a murderous plan to gain control of the estate.
Blanche Fury
1948
Two professors who hire a sailor to lead them on a treasure hunt, and they soon find themselves in a dangerous situation involving pirates. The sailor, Bill, initially struggles to remember the location of the ruins, but eventually discovers a lost city and civilization. The professors and sailor then find themselves fighting for their lives against pirates to escape the island alive.
The Live Wire
1938
6.7Two friends driving in the London to Brighton vintage car rally bet on which of them will be the first to arrive back home.
Genevieve
1953
5.7Holmes takes a vacation and visits his old friend Sir Henry Baskerville. His vacation ends when he suddenly finds himself in the middle of a double-murder mystery. Now he's got to find Professor Moriarty and the horse Silver Blaze before the great cup final horse race.
Silver Blaze
1937
For ten years, The Terror has laughed at both police and public. And for ten years, two of his erstwhile associates, Joe Conner and 'Soapy' Marks, have plotted revenge on the mastermind whose double-crossing sent them to Dartmoor prison without their share of the bullion stolen in a daring raid.
The Terror
1938
5.4Holmes, retired to Sussex, is drawn into a last case when his arch enemy Moriarty arranges with an American gang to kill one John Douglas, a country gentleman with a mysterious past. Holmes' methods baffle Watson and Lestrade, but his results astonish them. In a long flashback, the victim's wife tells the story of the sinister Vermissa Valley.
The Triumph of Sherlock Holmes
1935
4.8A young woman turns to Holmes for protection when she's menaced by an escaped killer seeking missing treasure. However, when the woman is kidnapped, Holmes and Watson must penetrate the city's criminal underworld to find her.
The Sign of Four: Sherlock Holmes' Greatest Case
1932
7.0Holmes goes on the trail of a Rembrandt painting, stolen by a drug-addicted artist.
The Missing Rembrandt
1932
8.3Kate is secretary to Lord Flamborough. But she is also leader of a criminal gang. Can Mike Pemberton catch her red-handed?
Kate Plus Ten
1938
6.5A young couple get involved with a smuggler
Brandy for the Parson
1952
Overbearing but kind-hearted old industrialist Sir Henry Woodstock (known as "Old Iron" to his family) quarrels with his favourite son Harry because Harry wishes to marry the daughter of a business opponent whom he suspects of shady practices. Harry, who has inherited his father's temperament, drives away in a blind fury, runs a man down and kills him. At his trial for manslaughter Sir Henry's testimony as to the quarrel, and the mental disturbance that must have resulted from the conflict in Harry's mind between love of his father and determination to do what he himself thought right, secures Harry's acquittal.
Old Iron
1938
5.5A card cheat is threatened with exposure into joining a criminal enterprise that Sherlock Holmes believes is controlled by Professor Moriarity.
The Sleeping Cardinal
1931
10.0In the Jacobite Rising of 1745, the Young Pretender Bonnie Prince Charlie leads an insurrection to overthrow the Protestant House of Hanover and restore his family, the Catholic branch of the House of Stuart, to the British throne.
Bonnie Prince Charlie
1923
8.5This documentary examines the making of the Sherlock Holmes cinematic dynasty and includes interviews and archival film clips featuring the original crime-fighter in all his incarnations.
The Many Faces of Sherlock Holmes
1985
6.5A man is cited as the co-respondent in a divorce case, but is cheerfully unashamed when he appears in court.
Dishonour Bright
1936
7.0A condemned man uses hypnotism on a judge. After the man's death, the judge finds himself acting like the condemned man.
Condemned to Death
1932
4.3A prominent Parisian judge is a witness to a murder while he is at a rendezvous with his mistress. A woman is arrested for the crime and brought before him for trial. It turns out that the woman is his ex-mistress, and the judge knows that she is not the killer - but if he comes forward, he stands a good chance of ruining his marriage and his career.
A Gentleman of Paris
1931
7.0Can Professor Higgins transform flower-girl Eliza Dolittle into a great lady?
Pygmalion
1948