Nigel Bruce Filmography

Limelight

Actors: Charles Chaplin, Claire Bloom, Nigel Bruce, Sydney Chaplin, Andre Eglevsky, Melissa Hayden, Buster Keaton

Synopsis: London, 1914. Calvero (Charles Chaplin), a once-great music hall comedian, weaves drunkenly home to his shabby flat. As he arrives home, he is suddenly sobered by a bad smell. It isn't his shoes, as he originally assumes, but the smell of gas, emanating from behind a locked door. Calvero smashes Read More

Bwana Devil

Actors: Robert Stack, Barbara Britton, Nigel Bruce, Ramsay Hill, Paul McVey

Synopsis: Historically important as one of the first 3-D feature film- the first was the 1922 film Power of Love- Bwana Devil is an otherwise amateurish film, redeemed somewhat by good performances and a reasonably interesting script (by director Arch Oboler). The thinnish story is built around some Read More

Hong Kong

Actors: Ronald Reagan, Rhonda Fleming, Nigel Bruce, Marvin Miller

Synopsis: 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 Read More

Vendetta

Actors: Faith Domergue, Hillary Brooke, Nigel Bruce, Joseph Calleia, Hugo Haas

Synopsis: Vendetta began as a pet project of producer/director/writer Preston Sturges. Producer Howard R. Hughes was at first enthusiastic about the project, but lost interest after a bitter argument with Sturges. Director Max Ophuls was originally slated to direct, but Hughes lost interest in him and hired Mel Ferrer Read More

Julia Misbehaves

Actors: Greer Garson, Walter Pidgeon, Peter Lawford, Elizabeth Taylor, Cesar Romero

Synopsis: 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 Read More

The Two Mrs. Carrolls

Actors: Humphrey Bogart, Barbara Stanwyck, Alexis Smith, Nigel Bruce, Isobel Elsom

Synopsis: Humphrey Bogart plays a psychotic killer who disposes of his wives through slow ingestion of poison in The Two Mrs. Carrolls, made in 1945 but shelved for two years because of its similarity to Gaslight. Bogart is Geoffrey Carroll, an artist who paints a portrait of his wife as "The Angel of Read More

The Exile

Actors: Nigel Bruce, Fred Cavens, Gordon B. Clark, Robert Coote

Synopsis: Douglas Fairbanks Jr. is the title character, a young king exiled by evil conspirators. Forced to live far from his homeland, Fairbanks is harassed by the wicked Henry Daniell, who has been appointed to keep the young monarch from reclaiming his throne. After falling in love with commoner Paula Croset Read More

Prelude to Murder

Synopsis: 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 Read More

Terror by Night

Actors: Basil Rathbone, Nigel Bruce, Alan Mowbray, Dennis Hoey, Renee Godfrey

Synopsis: The penultimate entry in Universal's Sherlock Holmes series, Terror by Night takes place almost exclusively on a speeding train, en route from London to Edinburgh. Holmes (Basil Rathbone) is on board to protect a valuable diamond from the clutches of master criminal Colonel Sebastian Moran. The Read More

Dressed to Kill

Actors: Basil Rathbone, Nigel Bruce, Patricia Morison, Harry Cording, Frederic Worlock

Synopsis: Based on the prolific Sir Arthur Conan Doyle mysteries, Sherlock Holmes is on the job again. This time the inmate of a British prison has incorporated stolen Bank of England engraving plates into a series of music boxes he has made and multiple criminals are out to find them. Holmes must be first. Read More

Pursuit to Algiers

Actors: Basil Rathbone

Synopsis: Taking place almost exclusively on a transatlantic ocean liner, this easygoing Sherlock Holmes entry finds Holmes (Basil Rathbone) and Watson (Nigel Bruce) escorting Far Eastern regent Nikolas (Leslie Vincent) on a diplomatic mission. A group of assassins have targeted Nikolas for extermination Read More

Son of Lassie

Actors: Peter Lawford, Donald Crisp, June Lockhart, Nigel Bruce, William Severn, Nils Asther

Synopsis: Son of Lassie is about a courageous collie named Laddie, played by a dog named "Pal". A sequel to Lassie Come Home, the film stars Peter Lawford and June Lockhart as the grown-up counterparts of the characters played in the earlier film by Roddy McDowall and Elizabeth Taylor. When WW2 breaks out Read More

The Corn Is Green

Actors: Bette Davis, Nigel Bruce, John Dall, Joan Lorring, Rhys Williams, Mildred Dunnock, Rosalind Ivan

Synopsis: 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 Read More

The House of Fear

Actors: Basil Rathbone, Nigel Bruce, Aubrey Mather, Dennis Hoey, Paul Cavanagh

Synopsis: 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 Read More

The Woman in Green

Actors: Basil Rathbone, Nigel Bruce, Hillary Brooke, Henry Daniell, Paul Cavanagh

Synopsis: Based on Conan Doyle's The Adventure of the Empty House, this "Sherlock Holmes" entry finds Holmes (Basil Rathbone) and Dr. Watson (Nigel Bruce) trying to solve the case of the "Finger Murders". Several beautiful women have been found slain, all with their right forefingers severed from their Read More

Gypsy Wildcat

Actors: Maria Montez, Jon Hall, Gale Sondergaard, Leo Carrillo, Peter Coe, Nigel Bruce

Synopsis: In this swashbuckler, a princess is raised by gypsies and becomes their queen. The trouble really begins when a count is murdered and the evil, ambitious baron who really did it blames the crime on the gypsies. The baron's messenger knows the truth and tries to prove it. When he notices that the Read More

Follow the Boys

Actors: George Raft, Vera Zorina, Charles Grapewin, George Macready, Charles Butterworth, Regis Toomey, Grace McDonald

Synopsis: Paramount Pictures did their patriotic duty with this World War II era musical, with a number of the studio's biggest stars making cameo appearances. Tony West (George Raft), his sister Kitty (Grace McDonald), and their father Nick (Charles Grapewin) tour together as The Three Wests, a failing act Read More

Frenchman's Creek

Actors: Joan Fontaine, Arturo de Cordova, Basil Rathbone, Nigel Bruce, Cecil Kellaway

Synopsis: Daphne du Maurier's novel formed the basis for this romantic adventure saga. Lady Dona St. Columb (Joan Fontaine), an English noblewoman, is unhappily married to the weak-willed Harry St. Columb (Ralph Forbes), while Harry's sinister best friend Lord Rockingham (Basil Rathbone) makes no secret of Read More

Sherlock Holmes and the Spider Woman

Actors: Basil Rathbone, Nigel Bruce, Gale Sondergaard, Dennis Hoey, Vernon P. Downing

Synopsis: Someone in London has driven several prominent men to madness and suicide. Normally, Scotland Yard would call in Sherlock Holmes (Basil Rathbone) to help solve the case, but Holmes has recently perished in an accident. Or has he? Officially declared dead, Holmes is able to move about undetected as Read More

Matinee Double Feature, Part 7

Synopsis: 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 Read More

The Pearl of Death

Actors: Basil Rathbone, Nigel Bruce, Dennis Hoey, Evelyn Ankers, Miles Mander

Synopsis: 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 Read More

The Scarlet Claw

Actors: Basil Rathbone, Nigel Bruce, Gerald Hamer, Paul Cavanagh, Arthur Hohl

Synopsis: 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 Read More

Forever and a Day

Actors: Brian Aherne, Merle Oberon, Gladys Cooper, Ida Lupino, C. Aubrey Smith, Claude Rains, Robert Cummings, Anna Neagle, Roland Young

Synopsis: The 80-star cast of Forever and a Day would certainly not have been feasible had not most of the actors and production people turned over their salaries to British war relief -- a point driven home during the lengthy opening credits by an unseen narrator. The true star of the film is a stately old Read More

Lassie Come Home

Actors: Roddy McDowall, Donald Crisp, Dame May Whitty, Edmund Gwenn, Elsa Lanchester, Nigel Bruce

Synopsis: Female dogs tend to shed while in heat; this is why all the collies who've played doggy heroine Lassie in the movies have actually been well-disguised males. A magnificent animal named Pal was the screen's first Lassie in 1943's Lassie Come Home. Set in Yorkshire during the first World War, the Read More

Sherlock Holmes Faces Death

Actors: Basil Rathbone, Nigel Bruce, Hillary Brooke, Milburn Stone, Arthur Margetson

Synopsis: There are those who consider Sherlock Holmes Faces Death to be the best of Universal's Holmes series, though others hold out for 1944's The Scarlet Claw. Based loosely on Conan Doyle's The Musgrave Ritual, the plot finds Holmes (Basil Rathbone) and Watson (Nigel Bruce) being summoned to the Read More

Crazy House

Actors: Cass Daley, Basil Rathbone, Patric Knowles, Martha O'Driscoll, Leighton Noble, Thomas Gomez

Synopsis: 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 Read More

Sherlock Holmes in Washington

Actors: Basil Rathbone, Nigel Bruce, Marjorie Lord, Henry Daniell, George Zucco

Synopsis: 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 Read More

Eagle Squadron

Actors: Robert Stack, Diana Barrymore, John Loder, Eddie Albert, Nigel Bruce

Synopsis: With America's Air Force not completely mobilized in mid-1942, Universal paid tribute to those foresighted Yankee flyboys who joined England's Royal Air Force before America's entry into WW2 in Eagle Squadron. Robert Stack stars as Chuck Brewer, one of several US flyers participating in RAF Read More

Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror

Actors: Basil Rathbone, Nigel Bruce, Evelyn Ankers, Reginald Denny, Thomas Gomez

Synopsis: 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 Read More

Roxie Hart

Actors: Ginger Rogers, Adolphe Menjou, George Montgomery, Lynne Overman, Nigel Bruce

Synopsis: Based on the Ben Hecht/Charlie McArthur play Chicago, Roxie Hart is a short-but-sweet satire of highly publicized court trials. Ginger Rogers plays showgirl Roxie Hart, whose no-good husband kills a man and insists that Roxie take the blame, since juries seldom send a woman to the chair. She Read More

This Above All

Actors: Tyrone Power, Joan Fontaine, Thomas Mitchell, Henry Stephenson, Nigel Bruce

Synopsis: Eric Knight's wartime novel This Above All was given the Tiffany treatment in the this 20th Century Fox big-budgeter. Tyrone Power plays Clive Briggs, a conscientious objector from humble origins, who deserts the British Army because he doesn't believe in fighting to preserve his country's Read More

Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon

Actors: Basil Rathbone, Nigel Bruce, Kaaren Verne, Lionel Atwill, William Post, Jr.

Synopsis: The second of Universal's "modernized" Sherlock Holmes films pits the Great Detective (Basil Rathbone, of course) against that "Napoleon of Crime," Professor Moriarty (Lionel Atwill). Surpassing his previous skullduggery, Moriarty has now aligned himself with the Nazis and has dedicated himself to Read More

Journey for Margaret

Actors: Margaret O'Brien, Robert Young, Laraine Day, Fay Bainter, Nigel Bruce

Synopsis: 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. Read More

The Black Cat

Actors: Basil Rathbone, Hugh Herbert, Broderick Crawford, Bela Lugosi, Gale Sondergaard

Synopsis: 1941's The Black Cat is neither a remake of the 1934 Karloff-Lugosi film of the same name, nor does it bear the slightest relation to the same-named Edgar Allan Poe story (as if the 1934 picture did!) The fact that the heroes are played by Hugh Herbert and Broderick Crawford is indication enough Read More

This Woman Is Mine

Actors: Franchot Tone, John Carroll, Walter Brennan, Carol Bruce, Nigel Bruce

Synopsis: One would never know it from the title, but This Woman is Mine is a virile seafaring yarn dealing with the northern fur trade. Based on a sprawling novel by Gilbert W. Gabriel, the film takes place during a trading expedition from New York to Oregon, bankrolled by John Jacob Astor (played by Sig Read More

The Chocolate Soldier

Actors: Nelson Eddy, Rise Stevens, Nigel Bruce, Florence Bates, Dorothy Gilmore

Synopsis: This remake of Ferenc Molnar's play The Guardsmen focuses on an opera star (Nelson Eddy) who tests the fidelity of his wife (Rise Stephens) by wooing her in disguise. The film was nominated for Best Cinematography, Best Sound and Best Score. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide Read More

Free and Easy

Actors: Robert Cummings, Ruth Hussey, Judith Anderson, C. Aubrey Smith, Nigel Bruce

Synopsis: This brief (56-minute) MGM B-picture was adapted from Ivor Novello's play The Truth Game. Naturally, a few plot twists and supporting characters had to be eliminated, but at its base, the film follows the original plotline with reasonable fidelity. Hoping to land wealthy wives, a father-and-son Read More

Suspicion

Actors: Cary Grant, Joan Fontaine, Cedric Hardwicke, Nigel Bruce, Dame May Whitty

Synopsis: Wealthy, sheltered Joan Fontaine is swept off her feet by charming ne'er-do-well Cary Grant. Though warned that Grant is little more than a fortune-hunter, Fontaine marries him anyway. She remains loyal to her irresponsible husband as he plows his way from one disreputable business scheme to Read More

Rebecca

Actors: Laurence Olivier, Joan Fontaine, George Sanders, Judith Anderson, Nigel Bruce

Synopsis: Based on the novel by Daphne du Maurier, the classic psychological thriller Rebecca was Alfred Hitchcock's first American film. Joan Fontaine plays the unnamed narrator, a young woman who works as a companion to the well-to-do Mrs. Van Hopper (Florence Bates). She meets the wealthy widower Maxim Read More

Susan and God

Actors: Joan Crawford, Fredric March, Ruth Hussey, John Carroll, Rita Hayworth

Synopsis: Rachel Crothers' thoughtful stage play Susan and God was tastefully adapted for the screen by Anita Loos. Joan Crawford stars as Susan, whose unquestioning devotion to various religious organizations causes a great deal of strain between herself and her family. When Susan embraces a "New Thought" Read More

Lillian Russell

Actors: Alice Faye, Don Ameche, Henry Fonda, Edward Arnold, Warren William

Synopsis: Lillian Russell is the sanitized musical biopic of the legendary (and much-married) 19th century musical comedy star. Discovered in 1880 by bandleader Tony Pastor (Leo Carrillo), Lillian Russell (Alice Faye) wastes no time rising to fame and fortune on the Broadway stage. Along the way, she Read More

Hudson's Bay

Actors: Paul Muni, Gene Tierney, Laird Cregar, John Sutton, Virginia Field

Synopsis: This sweeping drama chronicles the foundation a Canadian institution: the Hudson's Bay Trading Company. Set in the 17th century when the fur trade was at its peak the story centers on Radisson, a far-sighted entrepreneurial fur trapper, and his sidekick who dream of establishing a major trading Read More

A Dispatch from Reuters

Actors: Edward G. Robinson, Edna Best, Eddie Albert, Albert Basserman, Gene Lockhart

Synopsis: As part of his new contract with Warner Bros., Edward G. Robinson agreed to appear in the gangster comedy Brother Orchid on the condition that the studio permit him to play the leading role in the lavish biopic A Dispatch from Reuters. Robinson is cast as Baron Paul Julius Reiter, who in 1833 Read More

The Blue Bird

Actors: Shirley Temple, Spring Byington, Nigel Bruce, Gale Sondergaard, Eddie Collins

Synopsis: When Darryl F. Zanuck's arrangement to loan Shirley Temple to MGM as star of The Wizard of Oz fell through, Zanuck hastily assembled a lavish Technicolor vehicle for his diminutive star which, he hoped, would match Wizard in popularity and appeal. The result was The Blue Bird, adapted from the Read More

Play Girl

Actors: Kay Francis, James Ellison, Mildred Coles, Nigel Bruce, Margaret Hamilton

Synopsis: A gold-digger facing middle-age decides to pass her special talents on to a younger woman. Her young student learns quickly and is soon raking in the dough from wealthy suckers, but when she falls in love with a handsome Texan, she abandons her golddigging ways. The older woman is appalled that Read More

Adventure in Diamonds

Actors: George Brent, Isa Miranda, John Loder, Nigel Bruce, Elizabeth Patterson

Synopsis: British army pilot Stephen (George Brent) falls in love with jewel-thief Felice (Isa Miranda), tricking her out of some stolen diamonds. Stephen and South African Police Commissioner Lansfield (Nigel Bruce) set a trap for her partner Barclay (John Loder), but Felice falls for it instead. She's Read More

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

Actors: Basil Rathbone, Nigel Bruce, Ida Lupino, Alan Marshal, E.E. Clive, Terry Kilburn

Synopsis: Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce make their second screen appearances as Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. Ostensibly based on the stage play by William Gillette, the film owes nothing to the play beyond the characters of Holmes, Watson, Billy the page boy and Read More

The Hound of the Baskervilles

Actors: Richard Greene, Basil Rathbone, Nigel Bruce, Lionel Atwill, John Carradine, Wendy Barrie

Synopsis: Though it takes a few liberties with the Arthur Conan Doyle original -- not the least of which is turning Sherlock Holmes into the second lead -- The Hound of the Baskervilles ranks as one of the best screen versions of this oft-told tale. After learning the history of the Baskerville curse from Read More

The Rains Came

Actors: Myrna Loy, Tyrone Power, George Brent, Brenda Joyce, Nigel Bruce

Synopsis: Myrna Loy stars in Clarence Brown's sumptuous and exotic romance, based upon the novel by Louis Bromfield. Loy plays Lady Edwina Esketh, the unhappily married wife of Lord Albert Esketh (Nigel Bruce), a dumpy middle-aged English businessman. Edwina escapes her loneliness by engaging in ephemeral Read More

Sherlock Holmes Double Feature

Suez

Actors: Tyrone Power, Loretta Young, Annabella, J. Edward Bromberg, Joseph Schildkraut

Synopsis: This is an epic Darryl F. Zanuck production that plays fast and loose with historical facts regarding early 19th century French politics and the building of the Suez Canal. Tyrone Power stars as Ferdinand de Lesseps, an engineer and son of a French nobleman (Harry Stephenson). At the start of the Read More

The Baroness and the Butler

Actors: William Powell, Annabella, Helen Westley, Henry Stephenson, Joseph Schildkraut

Synopsis: The Baroness, daughter of the Hungarian prime minister, is played by Annabella. The Butler, last of a long line of family retainers, is played by William Powell. The butler works for the baroness' father, and the relationship between baroness and butler is outwardly chilly but subliminally Read More

Kidnapped

Actors: Warner Baxter, Freddie Bartholomew, Arleen Whelan, C. Aubrey Smith, Reginald Owen

Synopsis: Robert Louis Stevenson's adventure tale of a young 18th century boy betrayed by his wicked uncle didn't need a romantic subplot, but that didn't stop 20th Century-Fox from including a female love interest (Arleen Whelan). Bypassing that plot point, Kidnapped stars Freddie Bartholomew as the heir Read More

Thunder in the City

Actors: Edward G. Robinson, Luli Deste, Nigel Bruce, Constance Collier, Ralph Richardson

Synopsis: In this satire of British-American relations, Edward G. Robinson stars as Dan Armstrong, a hard-sell American saleman whose company sends him to England to learn how to tone down his act. There he meets some distant relatives, the aristocrats Sir Peter and Lady Challoner (Arthur Wontner and Annie Esmond Read More