Run Time


I just watched it again on TCM that I had Tivo'ed. Robert Armstrong said it was the shortest run time of all Sherlock Holmes movies at 54 minutes. IMDB says it's 60 minutes. My Tivo ran 63 minutes from start to finish. wonder why the difference?

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its 58 minutes it is the shortest but one of the best

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It was longer on TCM becuz of the lead in and outro with musical themes and Osborn blabbing. So elementary.

Sacred cows make delicious hamburgers.

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I still have this film recorded on my TIVO, from TCM's 2009 Christmas "Holmes for the holidays" marathon of Holmes' films.

The film is, indeed, 63 minutes long, and that's NOT including any intro by Osborne, nor any other 'ad-ons.'---
The film itself, from it's opening title to it's end credit, is 63 minutes.

I have the 14-film (on 5 discs) UCLA-Preservation DVD box-set, of the two 20th/Fox-produced, and the twelve Universal-produced, Rathbone-Bruce films.

"Terror by Night," as presented in this superb UCLA-preservation edition, runs only 60 minutes.
Oddly, the print run on TCM opens with the UCLA-Preservation logo....so it would seem that they ran the same print.

I would have to run the UCLA-Preservation DVD, at the same time as playing the TCM recording on my TIVO, (and try to watch both, at once) to find out where the extra 3 minutes comes from.
As much as I love this film, I think I'll leave that kind of sleuthing to the experts.

In any case, TCM aired a superior print.

--D.--


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One of my favorites as well. But in this short (58 min) film, how many shots can you possibly show of the outside of the train steaming along? I lost track halfway thru. :>)

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At least all those shots of the train speeding along padded out the time by another minute or two. 'Pursuit to Algiers' was padded out longer by inserting four songs.

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The shorter versions I have seen appear to have the opening scene removed, explaining that the diamond was found by "humble kaffirs" and brings death to all who owned it. This is accompanied with stereotypical footage of barely clothed African men working on a white-owned plantation, one of the labourers finding the diamond in the earth.

I would assume this was removed as it is offensive in its use of anachronistic racist language and imagery, and really adds nothing to the film. Actually, I feel it rather distracts from the flow of the story, which I think works better with the opening scene taking place in the coffin makers shop.

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I believe I can answer the question.

I taped my own copy of this film off of TCM about 10 years ago. At the time, I thought I noticed that every actor's voice in the film seemed a bit deeper than normal. I strongly suspect the film TCM ran was running at the WRONG SPEED, slightly slower than normal. This would account for the longer running time.

I've seen this kind of thing on occasion, but usually, the film is running TOO FAST.

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Just last week, I watched the film on YOUTUBE-- and di not notice any problem.

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Nothing should be removed.

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