Lionel Alfred William Atwill was an English and American stage and screen actor. He began his acting career at the Garrick Theatre. After coming to the United States, he appeared in Broadway plays and Hollywood films. Some of his more significant roles were in Captain Blood (1935), Son of Frankenstein (1939) and To Be or Not to Be (1942).
Poirot Investigates is a short story collection written by English author Agatha Christie and first published in the UK by The Bodley Head in March 1924. In the eleven stories, famed eccentric detective Hercule Poirot solves a variety of mysteries involving greed, jealousy, and revenge. The American version of this book, published by Dodd, Mead and Company in 1925, featured a further three stories. The UK first edition featured an illustration of Poirot on the dust jacket by W. Smithson Broadhead, reprinted from the 21 March 1923 issue of The Sketch magazine.
Docks of New York is a 1945 American comedy film directed by Wallace Fox and starring the East Side Kids.
Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon (1942) is the fourth in the Basil Rathbone/Nigel Bruce series of 14 Sherlock Holmes films which updated the characters created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to the then present day. The film is credited as an adaptation of Conan Doyle's 1903 short story "The Adventure of the Dancing Men," though the only element from the source material is the dancing men code. Rather, it is a spy film taking place on the background of the then ongoing Second World War with an original premise. The film concerns the kidnapping of a Swiss scientist by their nemesis Professor Moriarty, to steal a new bomb sight and sell it to Nazi Germany. Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson have to crack a secret code in order to save the country.
Raffles is a 1930 American pre-Code comedy-mystery film produced by Samuel Goldwyn. It stars Ronald Colman as the title character, a proper English gentleman who moonlights as a notorious jewel thief, and Kay Francis as his love interest. It is based on the play Raffles, the Amateur Cracksman (1906) by E. W. Hornung and Eugene Wiley Presbrey, which was in turn adapted from the 1899 short story collection of the same name by Hornung.
The Last of Mrs. Cheyney is a 1937 American comedy drama film adapted from the 1925 Frederick Lonsdale play The Last of Mrs. Cheyney. The film tells the story of a chic jewel thief in England, who falls in love with one of her marks.
The Mystery of Mr. Wong is a 1939 American mystery film directed by William Nigh and starring Boris Karloff.
Death in a White Tie is a detective novel by Ngaio Marsh. It is the seventh novel to feature Roderick Alleyn, and was first published in 1938. The plot concerns the murder of a British lord after a party.
The Joy Girl is a 1927 American two-strip Technicolor silent comedy film directed by Allan Dwan, released by Fox Film Corporation, starring Olive Borden, Neil Hamilton, and Marie Dressler, and based on the short story of the same name by May Edginton.
Escape is a 1948 British-American thriller film directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz. It follows a Royal Air Force World War II veteran who goes to prison and then escapes and meets a woman who persuades him to surrender. The screenplay by Philip Dunne was based on the 1926 play Escape by John Galsworthy, which had previously been filmed in 1930.
The Law and the Lady is a 1951 American comedy film directed by Edwin H. Knopf and starring Greer Garson, Michael Wilding and Fernando Lamas. It is not related to the Wilkie Collins novel The Law and the Lady. Very loosely based on the 1925 play The Last of Mrs. Cheyney by Frederick Lonsdale, the action is transferred to the turn of the century, the names are all changed, and the first half of the film shows the history of the two thieves. Previous film versions of the story, made in 1929, starring Norma Shearer, and 1937, starring Joan Crawford, retained the play's contemporary setting, included a crew of confederates, and opened with Mrs. Cheyney as an established figure in society. This film also ends differently from the play, with the partners in crime ending as romantic partners but going back to England to face the music for their very first swindle. In the play and in the two other films, Charles leaves and Mrs. Cheyney accepts Lord Dilling, who kisses her and declares: “That's the Last of Mrs. Cheyney!”
White Face is a 1932 British crime film directed by T. Hayes Hunter and starring Hugh Williams, Gordon Harker and Renee Gadd. The film is based on a play by Edgar Wallace.
The Silent Witness is a 1932 American mystery film directed by Marcel Varnel and starring Lionel Atwill, Greta Nissen, and Helen Mack. It was adapted from a play by Jack DeLeon and Jack Celestin. The film's sets were designed by the art director Duncan Cramer who worked on many Fox Film productions of the era.
Counter-Espionage is a 1942 American comedy film directed by Edward Dmytryk. Counter-Espionage was the ninth film in Columbia's Lone Wolf series, based on characters created by Louis Joseph Vance. It is also known as The Lone Wolf in Scotland Yard. The film was followed by One Dangerous Night, released in 1943.
The Lone Wolf in London is a 1947 American mystery crime film directed by Leslie Goodwins and starring Gerald Mohr, Nancy Saunders and Eric Blore. The picture features the fictional Scotland Yard detective the Lone Wolf who travels to London, and solves the mystery of some missing jewels. It was the penultimate Lone Wolf film, followed by The Lone Wolf and His Lady in 1949, and the last for Mohr in the lead role.
The Lone Wolf in Mexico is a 1947 American black-and-white mystery-adventure film directed by D. Ross Lederman for Columbia Pictures. It features Gerald Mohr as the title character, detective Lone Wolf. Chronologically the third-to-last Lone Wolf film in Columbia's theatrical series, it was followed by The Lone Wolf in London later in 1947 and The Lone Wolf and His Lady in 1949.
Yellow Dust is a 1936 American Western film directed by Wallace Fox from a screenplay by Cyril Hume, John Twist, and John Francis Larkin. The film stars Richard Dix and Leila Hyams, with a supporting cast including Moroni Olsen, Jessie Ralph, Andy Clyde, and Onslow Stevens. RKO Radio Pictures premiered the film in New York City on February 22, 1936, with a nationwide release on March 13.
The Lottery Man is a lost 1919 American silent comedy film directed by James Cruze and starring Wallace Reid and Wanda Hawley. It is based on a 1909 Broadway play, The Lottery Man, by Rida Johnson Young. In the play Cyril Scott and Janet Beecher played the roles that Reid and Hawley play in the film. Famous Players–Lasky produced and Paramount Pictures distributed.
The Firebird is a 1934 American murder mystery film starring Verree Teasdale, Ricardo Cortez, Lionel Atwill and Anita Louise, directed by William Dieterle and produced and released by Warner Bros. It is based on the 1932 play by Lajos Zelahy. The Firebird suite by Igor Stravinsky is heard occasionally during the film.
Shadow of Suspicion is a 1944 American comedy crime film directed by William Beaudine and starring Marjorie Weaver, Peter Cookson and Tim Ryan.
