Dead Men Tell

CinemaSerf

Definately one of Sidney Toler's livelier outings as our super sleuth. This one sees him and best sidekick - No 2. son "Jimmy" (Victor Sen Yung) embroiled in some treasure hunting aboard a ship (that doesn't actually go anywhere). "Patience Nodbury" (Ethel Griffies) is the distant descendant of the infamous pirate "Black Hook" and she has a map! Someone is trying to pinch that from her, so she cunningly divides it into four sections and shares it amongst her fellow passengers. Just in time, too - for the apparition of a "Long John Silver" peg-legged character causes the old girl to keel over and the race is now on to find the missing pieces of the map and the murderous culprit before anyone else gets sent to Davy Jones' locker. This is fun to watch: plenty of action, daft distractions, hopeless cops and a well paced script make sure we whistle through the hour. Oh, and there's a "Captain Flint' flapping about, too!