Arthur Wontner

Arthur Wontner

Born: January 21, 1875
Died: July 10, 1960
in 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.

Movies for Arthur Wontner...

The Many Faces of Sherlock Holmes
Title: The Many Faces of Sherlock Holmes
Character: Sherlock Holmes (archive footage)
Released: January 1, 1985
Type: Movie
This 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.
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Genevieve
Title: Genevieve
Character: Old Gentleman
Released: May 28, 1953
Type: Movie
Two friends driving in the London to Brighton vintage car rally bet on which of them will be the first to arrive back home.
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Sea Devils
Title: Sea Devils
Character: Baron de Baudrec
Released: April 12, 1953
Type: Movie
Gilliatt, 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.
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Brandy for the Parson
Title: Brandy for the Parson
Character: Major Glockleigh
Released: May 2, 1952
Type: Movie
A young couple get involved with a smuggler
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The Elusive Pimpernel
Title: The Elusive Pimpernel
Character: Lord Grenville
Released: November 7, 1950
Type: Movie
A British aristocrat goes in disguise to France to rescue people from The Terror of the guillotine.
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Ten Little Indians
Title: Ten Little Indians
Character: General Mackenzie
Released: August 20, 1949
Type: Movie
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.
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Blanche Fury
Title: Blanche Fury
Character: Lord Rudford
Released: February 19, 1948
Type: Movie
Penniless governess Blanche Fullerton takes a job at the estate of her rich relations, the Fury family. To better her position in life, Blanche marries her dull cousin, Laurence Fury, with whom she has a daughter. But before long, boredom sets in, and Blanche begins a tempestuous romance with stableman Philip Thorn. Together, they hatch a murderous plan to gain control of the estate.
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Pygmalion
Title: Pygmalion
Character: Colonel Pickering
Released: February 8, 1948
Type: Movie
Can Professor Higgins transform flower-girl Eliza Dolittle into a great lady?
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The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp
Title: The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp
Character: Embassy Counsellor
Released: July 26, 1943
Type: Movie
General 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.
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The Terror
Title: The Terror
Character: Colonel Redmayne
Released: May 2, 1938
Type: Movie
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.
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Kate Plus Ten
Title: Kate Plus Ten
Character: Colonel Westhanger
Released: March 17, 1938
Type: Movie
Kate is secretary to Lord Flamborough. But she is also leader of a criminal gang. Can Mike Pemberton catch her red-handed?
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Silver Blaze
Title: Silver Blaze
Character: Sherlock Holmes
Released: July 1, 1937
Type: Movie
Holmes 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.
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Thunder in the City
Title: Thunder in the City
Character: Sir Peter
Released: April 22, 1937
Type: Movie
A visiting American engages in a bold business promotion, the likes of which the British have not seen.
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Storm in a Teacup
Title: Storm in a Teacup
Character: Fiscal
Released: February 25, 1937
Type: Movie
A 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.
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Dishonour Bright
Title: Dishonour Bright
Character: Judge
Released: September 21, 1936
Type: Movie
A man is cited as the co-respondent in a divorce case, but is cheerfully unashamed when he appears in court.
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The Triumph of Sherlock Holmes
Title: The Triumph of Sherlock Holmes
Character: Sherlock Holmes
Released: March 24, 1935
Type: Movie
Holmes, 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.
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The Sign of Four: Sherlock Holmes' Greatest Case
Title: The Sign of Four: Sherlock Holmes' Greatest Case
Character: Sherlock Holmes
Released: May 12, 1932
Type: Movie
A 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.
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The Missing Rembrandt
Title: The Missing Rembrandt
Character: Sherlock Holmes
Released: February 12, 1932
Type: Movie
Holmes goes on the trail of a Rembrandt painting, stolen by a drug-addicted artist.
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Condemned to Death
Title: Condemned to Death
Character: Sir Charles Wallington
Released: January 21, 1932
Type: Movie
A condemned man uses hypnotism on a judge. After the man's death, the judge finds himself acting like the condemned man.
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A Gentleman of Paris
Title: A Gentleman of Paris
Character: Judge Le Fevre
Released: December 4, 1931
Type: Movie
A 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.
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The Sleeping Cardinal
Title: The Sleeping Cardinal
Character: Sherlock Holmes
Released: February 15, 1931
Type: Movie
A card cheat is threatened with exposure into joining a criminal enterprise that Sherlock Holmes believes is controlled by Professor Moriarity.
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The Diamond Man
Title: The Diamond Man
Character: Lady Marshalt
Released: September 30, 1924
Type: Movie
Orphan, Audrey Bedford takes the blame for her half- sister's gem theft and later exposes her employer as her crooked husband.
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Eugene Aram
Title: Eugene Aram
Character: Eugene Aram
Released: February 28, 1924
Type: Movie
A blackmailed ex-thief is executed for a murder he didn't commit.
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Bonnie Prince Charlie
Title: Bonnie Prince Charlie
Character: Lord Kingsburgh
Released: November 1, 1923
Type: Movie
In 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.
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Lady Windermere's Fan
Title: Lady Windermere's Fan
Character: Lord Darlington
Released: July 1, 1916
Type: Movie
Early silent version of the Oscar Wilde play.