Inspector Hornleigh Goes to It – 1941 | 87 mins | Thriller, Comedy | B&W

Plot Synopsis

Third and final film in the series of ‘Inspector Hornleigh’ comedy-thrillers. Like the previous instalments Harker and Sim are on top form and director Walter Forde seamlessly balances the fun with thrills.

Inspector Hornleigh (Gordon Harker), disappointed at not being handed an important spy case, is assigned by Scotland Yard to an army barracks to investigate the mundane thefts of supplies from the stores. This accidentally leads Hornleigh and Sergeant Bingham (Alastair Sim) to a nest of fifth columnists when his dim-witted assistant carelessly talks to a girl in the cafeteria – and that night news of Hornleigh and Bingham’s arrival is embarrassingly transmitted back to Germany.

The girl leads the sleuthing duo to Dr. Wilkinson’s dentist’s surgery, but when they return at night to examine the premises, the dentist is found murdered in his chair and his wife (Phyllis Calvert) relieves bumbling Bingham of some incriminating documents before fleeing the scene. The only clue is a phone call Mrs. Wilkinson made to a Dr. Kerbishley (Raymond Huntley), the master of a nearby evacuated school. Hornleigh gets a job at the school under the pretence that he is Professor Mackenzie, a science teacher, and cunningly questions the pupils about Kerbishley’s coming and goings. He discovers that Kerbishley leaves the school daily to post a recorded letter at the local post office. Hornleigh deduces these are the messages intended to be broadcast back to Germany, and hurriedly boards the night mail train disguised as a sorter to discover who collects the mystery letter.