This film takes us "all aboard" a high speed express train traveling from London to Scotland. Placing murder and deception aboard the close quarters of the train make this one of the better films! Although not based on any story of the Doyle canon, this film does include secret compartments from The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax and Holmes' sinister and deadly enemy Colonel Sebastian Moran from The Adventure of the Empty House. Surprisingly, Colonel Moran is the only canonical foil (besides Moriarty and the Hound) to make it into the Basil and Nigel series!

Costar Alan Mowbray, who plays Watson's friend, Major Duncan Bleek, is no stranger to the Holmes genre. Twice he has played Scotland Yard inspectors, first as Gore-King in Sherlock Holmes (1932) with Clive Brook, and second as Lestrade in A Study in Scarlet (1933) with Reginald Owen.