It starts with a blackmailer, taking one of his victims, Lilian Oldland, to France. We see Lord Peter nosing around their hotel, muttering about blackmail - perhaps he is on the trail. He also notices a porter carrying a large empty trunk - with creases in his pants! This porter turns out to be another blackmail victim. His plan is to kill the blackmailer and stuff his body in the trunk, to be found later in France. Before he can get out of the room, John Loder, Oldland's husband confronts him, punches him out and informs him that he is taking his wife to France. But not before a witness spots him.
So, the trunk is loaded on the boat-train, along with the silent passenger. Loder is reconciled with his wandering wife. Wimsey is onboard as well, poking his nose into everyone's business. When Loder's collar comes undone, Wimsey offers to get him a stud. When Loder says his buttonhole is torn, Peter goes to get a spare buttonhole.
At French customs, the body is found. Everyone knows it's the blackmailer, but Loder - he punched out a different man, and didn't kill anyone. But will the police believe him (No)? Can Lord Peter get to the bottom of this (What do you think?)?
Wimsey is played by Peter Haddon, a big name comic of the time. He has a skinny mustache, and a dopey line of patter. Bunter is played Aubrey Mather, and given very little to do. The build-up to the crime is a bit convoluted, with lots going on that I didn't pick up on. Then it gets rather slow for a while. The end seemed to me to come a bit at random, with the real murderer just being dumb.
Oh well, it seems that Sayers herself hated this version. But it's no worse than a lot of old movies we've enjoyed, and not as far from the canonical book characters as, for ex, the Lloyd Nolan Mike Shayne. We bought this disc from Movies Unlimited, and I feel like we got our money's worth.
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