00:00And now, ladies and gentlemen, may I draw your attention to something which may be a great surprise to you, worthy of any collection.
00:06The only other one like it is in the British Museum.
00:08It's a Ming vase of the 7th Dynasty.
00:12This vase lay in a large collection somewhere outside Rome for over two centuries, I understand.
00:18It was discovered there by the noted antiquarian Sir Andrew Copleston.
00:22Now, some of you may remember Sir Andrew Copleston.
00:24Besides being a noted traveller and antiquarian, he's also a gentleman rider.
00:30A girl with a parcel in her hands. That's her.
00:35Are you sure that's the girl?
00:37She fits perfectly the auctioneer's description.
00:40Follow her, Hamid.
01:00It's lovely, dear.
01:21And only one pound. We can get at least three for it.
01:24Easily. I'll go make some tea.
01:26I could do with a cup. Right.
01:32Good afternoon.
01:33Good afternoon. I'm looking for a birthday gift for a seven-year-old girl. What would you suggest?
01:38We have some lovely dolls. Now, this Hungarian...
01:40I think she has enough dolls already.
01:42Books are always welcome.
01:44Well, I'm looking for something a little different.
01:46Well, that's rather cute. What is it?
01:48Oh, that's a musical box. Children always love them.
01:52And this is an exceptionally nice one.
01:55It plays many tunes.
02:03Have you any others?
02:04Yes. If you'll just step this way.
02:07I have only two left.
02:08How nice.
02:19Are you sure this is all you have?
02:21I'm sorry.
02:22They're rather hard to find, you know.
02:24That's our entire allotment.
02:26I did have one other, but I sold it earlier this afternoon.
02:29But it was only a plain wooden one.
02:31It wouldn't have been a very nice gift for a child.
02:33Really?
02:33Do you happen to know who the purchaser was?
02:38Why, yes.
02:39He left his card.
02:40Just in case anyone should inquire for him.
02:50How interesting.
02:54I'm sorry, but I'm afraid I'll have to look a bit further.
02:56Thank you, anyway.
02:59Good afternoon. Thank you.
03:03Good afternoon.
03:26Heavy!
03:30Follow that cab.
03:31Here, now. What?
03:32Gotland Yard.
03:34Hop in.
03:42Sherlock Holmes.
03:44I might have known.
03:45We thought we were the hunters.
03:48Instead of which, were they hunted.
03:50We've been fools.
03:51We played right into his hands.
03:54Of course.
03:56He's had us followed.
03:57Don't look.
03:59The man in front of the toy shop.
04:01I'm going to see.
04:02We'll see you.
04:04Honey.
04:05Turn sharp right at the next corner, and again at the next.
04:11No photograph of her, Commissioner.
04:17As I expected.
04:18She's not a known criminal.
04:20But I'd expect to know her if you do find her.
04:22After all, she was disguised as a charwoman.
04:24Don't worry, old fellow. If I ever see it again, I'll recognize her.
04:28Well, it won't be long till we know who they are and from where they operate.
04:32Who's covering them?
04:33Sergeant Thompson's following them, sir. They won't get away from him. He's a good man.
04:37We could have arrested them at Clifford's toy shop if we had any proof.
04:40But we know that they killed Emrah.
04:42Proof, my dear fellow. We must have proof.
04:47We have x-rayed it, sir. There's nothing whatever concealed in the box.
04:50We'll have a look at the plates.
04:54There must be some clue.
05:01And it's probably so obvious that we've all overlooked it.
05:04Seems to me we're up against a bunch of lunatics.
05:09Not lunatics, my dear fellow. Extremely astute cold-blooded murderers.
05:13What can these little musical boxes have in them so important?
05:17Don't forget they were made in Dartmoor Prison.
05:19You can smuggle stuff into prison but not out.
05:22Do you want us to break the box apart, sir, to see if there's anything the x-ray hasn't caught?
05:26No, not yet.
05:27Do you mind if I take it?
05:28Certainly.
05:29Thanks.
05:30The governor of Dartmoor Prison informed us, sir, in answer to Mr. Holmes' question, that all three musical boxes were made by the same convict, John Davidson.
05:48serving a seven-year term, sir.
05:50Davidson?
05:51The Bank of England plates.
05:52That'll be all.
05:53Yes, sir.
05:54Now we're getting somewhere.
05:56If...
05:57Wait a minute.
05:58How did you know about the plates, Mr. Holmes?
06:00I'm a student of crime, Inspector.
06:02I make it my business to know about such things.
06:04And when the name of Davidson was mentioned...
06:06Well, who is this fellow Davidson?
06:08As long as Mr. Holmes seems to know all about it already, I suppose there's no harm in telling you.
06:13Two years ago in London, there occurred a robbery of such tremendous importance, although the stolen articles themselves have no intrinsic value whatsoever,
06:24that the Home Secretary was instrumental in seeing that not a word of it appeared in any newspaper.
06:28But you never told me anything about this, Holmes?
06:31You were away at the time.
06:33Articles of no intrinsic value and yet of such importance?
06:36I don't understand.
06:38Davidson was apprehended within 15 minutes of committing the theft.
06:42He left.
06:43But by that time, he'd hidden the articles in question and they've yet to be found.
06:47Before going further, Dr. Watson, I must inform you that this matter's not to be mentioned outside of this room.
06:52Of course not.
06:53Do I look like a man who'd gossip?
06:55Let's not go into that now, old fellow, shall we?
06:58Davidson had been employed for years in a position of extreme trust by the engravings department of the Bank of England.
07:05The articles he stole were nothing less than a complete duplicate set of plates for printing five-pound notes.
07:11What?
07:12The Bank of England's own plates?
07:14Precisely.
07:15And with those plates, a gang of crooks could flood England with five-pound notes,
07:19not forged in the usual sense of the word, but notes undetectable from genuine Bank of England notes in any way whatsoever.
07:26Good heavens.
07:27Any whisper at all might have resulted in enormous damage in shaking public confidence in the Treasury.
07:32We tried everything after we arrested Davidson.
07:35Offered him a shorter sentence if he'd tell us where he'd hidden the plates.
07:38Why, we even put in Scotland Yardmen with him as cellmates, but no results.
07:43Obviously Davidson is a man of strong character and infinite patience.
07:48Yet suddenly he feels impelled to smuggle out the secret of the hiding place of the plates to his confederates.
07:53Why?
07:54I don't understand, Mr. Holmes.
07:57Well, for example, has the Bank of England made any plans to radically change the design of the five-pound notes,
08:04so that in, say, seven years from now, notes made from the stolen plates would be worthless?
08:09Confidentially, Mr. Holmes, such a move was discussed, but replacing all the five-pound notes in circulation would be such a Herculean task that nothing's been done about it as yet.
08:19I see. Of course, there is another possible explanation. Davidson didn't have much time to find a hiding place before he was captured.
08:26He may be afraid that the plates will be accidentally discovered before he's released.
08:32Hence his anxiety to communicate their whereabouts to his confederates as soon as possible.
08:37I believe you've hit it, Mr. Holmes.
08:40I'm sure that the message is contained in this musical box.
08:44Or rather, in all three musical boxes, since possession of all three seems to be essential.
08:50Our opponents have two-thirds of the puzzle, we have one-third.
08:54Well, what are you going to do, Holmes?
08:56Try to deduce the message from the one-third that we have.
09:14It's the same tune as the one played by Emery's musical box.
09:42And yet it's different.
09:46Sounds the same to me.
09:48The tune.
09:50Somehow the tune is the key to the mystery.
09:56It must be the tune.
09:58Otherwise, why use three musical boxes to convey the message?
10:02Why not collar boxes or shoe boxes?
10:05Yes?
10:07Oh, it's for you, Inspector.
10:10Oh, thank you, sir.
10:12Inspector Hopkins speaking.
10:14What?
10:16Where?
10:18Golders Green Station reports they've just found Sergeant Thompson's body.
10:24From the tire marks on his clothes, he was apparently run over by taxi.
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