Mysteries among BFI's most wanted films.

Ivor Novello in
The Lodger (1926)

In considering the British Film Institute's "Most Wanted" list of films, it should be noted that about 35 percent are either mysteries or thrillers that trigger desire in the mystery fan/scholar for their presence on DVD. They include the following:

• A Study in Scarlet (1914); Sherlock Holmes, of course

• Murder at Monte Carlo (1935); Errol Flynn's first film

• The Scarab Murder Case (1936), with Wilfred Hyde-White as S. S. Van Dine's detective Philo Vance

• Murder Will Out (1939), with Jack Hawkins

• This Man Is Dangerous (1941), with James Mason as David Hume's detective Mick Cardby

• Double Confession (1950), with Peter Lorre in a blackmail tale

• Two adaptations featuring John Creasey's sleuth Richard Rollison, aka the Toff—Salute the Toff and Hammer the Toff (both 1952)

• Films from the early career of director Michael Powell such as Two Crowded Hours (1931)

BFI also has launched an effort to preserve films from Alfred Hitchcock's silent film oeuvre, including his 1926 adaptation of Marie Belloc Lowndes's The Lodger with Ivor Novello.