Number 17

Themes: Stairs, Brandy, Wrong Man, Chase, Train, Class


Characters:
Barton
Nora - mysterious
Rose
Ben
Brant
Shelldrake
Henry - suspicious
Mr. Ackroyd (Rose's father)

Notes:
Use of shadow and light in opening scenes on the staircase w/ candles
Hand at top of the stairs - Ben and Barton discover the corpse at the same time: shot of each man's face, mouth agape - layered with a train screeching to a stop.
Ben's shadow
Closeups of hands

Unclear identity - Barton, Henry, Nora
Necklace - macguffin
First ~40 minutes take place in the house, mostly centered around the stairs. Remainder of the story is the chase, the chase taking place on the train (Brant and Shelldrake in pursuit of Henry), and Barton chasing the train.
Nora is presented as being deaf and dumb, but this is revealed to be untrue when she turns to Barton and Rose and speaks.
Just before she speaks, Nora drops her purse (on purpose) - Henry notices but says nothing, which makes him suspicious.
Twist at the end - Henry claims to be Barton, to Barton - who calls him out. In the end it is Ben who has the necklace (he opens his coat to reveal he is wearing it)