A gang of thieves gather at a safe house following a robbery, but a detective is on their trail.
Detective Gilbert is searching for a necklace robbed by a gang of thieves. In the beginning, the gang is in a house in London, then they are running away from police. It will not be easy for the detective to recover the jewel.—Claudio Sandrini <[email protected]>
A man wanders into an open house, Number 17, and finds a dead body. There's a strange man wandering around who, when confronted, claims that he had nothing to do with the person's demise. A woman, Ms. Akroyd, then falls through the ceiling from the roof of the building. She is looking for her father whom she left on the roof. Then the dead body disappears.—grantss
The building at Number 17 is currently for sale or for let to an estate agent, so should be empty. However on this specific dark and windswept night, individuals or small groups, one by one, find their way into the building. Included is a dead body which eventually goes missing, such a corpse unknown to some of the later arrivals. While each of their stated reasons differ, most of them are hiding from the others they encounter their real reason for being there. One of the groups is a band of jewel thieves who have come to retrieve a stolen diamond necklace they hid in the building, they unaware that one of the individuals is a police detective on their trail.—Huggo
In a windy night, a man follows his hat that flies until the house of number 17, and he sees that the house is for sale or rent. He enters the house and stumbles upon the tramp Ben and a dead body on the third floor. Soon a woman named Rose Ackroyd falls from the skylight and shows a telegram from a police detective named Barton to her father Mr. Ackroyd, who is the next-door neighbor, saying that a group of thieves that robbed a famous necklace of diamonds will meet each other at the house. Out of the blue, the body disappears, and the criminals arrive in the beginning of a night with many twists.—Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
In rural England along a coastline, police Detective Barton arrives at a house marked 'For sale or rent'. The door is unlocked and he wanders in. An unknown person with a candle is wandering about and a dead body is found. When confronted, the mysterious person claims innocence of the murder. Barton, who introduces himself as Forsythe, asks the stranger about the contents of his pockets before the shadow of a hand is shown reaching for a doorknob. The stranger, who later introduces himself as Ben, searches the dead body and finds handcuffs and a gun, which he takes.
The detective returns from investigating the weird sound and finds the handcuffs that the stranger had left on the ground. A woman called Miss Ackroyd is seen through shadows crawling on the roof. After falling through the roof, she is revived and cries out for her father. She explains that her father is on the roof and that they are next door in room number 15.
The bell tolls half past midnight and the dead body has disappeared. Three people arrive at the windswept house: Mr. Ackroyd, Nora (a deaf-mute) and a third person. Ben draws out the gun and accidentally shoots the governor. Mr. Ackroyd draws out a gun and asks him to search the gentlemen, Ben and Miss Ackroyd. The telegram is revealed to Mr. Ackroyd. Sheldrake retrieves the diamond necklace, which he has hidden in the upper portion of a toilet. Ben causes a commotion and is locked away with Sheldrake.
Sheldrake reaches out and appears to strangle Ben, who is only feigning unconsciousness. When more members of the gang arrive, they suggest binding Miss Ackroyd and Forsythe. One of the men is Miss Ackroyd's father, a police officer, who locks away two of the thieves and frees Miss Ackroyd and Doyle. He opens the door behind which Ben is locked away with Sheldrake, and he engages in a fistfight with Sheldrake.
The other man reveals himself as Sheldrake (the supposed corpse) and frees the others. Miss Ackroyd and Forsythe are bound again. Nora reveals that she is able to speak and says "I'm coming back." She returns and frees Miss Ackroyd and Doyle. Miss Ackroyd faints but recovers. Nora returns to the basement to allay the suspicions of the other thieves and to buy time for the rest to escape. They free Ben and Miss Ackroyd's father. The thieves arrive at the rail yard and board a departing freight train bound for Germany.
The train departs with Ben aboard and he stumbles onto crates of wine. The thieves, after dispatching the conductor, walk to the front of the train, shoot the fireman and catch the driver as he faints. Forsythe, who failed to board the train before it departed, commandeers a bus. Ben is revealed to have the necklace. Sheldrake discovers that he does not have the necklace and the thieves fight each other. Sheldrake claims that one of them is Barton, a detective posing as a thief. A chase scene occurs on the train as the thieves go after Barton, who escapes and handcuffs Nora. Forsythe's bus races after the train. The thieves, realizing that the train is accelerating, try to find the brakes. They turn dials helplessly and notice Forsythe's bus.
Despite the thieves' efforts, the train only accelerates, leaving them unable to escape. At the dock in Dover, the ferry arrives. As Forsythe watches, the train hurtles through the dock, crashes into the train on the ferry at full speed and pushes it out to sea, dragging the remaining cars into the ocean. People are rescued from the water. Doyle tells Forsythe that he is posing as Detective Barton, but Forsythe, who is actually Barton, says to Doyle, "You can't be Barton because I am." All of the thieves are apprehended by the police. In the final shot, Ben reveals to Nora and Forsythe that he has the diamond necklace.
