“It's rather odd that one of the most popular literary detectives of them all, Peter Wimsey, should be overlooked by the movies. Admittedly an elaborate T.V. series a few years ago made up for the oversight to a degree, but otherwise the entire filmic career of Lord Peter is on view this evening.
“Although it has its rough edges certainly, The Silent Passenger is an unusually adept British ‘B' made by Phoenix Films.... Dorothy L. Sayers who wrote the story specially for the screen was reputedly not happy with the results, nor with the substantial changes wrought in the material she supplied. Presumably the producers didn't feel that Peter Haddon, as Wimsey, could carry the film alone, and while he is important to the story-line, more emphasis is placed on the traditional hero of John Loder. The Wimsey character underwent a number of changes, or to be more exact, improvements, over the years as Sayers fell in love with her creation and gradually turned him into an ideal. Peter Haddon is closer by far to her original concept than is Robert Montgomery in the co-feature.... The Silent Passenger has a tight little script, somewhat Hitchcockian, though without Hitchcock's humor. It contains quite a few surprises, doesn't telegraph its story twists, and winds up with an excellent and really suspenseful chase sequence in some railroad sidings.” William K. Everson