Busman's Honeymoon

Busman's Honeymoon (US: Haunted Honeymoon)[1] is a 1940 British detective film directed by Arthur B. Woods.[3] An adaptation of the 1937 Lord Peter Wimsey novel Busman's Honeymoon by Dorothy L. Sayers, Busman's Honeymoon stars Robert Montgomery, Constance Cummings, Leslie Banks, Googie Withers, Robert Newton and Seymour Hicks as Mervyn Bunter. [Note 1]

Newly married amateur detective Lord Peter Wimsey (Montgomery) and his wife, mystery writer Harriet Vane (Cummings), are looking forward to a quiet honeymoon at their new country cottage when they are reluctantly drawn into the investigation of a local murder.

Location shooting on Busman's Honeymoon began 4 August 1939 with Richard Thorpe as the original director. After the outbreak of the Second World War, the film was "shelved" until March 1940 with Arthur B. Woods appointed as director.[5] Principal photography took place from 21 March to mid-April 1940 at Denham Studios, as well as other locations in England.[6]

Film critic Bosley Crowther in his review of Haunted Honeymoon, wrote in The New York Times, "Seldom has there been a film so pleasantly conducive to browsing as this leisurely, bookish fable of murder in Devonshire; not of late has there been one so steeped in the genteel tradition of British crime literature. A glass of port, at least, should be taken along with it."[7]

In a modern review, Britmovie wrote, "Americans Robert Montgomery and Constance Cummings aroused some national indignation when cast as such the essentially British sleuth Lord Peter Wimsey and his crime-writing bride Harriet Vane but they acquitted themselves satisfactorily, even though some of their thunder is stolen by a particularly colourful supporting cast that includes a morose Robert Newton, Seymour Hicks resourceful butler, Leslie Banks and Googie Withers".[8]