The Mystery of a Hansom Cab

In a dim public house in colonial Melbourne, Oliver Whyte and Roger Moreland hold court as their talk turns to frustration and fate. Whyte declares that the poet's time has come, setting a moody, portentous tone for what follows. The conversation foreshadows hidden motives and precarious alliances among the city’s elites.

A stranger recognizes Whyte and helps him into a hansom after a drunken stumble, but that same night he returns, suffocates Whyte with a chloroformed rag, and steals a crucial paper from Whyte’s jacket. The violence shatters the night and begins a web of secrets to unravel. The city’s shadows begin to close in on the characters involved.

Two weeks before the murder, Whyte attends a lavish party hosted by Mark Frettlby and moves through a gallery of notable figures. There he meets Duncan Calton, Madge, Brian Fitzgerald, and others, while Frettlby privately slips him a sealed note hinting at blackmail. The social circle’s glitter hides darker schemes.

Madge chafes at her betrothal to Whyte, and she loves Fitzgerald, who promises to intervene if necessary. Frettlby privately indicates the engagement, mixing social expectations with personal desire. The seeds of conflict are planted in the upper echelons of society.

Guided by Calton, Frettlby dissolves the engagement to spare Madge and publicly saves face, a decision that sends Whyte toward liquor on the night of the murder. The public image of the characters begins to blur as private motives take precedence. Tensions simmer beneath polished surfaces.

The same night, Fitzgerald receives a note pulling him from a poker game into the nighttime streets, where he encounters Whyte and helps him into a cab before departing. This encounter threads doubt through the investigation and ties the night’s events to the wider mystery. The city’s maze of loyalties begins to tighten around the truth.

The next morning Fitzgerald burns the note, a gesture that will complicate investigators as they piece together the night’s events. The act removes a critical clue and raises questions about what others may have seen or hidden. The search for truth moves into the daylight hours with unresolved tension.

In a rundown boarding house run by Mother Guttersnipe, a young girl dies in the night from fever, and her friend Sal Rawlins flees with the necklace she took. The boarding house becomes a focal point for newly discovered secrets and moral decisions. The body count of implications grows as witnesses emerge.

Detective Gorby begins inquiries, and Fitzgerald is arrested as the case unfolds. Calton steps in not only as counsel but as a strategic ally who helps push the case toward truth. Detective Kilsip weighs in, seeking new evidence, including the note Sal brings.

The courtroom drama culminates in a victory for Fitzgerald, who is exonerated. He refuses to reveal the note’s contents, aiming to shield Madge from scandal. The legal triumph reshapes the perception of guilt and innocence within Melbourne’s social circles.

As the investigation broadens, Frettlby becomes the prime suspect. Calton uncovers Frettlby’s affair with Rosanna Moore and the existence of a daughter named Sarah, a revelation that shatters Frettlby’s carefully curated public image. The truth begins to fragment the façade of respectability.

Calton and Kilsip deduce that the overcoat and chloroform bottle were discarded nearby and identify Roger Moreland as the killer and blackmailer who wore Whyte’s clothes. The pieces align as the motive and method become clear. Hidden connections between characters are exposed in the pursuit of justice.

Moreland confronts Frettlby, who exchanges the marriage certificate for £5,000 in cash. Frettlby suffers a heart attack when he realizes that Sarah—the daughter he believed dead—is alive, and Madge discovers she is illegitimate. The revelation fractures the household’s hierarchy and propels the final acts of the story.

Moreland is arrested and hangs himself before standing trial, cutting off the threat of public blackmail. Calton, Kilsip, and Fitzpatrick burn the marriage certificate to preserve Madge’s dignity, and Sal uses the case money to establish a women’s shelter. The community seeks to transform tragedy into something constructive.

Madge and Fitzgerald marry and plan to sail to Europe on their honeymoon, leaving behind the tangled pasts they navigated together. The film closes on a note of quiet resilience, showing that truth, sacrifice, and a resolve to protect vulnerable lives illuminate the moral landscape.