Introduction Basil Rathbone played Sherlock Holmes a total of fourteen times. He is probably one of the most famous actors to play the role and, at his best, does a superb job. This film is not one of his best though - this is not completely his fault - much of the blame has to lie with the director, Roy William Neil, for deciding to make a Sherlock Holmes film that is not based on any of the Conan Doyle stories. It was certainly watchable and enjoyable, but that's the best that can be said for this film.
The director Roy William Neil directed and produced all of the Sherlock Holmes films starring Basil Rathbone after this one, the fourth in the series. Neil died in 1946, which effectively brought Basil Rathbone's stint as Sherlock Holmes to an end.
The plot Sherlock Holmes is called in to protect a Swiss scientist, Dr Franz Tobel, who has agreed to share his plans for a bombsight (which apparently helps ensure the accuracy of bombs) with the British government rather than Germany. Holmes rescues him from the Nazis and smuggles him out of Switzerland and leaves him in the safe hands of Dr Watson. Except that they are not safe hands, because Dr Watson falls asleep and Tobel escapes to see his mistress.
When he eventually turns up again, the UK government officials are stunned to hear that Tobel will not share the production secrets of the bombsight, but wishes to oversee production of the instrument himself. Then he disappears. Holmes discovers that his disappearance is the work of Professor Moriarty. All he has to work on is a piece of paper covered in dancing men that Dr Tobel left with his mistress. Can Holmes and Watson save the day and Great Britain?!
The characters/actors I do quite like Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes. He is madly irritating and patronising at times, but then this is exactly how Conan Doyle portrayed him. His hair, brushed forward, annoyed me, but was probably the fashion of the day in 1942! Give me Jeremy Brett any day, but Rathbone does a good enough job. Interestingly, Basil Rathbone was born in South Africa, but moved to the UK at a young age and eventually took an interest in the acting profession. He is best known for his role as Sherlock Holmes, and starred in 14 films in this role.
Poor Dr Watson. Nigel Bruce, of whom I am very fond as an actor, takes the role to extremes and Dr Watson becomes more of an idiot than anything else. He adds a comedy role to the film, which is probably the intention, but I would have preferred that he had stuck to the more traditional view of Watson, who although is not as smart as Holmes, is certainly not as stupid as he is made to be here.
As Professor Moriarty, Lionel Attwill did not shine in any way, shape or form; in fact, I barely noticed he was there. The odd time I did, he came over as being slightly annoying. Disappointing.
Dennis Hoey plays Inspector Lestrade for the first time in this film. Again, he is portrayed as a total idiot, somewhere along the same lines as Watson.
Technical bits My version of the disc has an interesting documentary about all the actors who had played Sherlock Holmes before Basil Rathbone. Many of them performed on the stage and as such, I had not heard of them. The documentary was interesting, but not worth buying the DVD for unless you really like the film.
The film is in black and white, although it is apparently possible to get it in colour as well.
Conclusion If you like Basil Rathbone in the role of Sherlock Holmes as I do, then you'll probably enjoy this. But you're unlikely to think it's the best film you've ever seen. I personally much preferred Rathbone in The Hound of the Baskervilles, his first film in the role, which stuck quite closely to Conan Doyle's original story. This DVD, and many of the others directed by Roy William Neil, is only loosely based on Conan Doyle's work and characters. This particular one, for example, is based during the Second World War, whereas as anyone with any knowledge of the original work will know that they were written during the late19th century. The clue of the dancing men does come from a Conan Doyle story, but the rest of it, apart from the characters (and that depends on your viewpoint) is completely different.
I do believe that some artistic licence is needed when turning a book into a film. However, to put the character of Sherlock Holmes into a propaganda film is pushing it a little too far for me. Sherlock Holmes was famous for a reason and that was because the public liked him the way he was. Turning Watson into a complete idiot was also unnecessary as far as I am concerned.
However, rant finished, if you forget about the similarities to Conan Doyle's work and just consider the film, it is entertaining and I did enjoy it. Don't start with this one though, The Hound of the Baskervilles is a much better introduction to Basil Rathbone in the role.
A new copy is available on Amazon from £5.99, used from £2.19.
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Soundtrack
Average
How does it compare to others by the same director?
Satisfactory
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Satisfactory
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DVD
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