The Sign of the Four (DVD)

In the world of Sherlock Holmes there are two very well known screen portrayals of Conan Doyle’s immortal detective. Jeremy Brett on the TV screen in the 80’s and 90’s and Basil Rathbone on the cinema screen in the 40’s. There have been many other versions of the character in both formats but most of them are lesser versions, unable to match the style and quality of these two.
Before even Rathbone played Holmes though there was a British series ...
...The Sign of Four was made in 1932 and is one of five Holmes films made in the thirties starring Wontner. One of these is lost forever, a second is rarely seen but the other three are all available on DVD very cheaply. My copies came from the much lamented Murder One shop in central London, a shop that sadly vanished very recently from its location near Leicester Square Underground station.

The Sign of Four is one of Conan Doyle’s classic ... more

In the world of Sherlock Holmes there are two very well known screen portrayals of Conan Doyle’s immortal detective. Jeremy Brett on the TV screen in the 80’s and 90’s and Basil Rathbone on the cinema screen in the 40’s. There have been many other versions of the character in both formats but most of them are lesser versions, unable to match the style and quality of these two.
Before even Rathbone played Holmes though there was a British series of Holmes films starring one Arthur Wontner.

The Sign of Four was made in 1932 and is one of five Holmes films made in the thirties starring Wontner. One of these is lost forever, a second is rarely seen but the other three are all available on DVD very cheaply. My copies came from the much lamented Murder One shop in central London, a shop that sadly vanished very recently from its location near Leicester Square Underground station.

The Sign of Four is one of Conan Doyle’s classic novels starring our favourite detective, Sherlock Holmes. This version was made in the UK and its star, Arthur Wontner, was said, at the time, to be the definitive Holmes and that no one would ever be able to better his performance as the logical, music loving, drug taking genius.

In The Sign of the Four Holmes and Watson, played by Ian Hunter, are visited by the young Mary Marston. She has received a threatening letter from an escaped murderer who is after the fortune in jewels that her father was involved in stealing away from a far off land.
The killer wants revenge on the men who betrayed him and to get hold of the riches he so rightly deserves.
Has Holmes brilliant logical mind finally met its match?

It is strange to think that this film is now older than its running time of 75 minutes. The thought that this film was made 77 years ago in 1932 and yet is still capable of being viewed today seems quite amazing. The fact that it is still quite enjoyable to watch is a testament to the longevity and skill of Conan Doyle’s original storytelling abilities.
The Sign of Four is one of Holmes best adventures and this movie captures the essence of it extremely well. The opening few minutes sets up the background, out in a prison camp in Africa somewhere, very effectively. The direction and camerawork gives us a mostly downbeat start that plays up human nature to a tee. The greed and violence in man shown in moody shadows and atmospheric visuals.

The true proof though of how good the whole opening sequence is though is that you don’t actually notice that Holmes hasn’t even shown up yet. When he does finally make his first appearance, with his customary logical deductions about what Watson has been doing, it is only then that you realise that 21 minutes (over a quarter of the films running time) has passed by.

Once Holmes and Watson appear things start moving at a very brisk pace, moving the plot along rapidly with a number of well set up scenes, especially considering the limitations of the time period.

Wontner makes a great Holmes. His angular features look very similar to the illustrations of the great detective originally published with the stories in The Strand Magazine. He has that laid back air of aloofness that Holmes, in the written form, always seemed to possess.

The rest of the cast is adequate, though there is that common tendency of early cinema to over dramatise everything, mainly due to the fact that the actors were all stage trained and used to acting in a certain way. Stage acting has to be a lot more over the top because you need everyone to be able to see and hear what is happening. There is nothing actually wrong with this style of acting, it is the only thing they knew back then, it is just very apparent how different it was to the style of today.

The Sign of four is a good movie without being anything special. If you are a huge Holmes fan then watching this will give you a certain level of enjoyment, especially when you consider that this film was made not that long after the stories were written.

If you are not then as you are never going to see it on TV then you will not have to worry about it too much, after all you are not going to go searching for it are you!

You can find The Sign of Four on a very basic Region 1 DVD fairly easily and it will only cost you a couple of quid to buy it.

 

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