The Triumph of Sherlock Holmes (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 Triumph of Sherlock Holmes was made in 1935 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.

Triumph is based on the Conan ... 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 Triumph of Sherlock Holmes was made in 1935 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.

Triumph is based on the Conan Doyle story ‘Valley of Fear’ and starts off with Holmes retired in Sussex. When Watson comes to visit him he brings along with him a coded message from a man Holmes had infiltrated, or converted to good, from inside Moriarty’s gang, he knows that retired or not he has to get involved. His conscience will not allow it.
His arrival at the location mentioned in the message he received is just too late to prevent a murder but not too late to stop the killer from escaping. Can Holmes deductive abilities uncover the purpose of the murder and defeat the plans of his arch nemesis.

At the time he made his Holmes movies, the early to late 1930’s, Wontner was thought to be the definitive Holmes. So much so that the prevalent thought at the time seems to have been that no one would ever better his performances as Holmes.
For me though Rathbone will always be the actor, and image, that I associate with Holmes, even if Brett was much closer in look and attitude to the books version.
Wontner though does have the Holmes look about him, the angular facial characteristics and the tall gangly body that, going by the illustrations in the original Strand Magazine stories, looks exactly like Holmes.
He is also obviously an accomplished actor and has the gravitas that Holmes is associated with. He also manages to convey the moments when Holmes just seems to disappear from the real world and enter a different plane, one where his deductions and logic can flow far more easily helping him jump to an answer that at first seems crazy but turns out to be completely logical.

Dr Watson is played by Ian Fleming, no not the James Bond author even if some websites do say that it is! He creates a Watson that is less of an assistant and more of a friend. Watson here is pretty useless, in an investigating sense, but comes across as a loyal and steadfast ally. He is certainly less of a buffoon than Nigel Bruce’s version in the Rathbone series.

Made in the 1930’s The Triumph suffers from the limitations of its era, and a low budget, by being very theatrical and set based. It could very easily be a stage play transformed to film even though it does have a few more sets than your average play would have. There is very little, if any (I cannot actually recall one at the mo) time spent outside that doesn’t still look like a set.
This isn’t really a problem though as the story is mainly based inside a big, dark house, and dark is the word for it! Some of the night scenes, where the cast are moving around by candlelight, leave you only able to see their faces in amongst the blackness. This is annoying at first, probably because we are used to even the darkest of nights being lit like it is daylight these days, but it does add a lot of apprehension and tension to the characters predicament and you soon appreciate what an atmosphere this does create. There literally could be anyone lurking in the corners and recesses of the house, ready to jump out on anyone passing by. Who knows who the killer could be or when they might suddenly attack again.

I enjoyed Triumph, while it isn’t anywhere near as good as a Rathbone movie it certainly is a good little movie that will help pass the time without troubling you too much, but then as it is based on a classic story it couldn’t go too far wrong to be honest.
Given the choice I would always prefer to watch Rathbone when in the mood for a bit of a Holmes fix but this is pretty faithful to the book (from what I remember) and to the character which is something the Rathbone World War II set, nazi populated movies didn’t do, story wise at least.

This was good enough to make me want to watch the other Wontner Holmes movies that are available but I doubt I would ever watch it again. It is available on DVD and can be found occasionally in big box sets of out of copyright movies and even less occasionally for about £4 on its own in a region 1 release.

 

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