Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon (1942)

Back to another classic Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce movie where they star as Holmes and Watson. The action kicks of in Switzerland where a disguised Holmes is trying to smuggle a scientist and his new bombsite back to England before the Nazis can take them both to Germany. Yep, this is another one set during World War II. The scientist, Dr. Tobel, is successfully brought back to London, but the Germans haven’t given up yet. The good doctor also seems to be up to no good as he sneaks out of 221 B. Baker Street to visit a beautiful woman named Charlotte.

When he disappears she gives Holmes a strange cipher/code involving a bunch of dancing men. This is how they connect this movie to the classic story The Dancing Men. There are some clues to decipher that eventually lead our hero to his arch enemy Moriarty, who is working with the spies to recover Tobel and his bombsite for Berlin. Though that doesn’t work out too well as the movie ends with British bombers headed there with the sights installed and ready to drop their payloads.

I do really like these movies, but this is yet another that leans more into the adventure and has almost no mystery. In fact the only thing that needs to be solved is the code of the dancing men, which the audience has zero chance of guessing at as we are given no clues. There is no mystery to the identity of the… well I guess the bad guys. I mean there isn’t any killing until the very end where the bad guys get what is coming to them. This is less a Sherlock Holmes mystery and more so just an opportunity to beat up and out smart the Nazis. Don’t get me wrong as they do that very well and this movie is a great example of wartime Hollywood’s efforts. There just isn’t any mystery to solve here.

What we do get is a car chase, an escape by airplane, some creeping around dark streets, and some bad guys doing bad things. Holmes doesn’t solve his issues with fisticuffs, which most of the detective movies from the forties have the protagonist doing, but instead outsmarts his opponents at every step of the way. Here is where having Moriarty as the main antagonist is a bad idea. Holmesian lore has him as an intellectual equal to the great consulting detective so seeing him fall for obvious manipulation is a bit too far for me.

Rathbone and Bruce are good as always. Though I feel as if Bruce’s Dr. Watson isn’t given much to do and goes MIA for much of the movie. Lionel Atwill is back as Moriarty and is solid as well, though again isn’t given much to sink his acting chops into. Honestly the writing here is a bit lacking and unlike other entries this feels tossed together in a rush without much thought. Look out for a very young Whit Bissel (Creature from the Black Lagoon, I Was a Teenage Frankenstein) in an early and uncredited role.

For a quickie formula flick it works just fine. Though had it been any longer than the sixty eight minutes I feel as if this would have been a drag. But it didn’t’ and isn’t. While far from the best of this version of Holmes and nowhere near as fun as other adaptations closer to the original stories Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon isn’t a horrible way to kill an hour. It is available online for free so is just a Google search away

 

© Copyright 2024 John Shatzer

Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror (1942)

This is the third installment of the Rathbone Sherlock Holmes movies and the first that moved the action to “current” time aka. the forties when it was made. This also means it is set during the Second World War, so we of course have some Nazi spies running around. Here we are introduced to the Voice of Terror aka. a broadcast from Nazi Europe taunting the British populace over the radio. The voice warns them of sabotage seemingly while it is about to happen. The government is frustrated by their inability to stop the disasters before they happen so call in Holmes to root out those responsible.

Here is where it gets good. Holmes with Watson in tow starts to poke around the criminal underground of London looking for help. See those folks know everything that happens in the city so might have information they don’t even know they have. Sadly, this leads to a man falling dead on the doorstep of 221b Baker Street. Undeterred Holmes goes to the bad part of town to speak to the dead man’s girlfriend, Kitty. She ends up convincing the local ruffians to help fight the Nazis out of self-preservation and maybe a little bit of patriotism. With the clues they provide Holmes does in fact root out the Voice of Terror as well as stopping a planned invasion of England. Though not before the Nazis show themselves to be evil by murdering Kitty out of spite!

As I’ve just said with my recent review of Charlie Chan in the Secret Service, I love these movies set during World War II. They have a fun nostalgic charm to them that makes me want to go right into the lobby and buy some war bonds. Okay that might be a bit too much of a deep dive for you guys but trust me that is a good thing. Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror is more of an adventure flick with a healthy dose of action and spy craft then it is a mystery story. Though there is the obvious hidden identity of the Voice as well as their plans that needs to be figured out, so I feel like it still belongs here in the marathon. Plus, it is Sherlock Holmes so where else would it fit?

Between the forementioned action and spy shenanigans the sixty-six minute runtime flies by. Seriously the pacing here is excellent without a single wasted scene. It seems that every line of dialogue and character action is leading us to the big finale. This is what I think they would have called a “programmer” back in the day. Made for a matinee or as the bottom half of a double bill it wastes little time getting to good stuff and entertains the audience before quickly wrapping things up. Eighty plus years later it still manages to entertain and be a good way to kill an hour or so. That is impressive.

If I had a complaint about the movie, I would say that it does show the lower budget. Shot during the war there was an obvious limit to the money available to be spent on the production. This leads to a lot of stock footage standing in for the acts of sabotage with buildings burning and trains wrecking. Pre and post war I’d imagine they would have done some miniature work but here they are clearly using recycled footage from other flicks. The big finale with the German invasion force being met in the English Channel is mostly hinted at with radio broadcasts rather than showing us in ships or planes in combat. The fact that the script was ambitious enough to include this as the payoff to the story but couldn’t afford to show us any of it is a bit disappointing. I would have preferred a simpler story that could have had the payoff onscreen.

The cast is solid. As always Basil Rathbone is great as Sherlock Holmes, and I still think Nigel Bruce is my favorite Dr. Watson. Along with them we get a solid performance in supporting roles from Evelyn Ankers (Son of Dracula, Hold That Ghost) as Kitty and Henry Daniels. Notably Daniels would return in a later Holmes movie playing arch villain Moriarty.

In the end I still really liked Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror. The pacing, great cast, and war time storyline all appeal to me. I’m not sure that this is the first of the fourteen Rathbone outings as Holmes that I would suggest sitting down to watch as others are more mysteries and therefore inline with the character, but it isn’t a bad way to kill an hour. If you get the chance check this one out.

 

© Copyright 2023 John Shatzer

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1939)

Things open in a courtroom where the nefarious Professor Moriarty is on trial for murder, or at least he was. He has just been declared innocent, despite everyone knowing he was guilty. Sherlock Holmes shows up with the evidence that would have convicted him just as the case ends and is too late. The Professor declares to Holmes after the trial that he will commit the crime of the century under his nose proving once and for all that he is the greatest mind in all of England.

Not long after Holmes is visited by a young woman named Ann who is concerned for the well being of her brother Lloyd. He has received a strange letter in the mail one just like their father got before he was murdered. Despite being asked to keep an eye out on the transfer of the latest crown jewel, The Star of Delhi, Holmes spends his time helping her. When Lloyd is murdered this seems like a good choice. But is it? How does Ann’s problems tie in with Moriarty’s crime of the century? These questions are all answered in a great finale/chase at the Tower of London.

This is a very good movie so I’m trying to keep my synopsis as vague as possible to not spoil anything. There is a real mystery here that engages the audience and keeps them guessing from start to finish. There is a lot going on as Moriarty tosses clues, seemingly at random, at Holmes trying to confuse him and obfuscate his crimes. That said if you pay close attention the vital bits needed to sort things out are provided, which as I’ve said before is vital for a mystery story to work. I need to have a chance to figure it out for myself if you want me to enjoy what I’m watching. Here they do that very thing, and I was hooked.

The cast is great with Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce returning as Holmes and Watson. This second entry is also the first time we get to see some of the comedic elements to Bruce’s portrayal as the good doctor. It isn’t slapstick, which wouldn’t have played with well with a story like this but is instead some good natured wordplay. It brings a levity that was a hallmark to later entries into the franchise. New to the cast are the legendary Ida Lupino as Ann and the great George Zucco as Moriarty. It shocks me that more genre fans don’t know Zucco by name, but if you have watched any classic horror from the thirties and forties you will recognize his face.

I believe that this is the last of the movies to take place in the late eighteen hundreds as they movie the action to “current” day of the forties as the franchise continued into the war years. I’ll speak more on that when we get to them. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes is a good time and well worth checking out. You can find this online streaming for free so there is no reason not to give it a chance. I highly recommend it.

 

© Copyright 2023 John Shatzer

The Hound of the Baskervilles (1939)

I don’t think that I’ve ever covered a Basil Rathbone Sherlock Holmes movie ever. Not for this site nor for any other project that I’ve ever worked on. That sort of shocks me as I’ve always been a huge fan of these movies. Since I’m in the midst of my current mystery marathon I figured it was time to finally dive in. Unlike the Chan flicks I figured to do these in order so with that in mind lets look at the first cinematic adventure The Hound of the Baskervilles.

The movie opens with a man running thru the moors fleeting from some unseen terror. He collapses and dies, which we know since the next scene is the coroner’s inquest. They determine that it was natural causes, though his friend Dr. Mortimer insists he was murdered. I suppose I should also mention that the man was the current Sir Baskerville. This is important since Henry, the heir, has arrived in England to claim his inheritance. Dr. Mortimer is concerned for his safety and comes to see Holmes about it.

After some shenanigans in London Holmes sends Sir Henry off to his estate with Dr. Watson tagging along to keep an eye on him. He claims he needs to finish another case, but the truth is Sherlock wishes to sneak into the village to investigate without anyone knowing he is there. After we are introduced to some locals aka. suspects the mystery starts to take shape. What appears to be a spectral beast referenced in a family curse turns out to have a much more mundane origin. Someone is after Sir Henry, but it isn’t some spiritual entity or family curse. Nope this is all about good old human greed.

I’ve read this story many times and have seen this as well as all the other adaptations of it so there wasn’t much mystery involved for me. But even if I hadn’t gone into it with that knowledge, I would say that this isn’t your typical Holmes story. There is far less deduction and collection of clues in The Hound of the Baskervilles as it leans more into the action with them running around the moors chasing down the things that go bump or actually howl in the night. Not only do we have the mysterious beast mentioned in the title but there is also an escaped murdered/lunatic. And the latter doesn’t even have anything to do with the main story!

There is a lot going on. Ironically, this is also the story that doesn’t feature Holmes that much. He disappears for a large stretch as the action focuses on Sir Henry and Dr. Watson meeting the locals. There is a killer and their identity is eventually revealed but we don’t get a lot in the way of collecting clues and because of that you don’t get to play along with the characters trying to sort out the puzzle of who done it. The movie does make up for that with some excellent pacing clocking in at a tight eighty minutes there isn’t a wasted scene.

Oh and make sure that you are watching the version that is eighty minutes long. There are other cuts out there that were made for television as well as removing a particularly controversial line. For those not familiar with the classic stories of Conan Doyle he had his detective addicted to cocaine, which was the only way he could relax and allow his mind to go idle. The last line of the uncut movie reflects this. “Oh, Watson… the needle.” It doesn’t add anything to the movie but I always prefer the original vision of the filmmakers.

The cast is solid with Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce appearing as Holmes and Watson respectively. They are great in this movie and have immediate chemistry. This is one of the main reasons that we ended up with another thirteen of these movies. That was despite of the mixed quality of the latter entries. There are also fun appearances from Lionel Atwill as Dr. Mortimer and John Carradine as Barryman the butler. Atwill would appear later in the series as Holmes’ nemesis Moriarty.

While not my favorite version of the character, that would be Jeremy Brett in the Granada television series, Rathbone was the first to really sink his teeth into the role. If you are new to the character this would be a nice place to start and is available to watch online for free. Of his movies this is probably the best. I highly recommend it.

One more thing before I go. The elaborate sets used for this movie were reused for the Charlie Chan flick Castle in the Desert which I’ve already covered here. It is always fun to find little connections like this while doing research on my reviews.

 

© Copyright 2023 John Shatzer

Sherlock Holmes and the Deadly Necklace (1964)

I’m a big fan of detective movies but I haven’t spent much time here at Crappy Movie Reviews covering them. I had questioned if they fit with what I was trying to do here, but then I started my Giallo marathon and figured that it was my site so what the hell. As a bonus this movie stars horror icon Christopher Lee as Holmes, so there is that as well. If you don’t like me covering these sorts of movies, I guess let me know by dropping me an email. Now onto the review.

The fun starts with some kids tossing rocks at a body in the harbor. I guess this is to establish London and the locals. Soon afterwards we see Holmes in disguise watching a particular ship in the harbor. He is doing this because his nemesis Professor Moriarty is making daily trips to meet the incoming ships. Turns out he was waiting for a couple of men, one of whom ended up floating in the harbor! This is part of a plan to get some revenge on a fella named Blackburn who stole a priceless necklace that they had stolen from Cleopatra’s tomb. Bodies start to drop as the professor and his men get up their criminal business. In the end Holmes figures out the mystery and thwarts Moriarty’s plan to add the antiquity to his personal collection. Though it isn’t enough to put the professor in jail, so the movie ends with Holmes and Watson setting off in pursuit of more evidence.

This isn’t a very good movie, and I was more than a little disappointed in it. Though I am glad to have scratched it off the to watch list. There are a couple of good things like some surprising attempts at humor that land and Christopher Lee is also good in the role. But the story is a little confusing as it meanders along. We get introduced to a wife of Blackburn as well as the man she was having an affair with. This bit seems to exist only for us to watch Holmes run around figuring things out without the help of the police. This leads me to another issue I have with this flick. The best mystery movies give the audience some clues as to what is going on letting us guess as the solution. Here Holmes hops around and then reveals all without any clues being shared with the viewer. That is a pet peeve of mine and it bugged me.

Lee looks the part

This West German production has some other quirks that I wanted to discuss. The soundtrack is filled with a lot of jazz music, but I think that it is set in the twenties, so I guess that works. Though it feels much more like sixties jazz, which was sort of distracting. Yes, there is a difference! The movie also suffers from some bad dubbing. I’m a big fan of Italian flicks so dubbing doesn’t normally bother me. But the voices here don’t seem to match the characters. I’m also not sure that they had Lee dub his own dialogue in English. I mean he might have, but if so then he did it without any inflection. This was also distracting.

In the end this oddity is probably only for fans of Lee and of the Sherlock Holmes character. Again, I was very happy to finally scratch it off of my to watch list, but it’s not a good movie. I’d recommend the old Basil Rathbone movies or the Jeremy Brett television show for your consulting detective needs.

 

© Copyright 2021 John Shatzer

The Cthulhu Casebooks – Sherlock Holmes and the Miskatonic Monstrosities by James Lovegrove

This is the second book in the series that mashes up Conan Doyle’s famous detective with the Eldritch terrors from H.P. Lovecraft. I loved the first book which was reviewed here and this one isn’t any different. Author Lovegrove nails the style of both Doyle and Lovecraft again in bringing a new story that combines what fans love from both authors. But I’m getting ahead of myself here.

This book takes place around ten years after the first. It is hinted that Holmes and Watson have had many run ins with the servants of the Elder Gods and are a bit worse for wear from it. Though they still have been successful in keeping the forces of chaos at bay and keeping the general public from finding out about the horrors that exist in the world. This story opens with them being summoned to Bedlam, a very famous institution for the insane, to see a patient that is writing in a language that he shouldn’t know. Not only is the man horribly mangled, clearly insane, but he hails from America, specifically New England. Between that and his connections to Miskatonic University Holmes decides to investigate.

This eventually leads the pair to an isolated farm inhabited by a strange man and the creatures that are at his beck and call. Here is where Lovegrove does something very clever. Using the literary trick of having them read a diary about half of the book is the story of the characters that Holmes and Watson are dealing with and how they ended up in England. This allows the author to tell part of the story in a familiar Lovecraft vein, not only in the setting but the style before switching back to the “present” with Holmes and Watson to wrap things up.

I made a point in my earlier review to mention how Lovegrove tells his own story while being respectful to two incredibly important and legendary authors. Not only does he do it just as well here, but I think that the story is even better than the first. Some might be disappointed that there is a bit less of the classic Holmes and Watson in Miskatonic Monstrosities, but not using the classic villain Moriarty in this book and instead giving us an antagonist more fitting a traditional Lovecraft story was a nice addition. Sure, almost half the book shifts away from the main characters, but there is something fun and appealing about getting the background to those doing battle with them. Have no fear though because we aren’t done with Moriarty quite yet if the ending of the book is any indication! Okay maybe that was a tiny spoiler.

This was another fantastic read that I highly recommend if you are either a fan of Sherlock Holmes or the twisted world created by H.P. Lovecraft. The writing is easy to get into and flows nicely along. Twice I stayed up way too long to read “just one more chapter.” That is when I know that I’m really digging a book. Seriously guys you need to check out this series from James Lovegrove. Highly recommended.

© Copyright 2018 John Shatzer