Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon
Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon | |
---|---|
Directed by | Roy William Neill |
Written by |
|
Screenplay by | Edmund L. Hartmann |
Based on | The Adventure of the Dancing Men 1903 short story by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle |
Produced by | Howard Benedict |
Starring | |
Cinematography | Lester White |
Edited by | Otto Ludwig |
Music by | Frank Skinner |
Production company | Universal Pictures |
Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 68 minutes (restored version) |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $200,000 |
External videos | |
---|---|
Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon Trailer at TCM Movie Database |
Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon (1942) is the fourth in the
The film is one of four films in the series which are in the public domain.[2]
Plot
Tobel successfully demonstrates the bombsight for Sir Reginald Bailey (Holmes Herbert) and observers from Bomber Command. Tobel, now under the protection of Inspector Lestrade (Dennis Hoey) and Scotland Yard, tells Sir Reginald that, although willing to provide the British with his bombsight, only he will know its secret and has a complex plan for its manufacture to keep the secret safe. He separates his invention into four parts and gives one to each of four Swiss scientists, known only to him and not to each other, to construct separately. Soon after, Holmes receives a call from Lestrade telling him that Tobel has disappeared. Holmes goes to Charlotte's flat, where he receives Tobel's envelope. Rather than the coded message, the message inside is from Holmes' nemesis, master criminal Professor Moriarty (Lionel Atwill), who is now working for the Germans.
Disguising himself as Ram Singh, one of Moriarty's old henchmen, Holmes searches the
Moriarty accidentally deciphers the code. He sends agents to abduct Hoffner, who has the brilliance to put the four parts together should Tobel not recover from torture. The German agents bring the scientist, who is actually Holmes in disguise again, to Moriarty's seemingly undetectable stronghold. Unknown to Moriarty, Holmes had the real Hoffner attach an apparatus to their car that drips luminous paint (which Watson helped prepare) at regular intervals. To stall for time, Holmes uses Moriarty's vanity and pride to trick him into slowly bleeding Holmes to death "drop by drop". Holmes is saved at the last minute by Watson and Lestrade, who, with Hoffner's help, successfully followed the luminous paint trail. Scotland Yard apprehends the spies, but Moriarty escapes. When he attempts to complete his escape through a secret passageway, he falls sixty feet to his death; Holmes has discovered the criminal's hidden trap door and left it open. With Tobel saved and the bombsight recovered, Watson notes that things "are looking up... this little island is still on the map".[3]
Cast
- Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes
- Doctor Watson
- Lionel Atwill as Professor Moriarty
- Kaaren Verne as Charlotte Eberli
- William Post Jr. as Dr Franz Tobel
- Dennis Hoey as Inspector Lestrade
- Holmes Herbert as Sir Reginald Bailey
- Mary Gordon as Mrs. Hudson
- Henry Victor as Dr. Frederick Hoffner
Cast notes
This is the second Basil Rathbone "Sherlock Holmes" film in which Moriarty dies. He is thrown to his death from the top of the Tower of London by Holmes in 1939's The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. During the course of the adventure, Holmes adopts the disguises of an elderly German bookseller (taken from the Arthur Conan Doyle story The Adventure of the Empty House), the lascar sailor Ram Singh, and the Swiss scientist Professor Hoffner. His disguise as the bookseller was parodied in the film The Pink Panther.
This film marks the first appearance of Dennis Hoey as Inspector Lestrade - the Scotland Yard detective who, with Watson, provides much of the comic relief in six of the films of the series.
Lionel Atwill appeared previously in the film The Hound of the Baskervilles (1939) as Dr Mortimer.
Adaptation notes
Though the film is credited as an adaptation of "
References
- ISBN 978-0-85768-776-0, page 211
- ^ "Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon". Public Domain Movies. Retrieved 29 February 2024.
- ISBN 0-450-03358-9
External links
- Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon at IMDb
- Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon at the American Film Institute Catalog
- Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon is available for free viewing and download at the Internet Archive
- Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon is available for free viewing and download at the Internet Archive
- Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon at AllMovie
- Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon at the TCM Movie Database