Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon (1943)

Director:

Roy William Neill

Writers:

Arthur Conan Doyle (short story "Dancing Men" from volume "The Return of Sherlock Holmes")
Scott Darling (adaptation) ...

Release Date:

12 February 1943 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Crime | Drama | Mystery | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Plot:

Starting in Switzerland, Sherlock Holmes rescues the inventor of a bomb-sight which the allies want to keep from the Nazis...

Plot Keywords:

Public Domain | Super Villain | Good Versus Evil | Detective | Sequel

Cast

Basil Rathbone	...	Sherlock Holmes
Nigel Bruce	...	Dr. John H. Watson
Lionel Atwill	...	Professor Moriarty
Kaaren Verne	...	Charlotte Eberli
William Post Jr.	...	Dr. Franz Tobel
Dennis Hoey	...	Inspector Lestrade
Holmes Herbert	...	Sir Reginald Bailey
Mary Gordon	...	Mrs. Hudson

Also Known As:

Secret Weapon (USA) (short title)
Sherlock Holmes Fights Back (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

UK:80 min | USA:68 min

Country:

USA

Language:

French | English

Colour:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

Sweden:15 | UK:PG (video rating) (1990) | UK:U (original rating) (cut) | USA:Approved (PCA #8657)

Company:

Universal Pictures

Trivia:

A modern source lists Philip Van Zandt as Kurt and includes Henry Daniell in the cast as well. However, the role of Kurt is played by Harry Woods and neither Van Zandt nor Daniell appear in the film at all. The unidentified actor mistaken for Daniell plays a Scotland Yard detective slowly driving the police vehicle following the trail of paint, toward the climax of the film. First seen in 3/4 profile leaning out the car window, he does seem to resemble Daniell. However, when he speaks the accompanying line "they fade out again sir" to Dennis Hoey (Insp. Lestrade), and subsequent lines, he clearly has a rather heavy *Brooklyn* accent, and seen in other shots during the scene does not in any way resemble Daniell, and the momentary appearance to the contrary is clearly an optical illusion.

Goofs:

Factual errors: When Sherlock in his lascar disguise goes on his pub/bar crawl: in the second pub, the Golden Hawk, the darts board he stands in front of is hung wrongly, with #20 at 1-o-clock instead of 12-o-clock.

Quotes:

Dr. John H. Watson: What woman?
Sherlock Holmes: She's blond, five foot, full lipped and very affectionate.

Movie Connections:

Followed by Terror by Night (1946)

Soundtrack:

Rule Britannia

Enjoyable Holmes outing

In the midst of WWII, Holmes is involved in the protection of a scientist working on a secret weapon that may prove to be a turning point against the Nazi's. When the scientist and his formulae goes missing, Holmes becomes involved in a rush to rescue the man and prevent nemesis Professor Moriarty getting hold of the rest of the formulae.

Although I'm not a major fan of the Holmes films where he finds himself in the modern day world, this is one of the better ones I have seen thus far. The plot is a little thick at the start but really gets going when the scientist goes missing. The investigation by Holmes is very engaging and the climax has a nice couple of scenes where Holmes and Moriarty match wits.

Rathbone makes a good Holmes as always and here he happily hasn't as bad a haircut as he did in some of the modern films. Bruce is much better than usual - he is less of a mug and is made less fun of by Holmes, he actually shows a bit of sense about him. Indeed so does Lestrade (Hoey), so often a comedy figure, it's nice to see him involved a bit more than usual! Atwill's Moriarty is good but I always saw him as a leaner, meaner man - Atwill looks more like Watson than Sherlock, even though their battle of wits is good I never felt that he was any match for Holmes, never mind being a nemesis.

Overall I enjoyed this film. It does have a small bit of propaganda at the very end but, unlike some of the other films, doesn't ram it down your throat - by making it about Moriarty rather than Nazi goons, the film works better. It has a slow start but it opens up to be very enjoyable.