Egad,...although I like series B-movies from the 1940s (such as Charlie Chan, The Falcon and Sherlock Holmes), I can't get over how insanely positive some of the ratings are for the films on IMDb. How over 30% of the ratings for this film are 10s is beyond me--especially since Basil Rathbone made several other Holmes movies that were light-years better than this one. In fact, this film and SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE HOUSE OF FEAR are pretty bad movies,...saved only because Rathbone was such a 'swell' actor (nice 40s word, huh?).
Why was it so poor compared to the other films? Well, first off, the best Rathbone Sherlock Holmes films were the first two made by Fox Studios--THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES and THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES. None of the Universal versions of the series come close to the quality of these films--especially since Holmes and Watson live in the late Victorian London of the original stories. Putting Holmes in the role as a propaganda-spewing enemy of Hitler just doesn't seem right! Second, the plot is absolutely paper thin and Holmes doesn't do much 'detecting' at all--at least not like the Holmes of old. He jumps to lots of conclusions and the movie simply moves too fast to allow for realism in his deductions. Third, the film simply isn't fun or interesting--and this is what made many of this series so worth seeing. And fourth, several times throughout the film, Holmes turned towards the camera and began reciting VERY HEAVY-HANDED propaganda speeches. And while I love American propaganda films from WWII, I can't stand to be preached at and having it all laid on so thick!! So my advice is STILL watch films from the series--just save this one and THE HOUSE OF FEAR for your last films to watch. Otherwise, you might be tempted to stop before you've seen them all.
Why was it so poor compared to the other films? Well, first off, the best Rathbone Sherlock Holmes films were the first two made by Fox Studios--THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES and THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES. None of the Universal versions of the series come close to the quality of these films--especially since Holmes and Watson live in the late Victorian London of the original stories. Putting Holmes in the role as a propaganda-spewing enemy of Hitler just doesn't seem right! Second, the plot is absolutely paper thin and Holmes doesn't do much 'detecting' at all--at least not like the Holmes of old. He jumps to lots of conclusions and the movie simply moves too fast to allow for realism in his deductions. Third, the film simply isn't fun or interesting--and this is what made many of this series so worth seeing. And fourth, several times throughout the film, Holmes turned towards the camera and began reciting VERY HEAVY-HANDED propaganda speeches. And while I love American propaganda films from WWII, I can't stand to be preached at and having it all laid on so thick!! So my advice is STILL watch films from the series--just save this one and THE HOUSE OF FEAR for your last films to watch. Otherwise, you might be tempted to stop before you've seen them all.