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The
Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
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 "I don't understand why you wish to consult me about a garden party. You couldn't possibly find a worse guide to social etiquette." |
 "I wonder if you could possibly manage to be on hand when the Star of Delhi is delivered?" |
Moriarty knows Holmes cannot be in two places at once, so while Holmes is protecting Miss Brandon, Moriarty proceeds with his plan to steal the crown jewels. Having replaced the policemen assigned to guard the emerald, and wearing their uniforms, Moriarty and his men escort the Star of Delhi to the Tower of London. Holmes has sent Watson to help guard the emerald, but Watson fails to recognize the now beardless Moriarty. Professor Moriarty stages an unsuccessful attempt to steal the emerald. While the tower guards are chasing Moriarty's associates, the Professor hides inside the chamber containing the crown jewels. Watson recovers the Star of Delhi, and thinks that he has foiled Moriarty.
| Meanwhile, at Mrs. Jameson's garden party Holmes, disguised as a "music hall chap," does a song and dance routine while keeping an eye on Miss Brandon. As far as I know, this is the only film in which we hear Basil Rathbone sing. It isn't great singing, but good enough for the character, and a great disguise for Holmes. Later, Holmes hears Miss Brandon's screams coming from the garden. He rushes to her, arriving just in time to see a man about to hurl a Patagonian bolas (a weapon made of long strands of rawhide with leather-coated lead balls on the ends). Holmes knocks Miss Brandon to the ground as the deadly bolas flies by and decapitates a nearby statue. When Holmes learns from the would-be killer that Moriarty is behind this, he figures out what Moriarty is really up to, and he and Watson rush off to the Tower of London in time to thwart Moriarty's theft of the crown jewels. A hand-to-hand battle between Holmes and Moriarty ensues atop the Tower, ending with Moriarty falling to his apparent death below. (Moriarty never really dies. He returns in "Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon" and again in "The Woman in Green.") |
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In the final scene, while Holmes and Watson are dining in a restaurant and reading of Ann Brandon's marriage to Jerrold Hunter, Holmes begins to pluck at a fiddle to find the note that will annoy the flies and make them leave. Watson demonstrates to Holmes the better way to eliminate flies--WHACK! with a newspaper.
 Holmes tries to annoy the flies. |
 "Very effective, my dear Watson." |
This ending was not in the original script for the film. The first
ending features a scene in Inspector Bristol's office, in which Mateo (the
murderous Indian with the bolas) explains why he tried to kill Miss
Brandon. He claims that Miss Brandon's father killed his father
years ago, and stole the mine that made the Brandon family rich. Mateo
swore vengeance against Brandon and his family. (One wonders what Moriarty
had to do with this?) While this scene does tie up some loose ends,
director Alfred Werker felt the lengthy explanatory scene was too
anticlimactic and replaced it in the final edit with the shorter
restaurant scene.
Rathbone gave an exceptional performance as Sherlock Holmes. Unfortunately, it was the last time he would don the famous Inverness cape and deerstalker cap. In a surprising move after the success of "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes," Twentieth Century Fox decided not to produce more Holmes films. About two years later Universal Studios acquired the film rights to the Sherlock Holmes stories, and Universal placed Basil Rathbone, Nigel Bruce and Mary Gordon (Mrs. Hudson) under contract for four years.
This was one of Ida Lupino's early films, and her performance was superb. She went on to earn fame not only as an accomplished actress, but also as a director, producer and screenwriter. According to a Scarlet Street interview (issue #13, p. 48), Lupino had fun during the filming of "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" and liked to call her co-star "Basil Bathrug."
See more pictures on Page Two and Page Three.
Cast |
Credits |
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| Basil
Rathbone...........Sherlock Holmes Nigel Bruce..........................Dr. Watson Ida Lupino........................Ann Brandon Alan Marshal..................Jerrold Hunter Terry Kilburn....................................Billy George Zucco.................Prof. Moriarty Henry Stephenson............... ...............................Sir Ronald Ramsgate E.E. Clive.............................Insp. Bristol Arthur Hohl................................Bassick May Beatty......................Mrs. Jameson Peter Willes....................Lloyd Brandon Mary Gordon....................Mrs. Hudson Holmes Herbert...........................Justice George Regas...............................Mateo Mary Forbes.............Lady Conyngham Frank Dawson..............................Dawes William Austin..........................Stranger Anthony Kemble-Cooper.............Tony |
Production
Co. .................................Fox Producer......................Darryl F. Zanuck Assoc. Producer...............Gene Markey Director............................Alfred Werker Screenplay...........................Edwin Blum ............William A. Drake (based on the play by William Gillette and the works of Arthur Conan Doyle) Cinematographer............Leon Shamroy Editor.............................Robert Bischoff Music Director.........Cyril J. Mockridge |
Images on this page, Page Two and Page Three are from the film "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes," copyright 20th Century Fox.
