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Badmovies.org Forum  |  Movies  |  Good Movies  |  Sherlock Holmes in Washington (1943) « previous next »
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Author Topic: Sherlock Holmes in Washington (1943)  (Read 1469 times)
Neville
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« on: December 01, 2010, 06:52:06 PM »



Plot: During a train travel in the U.S.A., a British spy is kidnapped by German spies. Holmes is requested to find the agent and recover the documents he was carrying. But once in Washington Holmes finds out the British spy is dead, and that the documents, in the shape of a microfilm inside a matchbox, are still missing.

Comments: Yes, that's another of those Holmes films set in the 1940s where Holmes faces the Nazis. The good news, though, are that this is the best of the bunch so far. The "modern" elements are by now less intrussive (for instance, Holmes smokes cigarettes instead of his pipe), and so is the propaganda element, probably mirroring the British progress during the war. If in "The Voice of terror", the first of the modern Holmes films in the series, England's situation seemed almost desperate, here everything looks much more optimistic. As a result, this film looks and feels more than a classic Holmes mystery, which is good.

As for the plot, it starts a bit strangely. Whe first get a few scenes with the British agent that end up in his kidnapping, and only then, already 10 minutes into a 70 minutes movie, we meet Holmes again. I liked that. This is the 5th film in the series, but it's good to see they still haven't fallen into a regular pattern. Soon later we move to the States, and after a few expository scenes we get into the main plot, Holmes following the trail of a matchbox that contains the microfilm, and which changes hands almost as much as the rifle in "Winchester '73".

The plot is good, and the filmmakers also were kind enough to bring back George Zucco. Zucco played Moriarty in "The adventures of Sherlock Holmes", and he is so far the best villain in the series. For some reason, though, Zucco doesn't play Moriarty here, but the head of the German spy ring, who introduces himself as "Stanley". As with most of the non-Moriarty villains in the series, he is a bit too suave to seem much of a threat, but he is a good match to Holmes. The final section of the film has them playing each other quite nicely, as Stanley tries to figure out how to get rid of Holmes and Holmes tries to figure out how take hold of the matchbox -yes, THE matchbox, that Stanley casually uses to light his cigarettes. Delightful.

Cons? As with most of the movies in the series, Watson is too much of a bufoon. Nigel Bruce is great at playing Watson as a bufoon, but still you wonder way too often if they couldn't find a better use for Watson. 
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BoyScoutKevin
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« Reply #1 on: December 07, 2010, 06:28:51 PM »

Yes, another Rathbone Holmes' film I've seen and liked. And Zucco is back as the villain, but there is another great villain in the film, Henry Daniell, who plays one of Zucco's henchmen in the film, and who, apparently, gets billing over that of Zucco.
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Hammock Rider
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« Reply #2 on: December 08, 2010, 09:47:35 AM »

  You can't lose with Rathbone vs Zucco. It's a classic matchup. And I thought it was kind of fun to get Holmes out of England and over to America. I don't mind Watosn's bumbling since it's just meant as comic relief but sometimes Holmes was just an outright d!ck to Watson. In Sherlock Holmes faces Death Holmes explains to Watson how he deduced where Watosn had just come from. Watson complimentarily says" Marvelous Holmes, a child could do it."  Holmes replies "Not your child Watson."  That's just not cricket Holmes.

 
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