Silver Blaze (1937)

User Rating:

5.9/10   

Director:

Thomas Bentley

Writer:

Arthur Conan Doyle (story)

Release Date:

15 January 1941 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Mystery

Plot:

Sherlock Holmes takes a vacation and visits his old friend Sir Henry Baskerville. His vacation ends...

Plot Keywords:

Horse | Horse Race | Sherlock Holmes | Color In Title | Race Fixing

Cast

Arthur Wontner	...	Sherlock Holmes
Ian Fleming	...	Dr. Watson
Lyn Harding	...	Professor Moriarty
John Turnbull	...	Inspector Lestrade
Robert Horton	...	Col. Ross
Lawrence Grossmith	...	Sir Henry Baskerville
Judy Gunn	...	Diana Baskerville
Arthur Macrae	...	Jack Trevor
Arthur Goullet	...	Col. Sebastian Moran
Martin Walker	...	James Straker
Eve Gray	...	Mrs. Mary Straker
Gilbert Davis	...	Miles Stanford
Minnie Rayner	...	Mrs. Hudson
D.J. Williams	...	Silas Brown
Ralph Truman	...	Bert Prince

Also Known As:

Murder at the Baskervilles (USA)

Runtime:

71 min | USA:65 min (TCM print)

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Visatone Sound System)

Certification:

UK:U | USA:Approved (PCA #02955)

Filming Locations:

Twickenham Film Studios, St Margarets, Twickenham, Middlesex, England, UK

Company:

Julius Hagen Productions

Trivia:

Final screen appearance by Arthur Wontner as Sherlock Holmes.

Quotes:

Sherlock Holmes: [to Inspector Lestrade] We're old friends. I should hate to see you make such an ass of yourself as wrongfully to arrest the future son-in-law of Sir Henry Baskerville.

Movie Connections:

Version of "The Return of Sherlock Holmes: Silver Blaze (#2.2)" (1988)

Solid Low Budget Holmes Feature With Arthur Wontner

Although Arthur Wontner is little remembered today, in his time he was considered by many to have been the best of those who had portrayed Sherlock Holmes on screen. "Silver Blaze", the last of the Holmes series that starred Wontner, is a solid feature that takes the Doyle story of the same name and adds to it some of the characters and elements from the other Holmes stories.

The strength of Wontner's performance is that he looks very convincing as the Holmes of literature, and he also looks very much at home in the Victorian era settings. While his portrayal of Holmes lacks the sharpness and forcefulness of Basil Rathbone or Jeremy Brett, Wontner is certainly adequate in the challenging role of the great detective. He does well here despite the low-budget look to everything else.

"Silver Blaze" is also of interest in adding Moriarty, Lestrade, and the Baskervilles to the original story. As Moriarty, Lyn Harding has some screen presence, but he doesn't really make Moriarty seem like the brilliant strategist that you expect him to be - here he is more like a tough guy whom you wouldn't want to cross. His role is mainly used to create some extra suspense sequences. The central mystery itself is an interesting one, with some of the unusual details that you hope for in a Holmes story. Overall, this is a solid if unspectacular feature.