The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1939)

Director:

Alfred L. Werker

Writers:

Edwin Blum (screenplay) and
William A. Drake (screenplay) and
William Gillette (play)

Release Date:

1 September 1939 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

The Struggle of Super-Minds in the Crime of the Century!

Plot:

The master sleuth hunts his archenemy, Professor Moriarty, who is planning the crime of the century.

Plot Keywords:

Tower Of London | Jewel | Murder | Crown Jewels | Crown

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Basil Rathbone	...	Sherlock Holmes
Nigel Bruce	...	Dr. Watson
Ida Lupino	...	Ann Brandon
Alan Marshal	...	Jerrold Hunter
Terry Kilburn	...	Billy
George Zucco	...	Professor Moriarty
Henry Stephenson	...	Sir Ronald Ramsgate
E.E. Clive	...	Inspector Bristol
Arthur Hohl	...	Bassick
May Beatty	...	Mrs. Jameson
Peter Willes	...	Lloyd Brandon
Mary Gordon	...	Mrs. Hudson
Holmes Herbert	...	Justice of the Court
George Regas	...	Mateo
Mary Forbes	...	Lady Conyngham

Also Known As:

Runtime:

85 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Certification:

UK:PG | Finland:K-16 | USA:Approved (PCA #5486)

Filming Locations:

Stage 2, 20th Century Fox Studios - 10201 Pico Blvd., Century City, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

The movie's line "Elementary, my dear Watson." was voted as the #65 movie quote by the American Film Institute (out of 100).

Goofs:

Continuity: (At 16:40) Holmes closes the door in a closeup shot smoking his pipe. As the camera cuts to a wide shot the pipe is gone.

Quotes:

Dawes:You wanted to see me, sir?
Professor Moriarty:I'm away for a few weeks, Dawes, and I come back to find my anthurium magenta, my incomparable anthurium magenta, withered, ruined...
Dawes:I can't understand it, sir; I took good care of all the plants.
Professor Moriarty:Did you water them?
Dawes:Every day, sir - just as you told me, sir.
Professor Moriarty:Then how does it happen that I find a spider's web spun across the spout of the watering can?
Dawes:That can happen overnight, sir.
Professor Moriarty:Overnight, huh? Then you didn't water them today?
Dawes:There's been so much to do, sir, preparing for your coming back.
Professor Moriarty:Nothing is as important as the care of my flowers. Through your neglect, this flower has died. You've murdered a flower!
[...]

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Hollywood Mouth (2008)

Soundtrack:

I Do Like To Be Beside the Seaside

Classy Crime Caper

THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES takes him into deadly conflict with Britain's most dangerous criminal mastermind, Professor Moriarty.

20th Century Fox takes us back to the foggy London streets of 1894 in these exciting exploits of the world's most famous private consulting detective. The production values are of a high order in this story based on William Gillette's stage play about Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's celebrated characters. Basil Rathbone & Nigel Bruce return as Holmes and Watson, perfectly portraying that legendary literary partnership with good grace and cheerfulness, Rathbone allowing some traces of humanity to infuse Holmes' cerebral haughtiness, and Bruce, bumbling and big-hearted, enacting the embodiment of a staunch companion and friend.

Unfairly relegated to 6th place billing is George Zucco, marvelous as Moriarty. He presents us with a consummate villain of enormous intellect & subtle nuance, a monster passionate about his exotic plants but indifferent to human life. It is highly enjoyable watching him plot a dastardly crime while engaging in a masterful duel of wits with Holmes.

The other roles are also very well cast and highlight some fine British character actors: lovely Ida Lupino as a young woman frantic over an unknown evil stalking her family; handsome Alan Marshal as her family's lawyer; dignified Henry Stephenson as the worried Constable of the Tower of London; E.E. Clive as the dogged Scotland Yard inspector; and Mary Forbes as a kindly noblewoman who befriends Miss Lupino.

Some rather brief performances also enhance the whole: Mary Gordon as Holmes' grandmotherly landlady and young Terry Kilburn as his page boy; Peter Willes as Miss Lupino's terrified brother; elderly Frank Dawson as Moriarty's harassed butler; Holmes Herbert as a highly frustrated Law Court Justice; and William Austin as a stranger who has a peculiar encounter with Watson on a London sidewalk.

Two lighthearted moments especially standout -- Rathbone delightfully in disguise, and, at the very conclusion of the film, Watson deftly turning the tables on Holmes.

This was the second in a series of Holmes films starring Rathbone & Bruce which began at Fox Studios. It followed THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES (1939) and, after the jump to Universal Studios, preceded SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE VOICE OF TERROR (1942) three years later.