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The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1939)

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Ratings: 7.5/10 from 3,566 users  
Reviews: 53 user | 24 critic

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

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Title: The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1939)

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Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
...
Nigel Bruce ...
...
Ann Brandon
Alan Marshal ...
Jerrold Hunter
Terry Kilburn ...
Billy
George Zucco ...
Henry Stephenson ...
Sir Ronald Ramsgate
E.E. Clive ...
Inspector Bristol
Arthur Hohl ...
Bassick
May Beatty ...
Mrs. Jameson
Peter Willes ...
Lloyd Brandon
Mary Gordon ...
Holmes Herbert ...
Justice of the Court
George Regas ...
Mateo
Mary Forbes ...
Lady Conyngham
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Storyline

Professor Moriarity has a scheme for stealing the crown jewels from the Tower of London. To get Holmes involved, he persuades a gaucho flute player to murder a girl. Written by Ed Stephan <stephan@cc.wwu.edu>

Plot Summary | Add Synopsis

Taglines:

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


Certificate:

Approved | See all certifications »
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Details

Country:

Language:

Release Date:

1 September 1939 (USA)  »

Also Known As:

Sherlock Holmes  »

Company Credits

Show detailed on  »

Technical Specs

Runtime:

Sound Mix:

(Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1
See  »
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Did You Know?

Trivia

Alan Marshal, George Zucco, and Mary Gordon (uncredited) also appear in the 1936 movie, After The Thin Man. See more »

Goofs

(at around 40 mins) Holmes closes the door in a closeup shot smoking his pipe. As the camera cuts to a wide shot the pipe is gone. See more »

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, ...
[...]
See more »

Connections

Version of Sherlock Holmes: The Empty House (1951) See more »

Soundtracks

"I Do Like To Be Beside the Seaside"
(uncredited)
Written and Composed by John Glover Kind
Performed by Basil Rathbone
See more »

Frequently Asked Questions

See more (Spoiler Alert!) »

User Reviews

Superb version of the stage play...excellent performances by Rathbone, Bruce and Lupino...
13 April 2001 | by (U.S.A.) – See all my reviews

Having recently completed a film article due for publication in FILMS OF THE GOLDEN AGE on Ida Lupino, it's a pleasure to report that this is one of her best early performances. She plays a terrified young woman who seeks the help of Sherlock Holmes when she becomes concerned about her brother's safety. He soon determines that she too is being stalked by killers. Her brother is killed and the plot thickens with a sub-plot involving Professor Moriarty's plans to steal the Crown Jewels and the Star of Delhi. Holmes eventually solves the case and defeats the diabolical Moriarty with a plan of his own. Reviewers judged this film even superior to the earlier 'Hound of the Baskervilles'. Indeed, it's fully as atmospheric and suspenseful with handsomely staged scenes in gas-lit Victorian London. George Zucco makes an ideal villain and the main roles by Rathbone, Nigel Bruce and Ida Lupino are handled with their customary skill. Definitely worth seeing and far superior to the later Universal entries which updated all of the Holmes stories.


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