Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon (1942)

Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson must protect a Swiss inventor of an advanced bomb sight from falling into German hands.

Director:

Roy William Neill

Writers:

Edward T. Lowe Jr. (screenplay), Scott Darling (screenplay),

Stars:

Basil Rathbone, Nigel Bruce, Lionel Atwill

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Basil Rathbone	...	Sherlock Holmes
Nigel Bruce	...	Doctor John H. Watson
Lionel Atwill	...	Professor James Moriarty
Kaaren Verne	...	Charlotte Eberli
William Post Jr.	...	Dr. Franz Tobel
Dennis Hoey	...	Inspector Lestrade
Holmes Herbert	...	Sir Reginald Bailey
Mary Gordon	...	Mrs. Martha Hudson

Storyline

Starting in Switzerland, Sherlock Holmes rescues the inventor of a bomb-sight which the allies want to keep from the Nazis. Back in London it sems that the inventor is not all that he seemed.

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Plot Keywords:

inventor | sherlock holmes | bomb | bomb sight | switzerland | 

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Genres:

Adventure | Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English French Indonesian

Release Date:

12 February 1943 (USA)

Also Known As:

Secret Weapon

Filming Locations:

Universal Studios - 100 Universal City Plaza, Universal City, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Universal Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

80 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This was the second Sherlock Holmes feature to be produced at Universal. It was the first to be directed by Roy William Neill.

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Goofs

In the shots of Dr. Tobel peering through his bombsight, the bomb-release switch is clearly shown as being a black Bakelite line-cord rocker switch, mounted inline on the bombsight's electrical trip-wire. Yet in the last bomb-drop shot, Dr. Tobel uses a large round push-button switch to release the bomb, and it appears to be mounted on the end of a trip-wire, not inline on the wire.

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Quotes

Professor Moriarty: The needle to the last, eh, Holmes?

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Connections

Follows The Hound of the Baskervilles (1939)

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Soundtracks

"Rule Britannia"
(1740) (uncredited)
Music by Thomas Augustine Arne
Played in the score when London is shown

User Reviews

Enjoyable Holmes outing

In the midst of WWII, Holmes is involved in the protection of a scientist working on a secret weapon that may prove to be a turning point against the Nazi's. When the scientist and his formulae goes missing, Holmes becomes involved in a rush to rescue the man and prevent nemesis Professor Moriarty getting hold of the rest of the formulae.

Although I'm not a major fan of the Holmes films where he finds himself in the modern day world, this is one of the better ones I have seen thus far. The plot is a little thick at the start but really gets going when the scientist goes missing. The investigation by Holmes is very engaging and the climax has a nice couple of scenes where Holmes and Moriarty match wits.

Rathbone makes a good Holmes as always and here he happily hasn't as bad a haircut as he did in some of the modern films. Bruce is much better than usual - he is less of a mug and is made less fun of by Holmes, he actually shows a bit of sense about him. Indeed so does Lestrade (Hoey), so often a comedy figure, it's nice to see him involved a bit more than usual! Atwill's Moriarty is good but I always saw him as a leaner, meaner man - Atwill looks more like Watson than Sherlock, even though their battle of wits is good I never felt that he was any match for Holmes, never mind being a nemesis.

Overall I enjoyed this film. It does have a small bit of propaganda at the very end but, unlike some of the other films, doesn't ram it down your throat - by making it about Moriarty rather than Nazi goons, the film works better. It has a slow start but it opens up to be very enjoyable.