The Woman in Green (1945)

Director:

Roy William Neill

Writers:

Bertram Millhauser (screenplay)
Arthur Conan Doyle (characters)

Release Date:

27 July 1945 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Horror | Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

Temptress of Pleasure - or Mistress of Murder?

Plot:

Holmes and Watson investigate a series of bizarre and apparently unconnected murders, and the death of a possible suspect...

Plot Keywords:

Hypnotist | Investigation | Serial Killer | Sherlock Holmes | Murder

Cast

Basil Rathbone	...	Holmes
Nigel Bruce	...	Watson
Hillary Brooke	...	Lydia
Henry Daniell	...	Moriarity
Paul Cavanagh	...	Fenwick
Matthew Boulton	...	Inspector Gregson
Eve Amber	...	Maude
Frederick Worlock	...	Onslow (as Frederic Worlock)
Coulter Irwin	...	Corporal Williams of the British Army (as Tom Bryson)
Sally Shepherd	...	Crandon
Mary Gordon	...	Mrs. Hudson

Also Known As:

Invitation to Murder (USA) (working title)
Sherlock Holmes and the Woman in Green (USA) (promotional title)

Runtime:

68 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

Finland:K-11 (2007) | Finland:K-18 (2009) (unrated) | Sweden:15 | UK:A (original rating) | UK:PG (video rating) (1990) | USA:Approved (PCA #10779)

Company:

Universal Pictures

Trivia:

Although "The Woman in Green" is credited as an original story, dialogue is lifted from Arthur Conan Doyle's "The Final Solution," and the situation involving the sniper firing at Holmes' silhouette is taken from the next story in the original canon, "The Empty House."

Goofs:

Factual errors: "Edgware Road" is misspelled ("Edgeware").

Quotes:

[first lines]
Inspector Gregson of Scotland Yard: [voiceover] I won't forget that morning, not if I live to be a hundred. I counted the men as they marched out of the yard; they'd hardly slept for weeks. We of the CID had slept even less, but the nightmare that kept us awake was all the same nightmare. That's why we weren't surprised when the commissioner asked us up to the conference room for a bit of a talk. He'd talked to us plenty, we knew that, but it didn't help any to know what was ahead of us.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1947)

A good entry in the Rathbone series

I'm a big fan of the Basil Rathbone/Sherlock Holmes series. This review is of the restored black and white 35 mm version issued in 2003. Having watched all of the Holmes films on TV or videotape, with bad prints and lousy sound, this restored version is the one to see. The restoration is perfect and shows the visual beauty of the film which is without question.

Basil Rathbone immortalized Sherlock Holmes in 14 films. The Woman in Green was the 11th in the series. There is a hint of tiredness in Rathbone's portrayal in this one. The story is interesting and involves severed fingers, the sinister Professor Moriarty and the mysterious Woman in Green. Henry Daniell is a good Professor Moriarty and Hillary Brooke as The Woman in Green is mysterious and seductive. As always, Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce as bumbling Dr.Watson are fun to watch.

At 68 minutes the film is short. As with all Holmes films, we wish for more. By all means see it.