The Woman in Green (1945)

Director:

Roy William Neill

Writers:

Bertram Millhauser (screenplay)
Arthur Conan Doyle (characters)

Release Date:

27 July 1945 (USA)

Genre:

Mystery

Tagline:

Temptress of Pleasure - or Mistress of Murder?

Plot:

Sherlock Holmes investigates when young women around London turn up murdered, each with a finger severed off. Scotland Yard suspects a madman, but Holmes believes the killings to be part of a diabolical plot.

Plot Keywords:

Sherlock Holmes | Scotland Yard | Hypnotist | Killer | Finger

Cast

Basil Rathbone	...	Sherlock Holmes
Nigel Bruce	...	Dr. John H. Watson
Hillary Brooke	...	Lydia
Henry Daniell	...	Professor Moriarty
Paul Cavanagh	...	Sir George Fenwick
Matthew Boulton	...	Inspector Gregson
Eve Amber	...	Maude
Frederick Worlock	...	Onslow (as Frederic Worlock)
Coulter Irwin	...	Williams (as Tom Bryson)
Sally Shepherd	...	Crandon
Mary Gordon	...	Mrs. Hudson
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Fred Aldrich	...	Detective (uncredited)
Eve Ashley	...	Background woman (uncredited)
John Burton	...	Waring - Mesmerist (uncredited)
Harold De Becker	...	Shoelace Seller (uncredited)
Leslie Denison	...	Vincent - Barman at Pembroke House (uncredited)
Tony Ellis	...	Carter - Hypnotized Subject (uncredited)
Kay Harding	...	4th Victim (uncredited)
Alec Harford	...	Commissioner of the CID (uncredited)
Ivo Henderson	...	Constable (uncredited)
Tommy Hughes	...	Newsman (uncredited)
Colin Hunter	...	Constable (uncredited)
Olaf Hytten	...	Norris - Fenwick's Butler (uncredited)
Boyd Irwin	...	Short-Tempered Officer Closing Window (uncredited)
Eric Mayne	...	Member of Mesmer Club (uncredited)
William H. O'Brien	...	Pembrook House Waiter (uncredited)
Violet Seaton	...	Nurse Mowbray at Mesmer House (uncredited)
Arthur Stenning	...	Mesmer Club Porter (uncredited)
Percival Vivian	...	Dr. Simnell (uncredited)

Directed by
Roy William Neill

Writing credits
Bertram Millhauser		(screenplay)
Arthur Conan Doyle		(characters) (as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Produced by
Roy William Neill	....	producer
Howard Benedict	....	executive producer (uncredited)

Original Music by
Paul Dessau		(uncredited)

Cinematography by
Virgil Miller		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Edward Curtiss

Art Direction by
John B. Goodman
Martin Obzina

Set Decoration by
Russell A. Gausman
Ted von Hemert		(as Ted Von Hemert)

Costume Design by
Vera West		(gowns)

Production Management
Charles Stallings	....	production manager (uncredited)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Melville Shyer	....	assistant director

Art Department
William Nunley	....	prop master (uncredited)

Sound Department
Glenn E. Anderson	....	sound technician
Bernard B. Brown	....	sound director
Ronald Pierce	....	sound mixer (uncredited)

Special Effects by
Chris Guthrie	....	special effects (uncredited)

Visual Effects by
John P. Fulton	....	special photography

Camera and Electrical Department
Wallace Chewning	....	second camera operator (uncredited)
Roswell A. Hoffmann	....	camera operator (uncredited)

Music Department
Mark Levant	....	musical director
Paul Dessau	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)
William Lava	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)
Paul Neal	....	music mixer (uncredited)
Hans J. Salter	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)
Paul Sawtell	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)
Frank Skinner	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)

Other crew
Raymond Kessler	....	dialogue director
George Hill	....	stand-in: Nigel Bruce (uncredited)
Maurice Marks	....	stand-in: Basil Rathbone (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Universal Pictures

Distributors

• Universal Pictures (1945) (USA) (theatrical)
• Republic Pictures Home Video (1989) (USA) (VHS)
• Fox Video (1993) (USA) (VHS)
• Madacy Entertainment (1995) (USA) (VHS)
• Take 2 Video (1995) (USA) (VHS)
• Hollywood Classics (1998) (USA) (VHS)
• Madacy Entertainment (1998) (USA) (VHS)
• FOCUSfilm Entertainment (2000) (USA) (DVD)
• Marengo Films (2000) (USA) (DVD)
• Alpha Video Distributors (2001) (USA) (DVD)
• Alpha Video Distributors (2001) (USA) (VHS)
• BFS Video (2001) (USA) (DVD)
• BFS Video (2001) (USA) (VHS)
• FOCUSfilm Entertainment (2001) (USA) (DVD)
• MPI Home Video (2003) (USA) (VHS)
• BFS Video (2004) (USA) (DVD)
• BFS Video (2004) (USA) (VHS)
• MPI Home Video (2004) (USA) (VHS)
• National Film Museum (2004) (USA) (TV) (as National Film Museum Incorporated)
• 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment (2005) (USA) (DVD)
• Reel Media International (2005) (worldwide) (all media)
• Finnkino (2009) (Finland) (DVD)
• Legend Films (2005) (worldwide) (DVD)
• MPI Home Video (2004) (USA) (DVD)
• Pan Vision Oy (2007) (Finland) (DVD)
• RCV Home Entertainment (2007) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• Reel Media International (2007) (worldwide) (all media)
• St. Clair Entertainment Group (2008) (USA) (DVD)
• Video Cellar, The (2006) (Australia) (all media)
• Yleisradio (YLE) (1974) (1995) (2000) (2003) (Finland) (TV) (TV2)
• Yleisradio (YLE) (1974) (Finland) (TV)

Other Companies

• Hypercube  digital restoration
• Screen Time Images  audio restoration
• Screen Time Images  film restoration

Also Known As:

"Sherlock Holmes and the Woman in Green" - USA (promotional title)
"Sherlock Holmes: The Woman in Green" - USA (DVD title)

Runtime:

68 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Black & White and Color) | Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

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

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 Problem," and the situation involving the sniper firing at Holmes' silhouette is taken from the next story in the original canon, "The Empty House."

Goofs:

Boom mic visible: When Dr. Watson is walking with the street peddler you can see the boom reflected in the shop window. It moves with the characters as they walk along the street.

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)

Enjoyable bit of Holmes if not brilliant

The police approach Sherlock Holmes when someone is killing young women in London and neatly severing one of their fingers. Holmes investigates and finds that several well known people appear to be suspicious. A late night visitor gives him the motives for the crimes, if not the method - officially thought dead, Professor Moriarty is framing these people for the murders and then black mailing them to keep it hidden. Sherlock doesn't capture him on this occasion but begins to try and stop whatever master plan he has.

Rathbone will always be the image I have of Sherlock Holmes and it is down to these films. Here he gets involved again with archenemy Professor Moriarty in a game of murder and blackmail. The film has all the usual stuff in it and fans of the series will enjoy this. The plot doesn't quite have a fluidity to it and stutters and starts here and there. The murders start well with danger and dramatic possibilities but it loses a bit of momentum when the tact changes to a more pedestrian pursuit of the woman of the title.

Aside from this it does all it needs to do to be enjoyable (as a fan). Rathbone is a great Holmes and he is a good gentleman detective. I always have a problem with him being so very aloof but it is part of how Watson is portrayed I guess. Bruce is good as Watson, even if it does bother me to see him put down so very often. The film misses the comedy presence of Hoey's detective Lestrade and the new officer can't fill his shoes. Daniell's Moriarty is a bit too average - I never got the impression of an evil or dangerous man who was a match for Holmes.

Overall this is a good entry in the series. None of it screams out as being of a very high quality but it does well enough aside from having areas where it could easily have been strengthened.