This film of "The Man with the Twisted Lip" was originally intended as the pilot for a series of Sherlock Holmes adventures for British television, but that was not to be. This sample is done generally competently, but it is still not difficult to imagine why more were not made.
The adaptation is fairly workmanlike and adequate, but deviates from the original story in ways that seem to contribute nothing and actually defuse some of the drama. In fact, despite the fact that the story has been made to fit a twenty-five minute running time, this production still seems to drag and move rather slowly. Most of the actors deliver their lines is a fairly uniformly stiff, uninterested manner that doesn't make things very interesting.
John Longden plays Sherlock Holmes, in a time when he would have been directly in the shadow of the famous Basil Rathbone. Longden does a pretty good job with the role, contrasting to Rathbone with a kind of still force, but that stillness only seems to add to the general feel of stagnation in "The Man Who Disappeared."
That said, the production is carried off with a certain style, with plenty of attractive location scenes. It just mainly seems to have no sense or urgency or drive.