Specialty CollectionGenre: FEATURE FILMS
Description: WHEN HOLLYWOOD WENT TO WAR, SO DID SHERLOCK HOLMES. IN FACT, FOR SOME TIME BEFORE THE JANUARY 1943 RELEASE OF SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE SECRET WEAPON, THE FILM'S WORKING TITLE PROVIDED AN EVEN MORE DIRECT REFERENCE TO THE ALLIED FORCES' STRUGGLE: SHERLOCK HOLMES FIGHTS BACK! WAR TIME PROPAGANDA. WWII. LOOSELY BASED ON SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE'S "THE DANCING MAN," SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE SECRET WEAPON CENTERS ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF A BOMBSIGHT THAT WILL REVOLUTIONIZE AERIAL WARFARE. IN THE WRONG HANDS, THIS TECHNOLOGICAL BREAKTHROUGH MEANS DOOM TO AN ENGLAND ALREADY BESIEGED BY DEATH FROM ABOVE. AND, AS ANY SHERLOCK HOLMES FAN WOULD DEDUCE, THE DASTARDLY HANDS THAT REACH OUT TO NAB IT BELONG TO HOMES' ARCH-RIVAL: PROFESSOR MORIARTY. IN A SUPERBLY PLAYED BATTLE OF CUNNING AND ESPIONAGE, HOLMES (BASIL RATHBONE) AND WATSON (NIGEL BRUCE) RUSH TO BREAK A CODE OF DANCING STICK FIGURES AND SET OUT TO RESCUE FRANZ TOBEL, THE INVENTOR OF THE BOMBSIGHT, AFTER NAZI COLLABORATOR MORIATORY KIDNAPS HIM. "DR. TOBEL IS BEING HELD BY ONE OF THE MOST BRILLIANT MEN IN THE HISTORY OF CRIME," HOLMES SHOUTS, "COME ALONG, WATSON, THERE ISN'T A MOMENT TO LOSE!" HOLMES AND WATSON'S SECOND WARTIME ADVENTURE (FOLLOWING SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE VOICE OF TERROR) MARKED AN IMPORTANT FIRST FOR THE SERIES. ROY WILLIAM NEILL TOOK UP THE DIRECTORIAL REINS AND WOULD GO ON TO PRODUCE AND, OR DIRECT THE TEN REMAINING RATHBONE-BRUCE FILMS. AFFECTIONATELY KNOWN AS "DEAR MOUSIE" BY RATHBONE. NEILL WAS NEVERTHELESS IN CHARGE. THE IRISH-BORN MOVIE-MAKER (WHOSE OTHER CREDITS INCLUDE THE BLACK ROOM AND FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE WOLFMAN) INVESTED THE SERIES WITH HIS REMARKABLE INVENTIVENESS AND HAD THE FINAL WORLD IN ALL QUESTIONS ABOUT THE MAKING OF THE FILMS. FOLLOWING THE PATTERN SET BY VOICE OF TERROR, NEILL AND HIS FILMMAKING TEAM PRESERVED ENOUGH OF A VICTORIAN VENEER TO PLEASE TRADITIONALIST FANS OF THE GREAT SLEUTH. 221-B BAKER STREET WAS STILL A COZY CLUTTER OF BRIC-A-BRAC AND DUST THAT MRS. HUDSON (MARY GORDON) WOULD NEVER GET THE BEST OF. AND COSTAR LIONAL ATWILL (MYSTERY OF THE WAX MUSEUM) PLAYED MORIARITY WITH A SPLENDIDLY SINISTER VICTORIAN INTENSITY. A MYSTERY-THRILLER IS OFTEN ONLY AS GOOD AS ITS VILLAIN. AND ATWILL, WHOSE ENTIRE CAREER WAS AN ENCYCLOPEDIA OF MAD DOCTOR, RUTHLESS SCHEMER AND DIABOLICAL SCIENTIST ROLES, WAS ONE OF THE SCREEN'S BEST.
