Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror (1942)

To me, this movie is perfection.

The greatest movie ever made..!

From my favorite movies..

A lot of fun.

Even the date says a lot - September 1942, the dark before the dawn, as the world wondered whether it would ever know freedom again. And into this grim atmosphere, the producers must still try to inject believable propaganda on a shoestring.Reviving Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson for World War II might seem laughable to us now, but when the film ends with Holmes saying "Good old Watson, the one fixed point in a changing age", he is providing what the public desperately needs: fixed points by the bucketload. That word 'elementary', repeated so often, you think Holmes must have got a stutter. The statutory crisis, with "Watson, there's not a moment to lose!" And then, Holmes pointing out the villain's careless mistakes, just as though it was Baker Street in 1890. This could have been a hack job, with no budget for colourful locations or grand costumes. But they exploit their limits by turning it into a drama of the airwaves, clearly referencing the controversial English-language broadcasts from Germany by Lord Haw-Haw (the one who prodded Mosley into going the Hitler route), and the radio-set becomes the star of the show for many long minutes. The mysterious announcer has acquired a terrifying new credibility, predicting attacks on the UK, which follow almost at once. It is left to Holmes to deduce that these broadcasts are not what they seem, and that there is treachery at the top. Only the unmasking of the villain, with a little piece of sub-plot involving plastic surgery, somewhat stretches credulity.Although Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce are stuck in their cliché double-act, with creative effects firmly ruled out, there are some surprisingly good performances by the others, especially Thomas Gomez, an unlikely New York Hispanic in his first film (at thirty-seven), acting as an enemy agent, linked to the London underworld, where patriotism is thin on the ground. And when the intelligence team comes under scrutiny, the sinister cad Henry Daniell makes a too-obvious suspect, as events prove.

SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE VOICE OF TERROR (Universal, 1942), directed by John Rawlins, marks the return of Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce in their now legendary screen roles as Sherlock Holmes and his friend/associate, Doctor Watson. Having been last seen in a pair of 1939 releases ("The Hound of the Baskervilles" and "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes") for 20th Century-Fox, this edition was an easy attempt for a new film series (1942-1946). Aside from its lead actors now performing their original roles for another studio, the Victorian characters of the 1890s have been modernized into the now contemporary locale set during the London blitz of World War II. For this rather drastic change, the opening title explains its reasoning for it: "Sherlock Holmes, the immortal character of fiction created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is ageless, invincible and unchanging. In solving significant problems of the present day, he remains - as ever - the supreme master of deductive reasoning." And there you have it. In true Hollywood fashion, Holmes and Watson, having moved fifty years into the future from a trip down the Time Tunnel, physically showing Holmes, Watson and their landlady, Mrs. Watson, all haven't aged a bit. The only change would be their clothing. Gone are the horse and buggy replaced by automobiles. Gone are the gas-lit street lamps replaced by electric light-bulbs. What retains here is Sherlock Holmes masterful reasoning of crime solving that never goes out of style. For this newly formatted series opening, the story, based on Conan Doyle's "His Last Bow," starts off with a view of Germany before revealing those listening to a radio broadcast from an Axis enemy mastermind known as "The Voice of Terror" predicting various acts of sabotage that are to take place in their homeland of England. Sir Ryan Barham (Reginald Denny) of the British Inner Council, calls in ace detective Sherlock Holmes (Basil Rathbone) and Doctor Watson (Nigel Bruce) of 221B Baker Street, to help stop Nazi saboteurs working in England. During his latest assignment, Holmes soon finds his life threatened, followed by Gavin (Robert Barron) stumbling into his apartment to keel over with a knife in his back. His last words before dying is "Christopher." Later, Holmes and Watson, come to Limehouse in a very rough section of town to notify, Gavin's girlfriend, Kitty (Evelyn Ankers) of what has just occurred. Holmes acquires further assistance from the young girl whose determined to fight for England and get the one responsible for Gavin's death. Because of her secret meetings with R.F. Meade (Thomas Gomez - in movie debut), it is uncertain whether Kitty is secretly working for or against this supposed Nazi, adding more suspense to the story, which is the writer's intention. Also in the supporting cast are Henry Daniell (Anthony Lloyd); Leyland Hodgeson (Captain Roland Shore); Montagu Love (General Jerome Lawford); Olaf Hytten (Admiral Fabian Prentiss) and Hillary Brooke (Jill Grandis, a female taxi cab driver). Mary Gordon as Mrs. Hudson appears with no screen credit.Placing Sherlock Holmes in contemporary times is nothing new, having been done previously in some earlier screen adaptations, notably SHERLOCK HOLMES (Fox, 1932), where Holmes (Clive Brook) and Watson (Reginald Owen) are seen in 1930s Chicago. Universal's view of modernizing Holmes was to take advantage of its dated wartime propaganda theme commonly used in countless other films in the early forties. After a few more similar war-related themes, the writers of this series eventually had it phased out in favor of either original screenplays or those adapted whole or in part from the Conan Doyle stories. Many Holmes fanciers label Rathbone's initial Universal entry to be somewhat on the weak side, making its 65 minute presentation to feel a bit longer that it actually is, but overall, it does have some good points, too. Fortunately under Roy William Neil, who was to direct all future films in the series, some even improving from its predecessor, even to a point of reviving Holmes' arch enemy of Professor Moriarty such as THE WOMAN IN GREEN (1945) as played by Henry Daniell, the same Daniell who appears in this edition of THE VOICE OF TERROR.Sherlock Holmes is ageless, and quite popular, proving so to what developed into a 16 film theatrical series that lead to Sherlock Holmes festivals quite commonly broadcast on television on any given weekend from the 1950s to 1980s, mainly those Universal editions that open with Holmes and Watson, with credits superimposed over their images as the camera follows them walking through the street of uncertainty. Distributed to home video in the 1980s and later DVD, SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE VOICE OF TERROR's most recent cable TV offering turned up on Turner Classic Movies where this, and others in that series, premiered December 26, 2009, to commemorate the release of the latest theatrical SHERLOCK HOLMES as portrayed by Robert Downey Jr. Though the 2009 edition of Holmes retained its turn of the century outlook, it's even more contemporary through its actions. Regardless of how many actors have played Holmes and Watson on screen, the best remains for many, to be the one and only Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce. Next installment: SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE SECRET WEAPON (1942) (***)

I saw Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror as a big fan of Sherlock Holmes and of Basil Rathbone's portrayal, and while it was interesting and I'm glad I saw it it didn't come across as one of the best of the Rathbone films series, if anything it was the opposite. The patriotic speeches do come across as rather heavy-handed and melodramatic with the one with Holmes in the public house enough to make anybody cringe. Watson is also underused, while the story is somewhat low on mystery and rather ridiculous. It is not badly paced though and the ending was exciting. The film is also atmospheric and well made, with a score that drives the atmosphere and action very nicely and fittingly. The dialogue, speeches aside, is intelligently thought out and literate, any interplay between Holmes and Watson is always a delight. As well as the production values, the acting was the best thing about Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror, Basil Rathbone is superb as always and Nigel Bruce is also good in one of his more subtle performances as Watson. Henry Daniell, Evlyn Ankers and especially Thomas Gomez give compelling support. In conclusion, didn't enthral me very much but it is interesting and still has enough to grab your attention. 6/10 Bethany Cox

"Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror" is an entertaining installment in the Rathbone/Bruce series, the first film of the series made for Universal. There's some rubbish at the beginning of the film letting us know that Sherlock Holmes is ageless, etc. to explain why he's fighting the Nazis all of a sudden. I'm not a big fan of Sherlock Holmes in spy mode, not in the films (which are still entertaining enough, but don't quite feel right), and not in the Arthur Conan Doyle stories either, including the one on which this is loosely based and directly quotes for its (superb) final scene, "His Last Bow". That particular story was a World War I story, however. This film runs for only 65 minutes, a good running time for this story, any longer would have stretched things out a bit too much. There's some typically fun sleuthing from Holmes, the performances are all good, and the photography and direction are excellent. All in all a high quality production that isn't fully to my taste but succeeds at what it's doing.