Dressed to Kill (1946)

Brilliant and touching

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

(*Famous Sherlock Holmes quote*) - "It's all elementary, my dear Watson."Released in 1946 - This b&w production of Arthur Conan Doyle's "Dressed To Kill" stars Basil Rathbone as super-sleuth, Sherlock Holmes, and Nigel Bruce as his ever-reliable sidekick, Dr. John Watson.As the story goes - Holmes & Watson suddenly find themselves hot on the trail of an unsavoury collection of ruthless criminals. It seems that all of these good-for-nothings are frantically searching for 3 music boxes that are each holding valuable engraving plates that have recently been stolen from the Bank of England.For nostalgic fans of vintage crime films (set in the Victorian era) - This 72-year-old relic is certainly an enjoyable "quick view" at a brief 70-minute running time.

Director: ROY WILLIAM NEILL. Screenplay: Leonard Lee. Adapted by Frank Gruber from the 1904 short story "The Adventure of the Six Napoleons" by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Photography: Maury Gertsman. Film editor: Saul A. Goodkind. Art directors: Jack Otterson and Martin Obzina. Set decorators: Russell A. Gausman and Edward R. Robinson. Matte artist: Russell Lawson. Costumes designed by Vera West. Make-up: Jack P. Pierce. Hair styles: Carmen Dirigo. Music composed by Hans J. Salter, directed by Milton Rosen. Song, "You Never Know Just Who You're Going To Meet" (Jewkes) by Jack Brooks. Dialogue director: Raymond Kessler. Assistant director: Melville Shyer. Sound recording: Bernard B. Brown (supervisor), Glenn E. Anderson (technician). Sound re-recording and effects mixer: Ronald K. Pierce. Western Electric Sound Recording. Producer: Roy William Neill. Executive producer: Howard Benedict.Copyright 13 May 1946 by Universal Pictures Co., Inc. New York opening at the Rialto: 24 May 1946. U.S. release: 7 June. U.K. release (as Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Code): 28 August 1946. Australian release: 22 August 1946. 6,460 feet. 71 minutes.SYNOPSIS: Why are thieves so anxious to steal three seemingly valueless music boxes that they fail to stop short of murder?NOTES: Twelfth and last of the Rathbone-Bruce Sherlock Holmes series for Universal.COMMENT: Much under-rated swansong, this entry is in fact one of the three best in the Universal "B" series, ranking just after The Scarlet Claw and Terror by Night. True, the climax is a trifle tame, though the setting is great, but to say (as some commentators have) that production values look thin and that Rathbone's performance seems tired and dispirited, contradicts the facts. The perfect Holmes, Basil Rathbone, still scores 100%. A spiritless portrayal? Not on your life! True, Nigel Bruce can be faulted. His performance rates lower than usual, mainly because of a mistakenly "comic" episode in which he attempts to imitate a duck! The other support players, however, I would describe as nothing short of superlative. There's even a scene in which the talented Patricia Morison outsmarts Holmes — and us too! And who could forget such charismatic portraits as Holmes Herbert's venal, "tinkle-tinkle" auctioneer, Edmund Breon's lecherous "Stinky", and Delos Jewkes' swaggering Cockney and his lilting song. For my money, the Jewkes sequence deserves a nomination as one if the best in the series.And one other important item I'd like to add: Atmosphere! Thanks to driving direction, effectively noirish cinematography and some really striking sets, this splendidly bizarre "Dressed to Kill" makes for a fine finish to the best "B" series ever made!

DRESSED TO KILL (Universal, 1946), produced and directed by Roy William Neil, comes to a close with the studio's twelfth and final "Sherlock Holmes" installment (1942-46) starring Basil Rathbone (Sherlock Holmes) and Nigel Bruce (Doctor Watson). Acquiring a title already used for the 1941 "Michael Shayne" entry for 20th Century-Fox starring Lloyd Nolan, this DRESSED TO KILL, not an unofficial remake, is nothing more than an adaptation from an untitled story by its creator, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, this time involving inexpensive music boxes.Opening with an overview of what an off-screen narrator describes as, "Dartmoor Prison, isolated from the outside world by walls of granite," introduces one of two prisoners (later revealed as John Davidson, played by Cyril Delevanti), working on music boxes that gets shipped out monthly to the Gaylord Auction Room. Its auctioneer, Mr. Crabtree (Holmes Herbert), sells three identical music boxes to three individual buyers, Julian Emery (Edmund Breon), Evelyn Clifford (Patricia Cameron), proprietress of the Clifford Toy Store; and William Kilgour for his little girl (Topsy Glyn). An hour after the auction closes, Colonel Cavanaugh (Frederick Worlock), arriving too late for purchase the boxes in question, acquires the names and addresses of its buyers. Julian Emery (Edmund Breon), a collector, affectionately called "Stinky" by his former school chum, Doctor Watson (Nigel Bruce), interests his friend and colleague, Sherlock Holmes (Basil Rathbone) after being told by Emery of how his apartment was burglarized with only a music box stolen in the middle of the night. Later, Emery is found stabbed to death followed by Kilgour's daughter found bound and gagged inside a closet of her home by Holmes. With Holmes now on the case, assisted by Inspector Hopkins (Carl Harbord - filling in for Dennis Hoey as Inspector Lestrade), the ace detective realizes these are not just ordinary music boxes for that the tunes are identical, yet different. Narrowing down Hilda Courtney (Patricia Morison) to be the ring leader responsible for the murder of Sergeant Thompson (Tom P. DIllon) of Scotland Yard for tailing her, it's now up to Holmes to decoding the music box and motive behind all this.With Patricia Morison as the co-starring villainous, DRESSED TO KILL might have been a great opportunity for a return guest appearance of Gale Sondergaard matching wits with Sherlock Holmes as she did in THE SPIDER WOMAN (Universal, 1943). There's even a song ditty, "You Never Know Who You're Going to Meet" which clues in on Holmes getting to meet with another deadly female, Hilda Courtney, her associates, Colonel Cavanaugh (Worlock) and dagger throwing chauffeur, Hymie (Harry Cording). As in most, but not all Holmes escapades, Holmes faces a near death experience. In this instance, Holmes with mouth taped, gets lifted onto a suspended hook above, hanging by his handcuffed wrists, left inside by villains in a locked parking garage with the turned-on motor from an automobile exhausting poisonous fumes. Had this been a weekly chaptered serial, this particular scene would most definitely close with the title card, "To be continued next week." For this 72 minute feature, everything is presented in one seating for its viewers munching on popcorn or treating themselves with a basket of fish and chips.Though not quite a high note conclusion, at least the series itself didn't resume long enough to produce some really inferior products. For DRESSED TO KILL, it did indicate Watson to be Arthur Conan Doyle or being the writer of exploits to past Holmes cases submitted to Strand Magazine. It is also Watson who unwittingly helps Holmes with his case through some meaningless suggestions/ self verbal thoughts that prove valuable. Of the supporting players, including Ian Wolfe as The Commissioner, only series regular, Mary Gordon as Mrs. Hudson, appears very briefly. As much as Holmes happens to be the master of many disguises, only Patricia Morison shows how she's really dressed to kill (figuratively speaking) for one memorable scene. Whether intentional or not, regardless of how popular, everything must come to an end, including a film series such as this classic partnership of Holmes and Watson. Yet, for this final theatrical episode, it might have been quite elementary having Holmes announcing his retirement from crime solving for its fadeout. Though Holmes' retirement never take place on screen, Rathbone's retirement from the role actually did, but didn't end all possibilities for future Holmes theatrical mysteries in later years enacted by other notable British actors as Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee. Having fallen to public domain, DRESSED TO KILL, available on video cassette and later DVD from various distributors, in black and white or colorized formats, as well as presented on numerous public television and/or cable channels, especially on Turner Classic Movies (TCM premiere: March 8, 2004), is a satisfactory conclusion to a popular series that shows there's no place like Holmes. (**1/2)

This last 'Sherlock Holmes' adaptation starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce once again entertains us with a clever, intricate story: a set of three music boxes, all made by the same man in Dartmoor Prison, curiously becomes of great - and lethal - interest for certain people for a very certain reason that's hidden somewhere in them - or in their music... The boxes have been sold at an auction, though, and so a hunt for each one of them begins - and in order to obtain them, they murder the first one of the buyers, who happened to be an old schoolmate of Dr. Watson...Now, of course, they've got Sherlock Holmes on their track, who very soon deduces that these boxes must be hiding a VERY expensive secret - and a very delicate one for the government...Quite a nice 'finish' for the Fox/Universal Sherlock Holmes series, with the protagonists in great shape - and, since the movie was made in the middle of the Film Noir wave, it also contains a feature that Holmes would meet for the first and last time: a REALLY deadly femme fatale - and one who can almost compare her wits with his! Good, solid crime entertainment, with many twists and surprises, and certainly not a moment of boredom...