Sherlock Holmes in Washington
                                                                                                           
Director: Roy William Neill
Year: 1943
Rating: 6.0
Oh dear me. Not only is Sherlock Holmes again removed from Victorian times, but sent to the former colony of America. The land of chewing gum and Flash Gordon per Watson. But it is in a good cause. To ferret out a nest of Nazi spies. Holmes (Basil Rathbone) is sharper than ever knowing everything before anyone else, while poor Watson (Nigel Bruce) is made more of a comical figure worrying about cricket scores and slurping a milkshake and generally getting on Holmes' nerves. There are some clever bits and solid villains in an otherwise typical Holmes adventure. I liked the shots of NYC from the airplane when nearly all the skyscrapers were downtown and DC as well as Holmes motors through the city (on bluescreen). "Look Watson, the Capitol, the very heart of this democracy". Well, once anyways. The Reflective Pool looked fine as well.



A British agent flies to America with a top secret document, but the Nazis kidnap him from a train. They are unable to find the document which is of vital importance. On the train were a loud blustery Senator (Thurston Hall), an old lady with mice, another elderly woman reading a book and a young woman (Marjorie Lord) engaged to be married to a naval officer (Dick Powell looking John Archer). They were in fact married in real life and their daughter was Anne Archer. The porter is of course black and played by Clarence Muse who I keep coming across in small parts. A top black actor in his career. Holmes being smarter than your average bear is sure that the agent (Gavin Muir) discretely passed the documents on to one of these people on microfilm.



But which one. The Nazis headed by the devious George Zucco and Henry Daniell figure out the same thing. Zucco had been Moriarty in the Fox The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes a few years earlier. Zucco shared one other thing with Rathbone and Bruce. He had been in the front line in WW I and been badly wounded and nearly lost his arm. Bruce still suffered from his wound. It becomes a race to find the right person and the microfilm. In a near Hitchcock touch the hidden microfilm is unknowingly  passed from person to person to person to Zucco, who has no clue that he has it. Enjoyable film with a brilliant Holmes and I hope Watson doesn't become the complete idiot sidekick going forward. Again Holmes closes the film with a quote - from Churchhill - "It is not given to us to peer into the mysteries of the future. Still, I avow my hope and faith, sure and inviolate, that in the days to come the British and American peoples will, for their own safety and for the good of all, walk together side by side in majesty, in justice, and in peace."