Year:
1945
Rating: 6.0Down
to a precious few in the Rathbone Holmes series. This is the 12th of 14.
I will miss the boys when I am done. This one is a bit flat with a new writer
on hand, but has some clever asides and a lot of screen time given over to
Watson (Nigel Bruce). There is a wonderful beginning as Holmes and Watson
roam the foggy streets of London but most of the film takes place on a ship
that doesn't give it much chance to stretch its legs. There are red herrings
strewn all over but none of them bite. About two-thirds of the way through
it becomes clear who the villains are. Having one of the red herrings be
a killer would have been nice. There is a surprising amount of filler here
but since it is Watson filling, it was amenable.
Holmes and Watson are planning a holiday
together in Scotland when they are accosted on the street and given subtle
clues. Turns out our boys don't like fish and chips! How can that be and
when a lady of the night comes on to Watson, he scampers away like a firecracker
went off. The clues lead them to Pigs Alley where they are hired to escort
a young King to his home in Rovenia. Assassins are out to kill him and destroy
democracy in that nation. Was the Cold War underway? The three of them take
the S.S. Friesland to Algiers. The S S. Friesland is referenced in a Holmes
story, The Adventure of the Norwood Builder.
Lots of suspicious folks on board that could
be killers. One is a female singer from Brooklyn played by Marjorie Riordan
who they have sing three songs as Watson creepily drools over her. Riordan
soon met a war hero, married him and became a clinical psychologist. And
then Watson does a fine deep version of Loch Lomond. But the best filler
is to come as Watson entertains the passengers with the tale of The Giant
Rat of Sumatra. The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire Holmes makes reference
to it, "It was a ship which is associated with the giant rat of Sumatra,
a story for which the world is not yet prepared." This aside has led to many
writers taking the challenge to write a fictional account of it. Watson drones
on as Holmes quietly saves all their lives. Not one of the top Holmes films,
but where else will we get to see him and Watson playing shuffleboard.
