Sherlock Holmes In Washington

By George!

Sherlock Holmes
In Washington
USA 1943
Directed by Roy William Neill
Universal Blu Ray Zone B

Sherlock Holmes In Washington, the fifth in the ongoing series of films based on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes character to star Basil Rathbone as Holmes, Nigel Bruce as Dr. Watson and Mary Gordon as housekeeper Mrs. Hudson is, I think, the first in the series to not actually use specific or named source material from the stories and is completely a Hollywood concoction. However, with that being said, the writers knew what they were doing and the script, coupled with Rathbone’s confident performance as Holmes, certainly stays true to the spirit of the earlier films and is another fun movie.

This one starts off with the familiar ‘on brand’ credits and music before then going into the same card used in Sherlock Holmes And The Voice Of Terror (reviewed here) which once again reminds the audience that Holmes has been updated to a contemporary setting. I’m not sure why this was needed because the previous film didn’t do that and, by now, the contemporary nature of the continued series was obviously something which had been accepted by the cinema-going public.

This one has an extended sequence at the start of the film which doesn’t feature either Holmes or Watson for around ten minutes but which is quite gripping in itself. A British agent carrying sensitive documents, which would be a bad thing if they fell into Nazi hands, is kidnapped after his train journey from one of the airports to Washington. It’s a shame that this character later turns up dead as the performance is pretty good. However, when he goes missing, back in good old London Town, Holmes and Watson are asked by the British Government to find out what happened and to get the documents back. Holmes goes to the house of the agent (as he’s worked with him before) and deduces some information about the nature of the documents which puts him a little ahead of the main villain (played here by George Zucco, who earlier played Moriarty in The Adventures Of Sherlock Holmes, reviewed here) but also survives an attempt on his life.

Holmes and Watson then rush to Washington for a fun filled adventure which involves a kidnapped woman and some really nice scenes of actual detecting and deducing various essential clues which ultimately lead Holmes to be able to save her life and foil the plans of the lead villain and his henchmen (one of these being Henry Daniell, who played one of the good guys in Sherlock Holmes And The Voice Of Terror and who would also play Moriarty in one of the later films in this sequence).

As usual the acting is first rate and the chemistry between Rathbone’s razor sharp sleuth and Bruce’s bumbling Watson is always going to bring a smile to the face. I especially like that one of the cultural take homes that Watson gets from his American experience is that he likes the Flash Gordon newspaper strip. Plus, as I said, there really is a lot of actual, proper detection work going on here and, though it’s not based on an original story, it certainly pushes the kind of deductive thinking that Holmes was always known for.

I’m beginning to appreciate director (and now also producer) Roy William Neill’s way of doing things too. It’s very efficient, allowing his shots to unfold and reveal or highlight interesting moments, without cutting, in one shot... as he did with the mirror to room shot in Sherlock Holmes And The Secret Weapon (reviewed here). In this one, for instance, there’s a nice shot of Watson in the main living areas of 221B Baker Street, sitting in his chair in the middle of the frame. Then the camera swings around 90 degrees as Holmes enters but we only see his arm as the camera is now showing us a detail on another table in close up (without zooming, it’s all just done by panning around) and some words are exchanged before Holmes is revealed fully as he walks into the room and the camera swings back around to frame him and Watson in the original view. It’s nice, economical stuff and hits you on an almost subconscious level.

Once again, Holmes has an interesting set of conversations with the lead villain but, since it’s not Moriarty, Zucco’s character is not armed with an intellect that, at any time, threatens to overshadow or gain a foothold against Holmes’ mind and he beats the villain rather easily... tricking him into handing over the documents without him even knowing he had possession of them.

And that’s that. At the end of Sherlock Holmes In Washington, as Holmes and Watson are being driven through the US capital, presumably on the way to the airport which will take them back to London, Holmes’ gives another of his patriotic speeches about what a great country it is and so, also, how great America is. This time around... and Holmes reveals the reference on screen here... his final speech comes not from either Conan Doyle or Shakespeare as in the previous two films... this time it’s from a speech that Sir Winston Churchill made in America. Once again, another Sherlock Holmes film which is as entertaining as anything and which I would wholeheartedly recommend, along with the rest of the series of features, to pretty much anybody.