lugonian 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) (***)

BA_Harrison It's 1942 and the inner council of the British War Cabinet are struggling to 'keep calm and carry on' thanks to The Voice of Terror, a German radio broadcast that announces Nazi acts of sabotage in mainland UK, striking fear into the heart of the British. Who can the top brass call upon in these troubled times? Why, Sherlock Holmes (Basil Rathbone) and his best bud Watson (Nigel Bruce), of course!During the Second World War, every man was expected to do his part for queen and country, even Britain's greatest Victorian detective—which is why this third adventure for Holmes and Watson features a contemporary setting, allowing the pair to lend their incomparable deductive abilities to thwart the Third Reich. Sadly, while this thinly disguised propaganda no doubt rallied the nation back in the day, now it all comes across as rather crude, with characters pausing mid-action to give rousing patriotic speeches and even the lowly criminal class displaying some bulldog spirit to bash the Nazis.While Voice of Terror is commendable stuff as far as helping to build morale is concerned, it's far from the most satisfying outing for Conan Doyle's creation, lacking the appeal, atmosphere and intrigue of Rathbone's earlier on-screen cases.

bkoganbing For the war effort Hollywood enlisted the most famous detective in fiction, Sherlock Holmes to solve the mystery of the Voice Of Terror. There's a gentleman who is giving out enemy propaganda broadcasts for the Axis powers and unlike the real life Lord Haw Haw, he's doing it by short wave radio inside the United Kingdom.What his broadcasts include though is vital information that could only come from the highest levels. He's predicting ship sinkings before they actually occur. Winston Churchill's inner circle has one very big leak in it.Though Churchill does not appear we see several members of that circle, all fictional people, no one like Clement Attlee, Anthony Eden, Ernest Bevin, Stafford Cripps, et al, but people from the British colony including some who were known for playing villains. The most prominent being Henry Daniell who in fact played Professor Moriarty in future Holmes movies. Don't take that as any kind of hint.Of course Holmes finds out who the Voice Of Terror is, but the mystery is who was the leak. And this is one of the most preposterous conclusions to a Holmes film ever done, maybe the most preposterous. For this scheme to be accurate it would have to have been concocted before there was even a Nazi Party if chronologically accurate. Even World War II audiences fervent for movies defending the Allied cause would have had a problem swallowing this one.The film is based on elements from real Conan Doyle stories. As Arthur Conan Doyle died in 1930 of course they were updated to a World War II setting. Seeing Sherlock Holmes And The Voice Of Terror now would have today's audience open mouthed with incredulity.

Michael_Elliott Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror (1942) ** 1/2 (out of 4) First film in Universal's Holmes series following two previous installments from Fox. This time out the BBC are receiving strange wireless broadcasts from the German's telling of future attacks, which all happen to come out true. Holmes (Basil Rathbone) and Watson (Nigel Bruce) are called in to try and track the voice of terror. It takes quite a while to get use to seeing Holmes in the 1940's but overall the film is pretty good, although the Nazi plot had already been done to death by previous films and series. The 65-minute running time flies by in a very quick manor, which isn't normally the case for these types of mysteries. The story itself is somewhat good but again, the German thing had been done to death and this film doesn't really offer up any new slants on the story. The real greatness behind the film certainly belong to Rathbone and Bruce who are simply terrific in their roles. The way the two men play off each other adds a lot of charm to the film and Rathbone is certainly classy enough to fill his role perfectly. Evelyn Ankers gets to shine as an informant and it was nice seeing Henry Daniell and Reginald Denny in their roles. The ending is a tad bit rushed in my opinion and I think they were able to handle the German's a bit too easily but this is still an enjoyable little mystery.