shakspryn Among the pluses in this movie:We get two top English character actors, George Zucco and Henry Daniell, who both appeared in other Rathbone-Bruce Holmes films.The script offers Holmes some witty rejoinders to the lovable but slightly dim Watson, which Rathbone delivers with wonderful dryness.Fans of the films will notice British actor Gerald Hamer among the cast. Hamer appeared in no less than five of these Holmes films!The plot is fast moving, and there are no "slow" moments.The chemistry between Holmes and Watson is superb, as always.

Leofwine_draca This above-average entry in the Rathbone/Holmes canon sees the normal procedure of adapting a story for the screen abandoned in favour of some wartime propaganda. Here, Holmes is up against an international ring of spies whose job is to transmit top-secret information to the enemy. Cooperation between the British and American sides is emphasised in this film and the propaganda makes it quite interesting to watch as a measure of the times. On top of that, it's got a cracking story too involving some missing documents which have fallen into the wrong hands. The plot twists and turns repeatedly as clues and events come and go; they've really packed a lot into the seventy minute running time.Rathbone and Bruce are excellent together as always, with Rathbone on top commanding form as a fearless Holmes who always manages to stay two steps ahead of the enemy. Bruce milks his comic value for all its worth as the culture gap between countries is played for laughs; we witness Watson discovering chewing gum and mulling over the newspapers while in America. A black porter also provides some comic relief, although of the borderline racist variety. Thankfully the bad guys in this film are played by excellent, menacing actors. Henry Daniell, who would later go on to be Moriarty in THE WOMAN IN GREEN, is an evil henchman. One look at his face and you can realise why they cast him repeatedly in this series - cruel is too kind a word for it.Horror fans will also enjoy the rather brief presence of George Zucco, star of countless B-movies in the '40s. Zucco plays the chief Nazi war criminal and has some excellent banter with Rathbone - the pair really bring out the best of their acting abilities in each other. Suffice to say, he makes for one of the finest villains in the long-running series, even if he doesn't get much in the way of screen time. Then there's the beautiful woman in peril; the delight of Holmes pretending to be a clumsy antiques expert as he infiltrates the enemy base; lots of peril (Holmes nearly gets a block dropped on him and almost dies as a result of a spring-loaded trap); a gun fight and plenty more. Add to this Bruce's excellent support, an amusing travelogue interlude where all of the capital's landmarks are helpfully pointed out, truly nasty baddies and, perhaps most importantly, a sense of fun, and this turns out to be an entertaining highlight of the series.

ShootingShark When a British agent carrying vital war plans to Washington D.C. is kidnapped, the ace detective Sherlock Holmes flies in to investigate. Can he recover the missing document and apprehend the dastardly culprits ?This fifth film in the Rathbone-Bruce series is a strong entry with an excellent script by Lynn Riggs and Bertram Millhauser, featuring a perfect example of the MacGuffin as we follow the vital matchbook from person to person, cringing as it falls into the hands of the uncomprehending villains. Whilst the movie is padded a little with some pleasant stock footage of the US Capitol, the action moves swiftly along from some early machinations in London to a high-society party to a final showdown in an antiques shop. Rathbone is as effervescent as ever, Zucco and Daniell (both of whom played Moriarty in other films in this series) are suitably creepy as the heavies, and the whole enchilada is laden with thrills, laughs and scares. Trivia - Archer and Lord, who play the young couple, were real life husband and wife, and the parents of noted actress Anne Archer.

Spikeopath It seems to me that which ever Sherlock Holmes {Rathbone} film I watch there is always comments on the site stating it's one of the weaker in the series !!, it really just goes to show how we are all different as regards our love of the series because to me this entry is far from being weak. It has a very tidy plot that takes our delightful duo to America and contains one of my favourite sequences as we watch a (critical to the plot) book of matches go from person to person at a social gathering. Holmes gets to act up as an eccentric art collector and Watson does what he does best, comedy relief. The ending perhaps could of packed a bigger punch for me personally, but all in all it's yer above average detective drama acted out with the usual style from the regulars, 7/10.