Leofwine_draca This fine Holmesian adventure marks the second time that Rathbone took up the deerstalker and pipe and stands as one of the best episodes in the popular series. The material is solid, packed with incident, and the film boasts a strong budget used nicely to represent a late Victorian London, full of pea-souper fog, horse-drawn carriages and mysterious gentlemen hanging around on street corners. Holmes fans will find Basil Rathbone giving a definitive performance as the refined detective and I believe this to be his best turn in the role, equalling Cushing's steely determinism twenty years later.Also fantastic is Nigel Bruce, at his most lovable as the doltish, good-natured Watson, and a supporting cast that give assured and lively performances. Standing out from the crowd are Ida Lupino as the strong-willed and beautiful heroine; Alan Marshal as the cultured but slightly sinister lawyer; and in particular everyone's favourite villain from the 1940s, George Zucco, as Holmes's arch-enemy, the inimitable Professor Moriarty. Zucco is the epitome of refined evil in his performance here and I don't think it could have been bettered in any way.The story takes many twists and turns and pulls off the difficult job of dealing with two apparently separate story lines at once. At times it appears to be unfocused and doesn't make much sense, but everything ties nicely together in a little package at the end, as is the habit of these movies. This is a film featuring loads of interesting elements, including a South American weapon of death; murders on fog-bound streets; the "Crime of the Century" in the theft of the Crown Jewels; an Incan funeral melody (!); a chinchilla's foot; an albatross; even a greenhouse full of plants features strongly. Everything gels together nicely with some priceless dialogue from our two heroic leads. THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES is an exciting, entertaining, downright enjoyable interpretation of literature's most famous detective and showcases Rathbone and Bruce at the peak of their careers.

MarieGabrielle Reliable Holmes story with Basil Rathbone and Dr. Watson as usual his social, albeit bumbling self.Ida Lupino is the femme fatal, her brother is murdered and she must seek help from Holmes to find out why.George Zucco as Moriarty is menacing and fun, as when his faithful servant gives him a shave with a straight-edge, and Moriarty sneers that he should want to cut his throat. Moriarty states he has nothing but contempt for most humankind.The sets are appropriately foggy and dense, London Victorian streets, oil lamps, a murder occurs in Bayswater Park; an odd Chilean flute chant, some sort of death song. There are also references to the albatross.When you see films like this today you appreciate the quality of a true suspense story, it doesn't always have wild action, but it has real suspense and theme, which is rare these days. 9/10.

wes-connors Returning from his initial outing as Britain's greatest detective, in "The Hound of the Baskervilles" (also 1939), super-sleuthing Basil Rathbone (as Sherlock Holmes) witnesses the murderous acquittal afforded wickedly criminal George Zucco (as Professor Moriarty). To wit, Prof. Zucco proceeds with plans to commit "the crime of the century," and steal the United Kingdom's Crown Jewels… Meanwhile, Mr. Rathbone is visited by beautiful young Ida Lupino (as Ann Brandon), who fears her brother will be murdered, as her father was a decade earlier. Ms. Lupino's fiancé and lawyer, handsome Alan Marshal (as Jerrold Hunter), doesn't want Holmes on the case - which seems to give away the story, but winds up being another part of the neatly plotted mystery...Cinematographer Leon Shamroy, director Alfred Werker, and a team of unfortunately uncredited soundtrack musicians - Cyril J. Mockridge, David Buttolph, Walter Scharf, David Raksin, and Robert Russell Bennett - create a suspenseful, foggy Victorian London town for the characters. And, Rathbone sings his hit version of "I Do Like To Be Beside the Seaside"! Note that "the kid" Terry Kilburn (as Billy) takes over the character played by Charlie Chaplin in William Gillette's original 1899 stage version. While not based on an Arthur Conan Doyle story, this early film series entry is one of the best-produced. It's classic Rathbone, with ever-present sidekick Nigel Bruce (as Doctor Watson) herein receiving the line, "Elementary, my dear Watson." ******** The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (9/1/39) Alfred Werker ~ Basil Rathbone, Nigel Bruce, Ida Lupino, George Zucco

Michael_Elliott Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, The (1939) *** (out of 4) The second and final film in Fox's original Sherlock Holmes series once again sees Basil Rathbone playing the master detective and Nigel Bruce as Dr. Watson. This time out they're trying to determine the murderer of a woman's (Ida Lupino) brother but Holmes' number one enemy, Professor Moriarty (George Zucco) might be planning his next crime at the same time. I read a lot of reviews calling this the best film in Rathbone's stint as Holmes but I must say that I found it to be a lot less entertaining than THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES and several of the future Universal entries. That's not to say this is a bad movie because it's not but at the same time I found there to be way too much plot and not enough of it interesting enough to keep the film moving. With all this plot and not much moving, I found the film drags in spots and that's certainly not something this series did often. With that said, I found the performances to once again be the best thing for the film with Rathbone taking the lead and really delivering in the role of Holmes, which is of course what you'd expect. I always find a lot of actors struggle when they're playing brilliant minds because the actor can never quite act "smart enough" to make the role believable but that's never been a problem with Rathbone in this series or various other films he's done. Bruce, as always, is good in his role of Dr. Watson and Zucco really delivers in what limited screen time he's given. I really wish his character had been padded a little. Lupino and the rest of the supporting cast are decent if not overly spectacular.