When Sherlock went to war

Universal Pictures' decision to launch a series of second features featuring Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's great detective, Sherlock Holmes, came as the world conflict between democracy and dictatorship deepened. America was now in the war after helping the United Kingdom survive alone against the German juggernaut, and Hollywood was doing its part to lift morale with a heavy injection of propaganda into its product, with everyone pitching in to defeat the Axis. It was only logical that the Holmes films Universal put into production made Sherlock an agent in the war effort, employing his talent for deductive reasoning in solving crime to the larger problems the British Empire faced through espionage, sabotage and treason from its enemies.

The first three movies in the series that commenced with the Sept. 18, 1942, release of SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE VOICE OF TERROR have been taken to task by fans for presenting a jarring update of Holmes from the comfortable Victorian period in which he was created to the modern-day realities of then-current events. For in each of the three, Holmes, still the famous consulting sleuth of 221B Baker Street, London, is called upon to save the empire from disaster posed by Hitler's forces. But the films still provide a link to the familiar Holmes, played by Basil Rathbone, as well as his friend and chronicler Dr. John H. Watson (Nigel Bruce) through the use of his methods, keen reading of individuals, and even his grooming and clothing that hint at a turn-of-the-century style. It is noteworthy that in THE VOICE OF TERROR, Holmes leaves his beloved deerstalker cap on its peg when Watson reminds him, "Holmes, you promised!"

The new Holmes, confident in his powers, is not averse to modern-day technology; in SHERLOCK HOLMES IN WASHINGTON (released April 30, 1943) he confesses to Lieutenant Grogan (Edmund MacDonald) of the Washington police that, so used to working alone, he has forgotten the advanced methods of detection "so particularly effective here in America." Yet, in THE VOICE OF TERROR our hero studies radio frequency to determine the source of The Voice's broadcasts announcing doom and destruction, while in SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE SECRET WEAPON (Feb. 12, 1943) he makes use of photographic equipment to help bring to light the messages contained in the stick figures left by the kidnapped Dr. Franz Tobel (William Post Jr.). "One must adapt oneself to the tools at hand," Holmes advises Tobel early in the movie. Holmes' manner of closing the case relies on his famous modus operandi, but with a matter-of-fact and unobtrusive use of the latest devices. But there remains the feeling that Holmes goes about his business in 1942 much as he did in 1882. But that was perfectly all right with the fans.

Twentieth Century-Fox placed Holmes solidly in his time of the 1880s and '90s when it cast Rathbone and Bruce in its production of THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES, which hit theaters on March 31, 1939. It was a major step since previous Holmes entries, including Arthur Wontner's series of five films produced in England between 1930 and 1937, had plunked Holmes right into modern settings. It was not simply a budgetary move, but a concession to audiences that considered Holmes and Watson as contemporaries, as pointed out by Holmes film historians Chris Steinbrunner and Norman Michaels.* Indeed, the last collection of Doyle's stories, THE CASEBOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES, had been published as late as 1927 and still resonated with readers. In his preface to the volume, even Doyle observed that Holmes "has managed to hold his own little niche even in these feverish days."**

But Fox, which had a liking for costume dramas, decided to aggressively situate Holmes in Victorian England with HOUND, and reasserted its intentions with THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES (released Sept. 1, 1939). Yet, despite its fondness for film series, Fox produced no further endeavors about the great detective, perhaps because a series, such as its Charlie Chan and Mr. Moto films, were made on lower budgets, forcing an abandonment of period detail the studio feared audiences might reject.

No such qualms apparently influenced Universal, which borrowed Rathbone from his contracted duties at M-G-M and kept the busy Bruce even busier. The new Holmes series was updated, but as seen, still maintained the elements of the characters that its fans adored. It is interesting to note that while Rathbone may have winced at headlining a set of second features, these have garnered more followers over the years than the Metro productions in which he appeared in 1942, such as FINGERS AT THE WINDOW with Lew Ayres and the William Powell vehicle CROSSROADS. And the identification with Holmes, which irked the actor in his later years, had already taken root with the fall 1939 premiere of SHERLOCK HOLMES on NBC radio; starting in 1943, the weekly series was broadcast on the Mutual Network.*** After Rathbone left the show in 1946, Bruce continued as Watson for another season with Tom Conway, former star of The Falcon detective series at RKO, filling the void as his Holmes.

Again, Universal hedged its bets with THE VOICE OF TERROR by basing its plot on Doyle's "His Last Bow" and borrowing some from E. Phillips Oppenheim's novel THE GREAT IMPERSONATION, which the studio similarly updated to a wartime setting later in 1942. In addition to keeping Holmes and Watson identified with the world Doyle created for them, scenes take place on deserted London docks and lonely country estates, where previous stories in the Canon had played out. It is also the film that introduces us to the wonderfully cluttered, moodily lit set for the pair's Baker Street rooms, which remained substantially the same throughout the series of 12 Holmes adventures that ended in 1946.

That THE VOICE OF TERROR unreels somewhat unlike the other Holmes films is due to it being the only one not helmed by Roy William Neill, who took over directorial duties with THE SECRET WEAPON. John Rawlins, known for action flicks going out under the Universal banner (including the version of THE GREAT IMPERSONATION that went into theaters in December), kept the pace of THE VOICE OF TERROR fast, wasting little time on the Holmes-Watson relationship and focusing more on Holmes' efforts to uncover the source of a Fifth Column campaign to seize power that the Voice supports. 

However, the dank cinematography of Elwood "Woody" Bredell backs a convincing atmosphere of danger and desperation. Extreme close-ups enhance scenes in the Soho dive where Holmes persuades Cockney lass Kitty (Evelyn Ankers) to aid him in the probe, and of chief troublemaker Meade (the impressive Thomas Gomez in his film debut) in which the Nazi fanaticism that drives him seems to light up his eyes. The closing segment in a bombed-out coastal church where Holmes exposes the mole feeding troop movement and other information to the Voice is well-handled. During production, the project bore the titles of SHERLOCK HOLMES STRIKES BACK and SHERLOCK HOLMES SAVES LONDON.

THE SECRET WEAPON also kept faith with its audience by pitting Holmes against Moriarty (Lionel Atwill) to save a brilliant bombsight inventor and his creation from falling into Nazi hands. Holmes does so by employing disguises as well as his wits, while the puzzle presented by the Doyle original "The Dancing Men" is effectively put to work in the screenplay (by Edward T. Lowe, W. Scott Darling and Edmund L. Hartmann) to stress Holmes' powers. The script also allowed for the more human aspects of Holmes and Watson's friendship to come into play, which became a hallmark of the series under Neill's guidance. Entering his rooms after initially rescuing Tobel from Gestapo goons in Switzerland, Holmes (still camouflaged as an old bookseller) finds his roommate's gloves lying on a table. "Doctor Watson's," Holmes deadpans as he casually tosses them aside. "Very untidy fellow." Later, Watson removes Holmes' rucksack from an easy chair. "Very untidy fellow, Holmes," the good doctor comments.

Again, the patriotic Holmes has been pressed into service by his government to protect and then reclaim Tobel from Moriarty's clutches. As in THE VOICE OF TERROR, where Holmes' involvement is resented by the "Intelligence Council" and his only champion is its chief, Watson's old school chum Sir Evan Barham (Reginald Denny), Holmes comes under criticism from Sir Reginald Bailey (Holmes Herbert) for his independent means of handling the matter. Holmes quickly squelches Bailey's carping by unearthing a valuable clue. "He's only just beginning his investigation," Watson reassures Bailey. THE SECRET WEAPON makes liberal use of Holmes' talent for assuming different identities, appearing as an aged peddler in cahoots with German agents, a "murderous Lascar" seeking to flush out Moriarty and as one of Tobel's friends in London. (In the course of the series, Holmes employs only two characterizations apiece in THE SPIDER WOMAN and THE PEARL OF DEATH and one in THE SCARLET CLAW, all from 1944).

THE SECRET WEAPON resurrects Moriarty as a surefire connection to previous battles between himself and Holmes, and as an agent of evil with his sellout to the Nazis for personal aggrandizement, making treason the height of his career as the "Napoleon of Crime." In their first meeting, Holmes appeals to the professor to abandon his plans as well as to his national loyalty ("This is no simple crime you contemplate, but a staggering blow against your own country") which Moriarty coolly brushes off. "That doesn't concern me overly," Moriarty retorts. "I shall realize more profit from this than from all of my past ventures." In one of many fine portrayals during his career, Atwill (who had played Doctor Mortimer in the Fox HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES) creates a Moriarty that is both dangerous and charming, his dialogue exchanges with Rathbone a highlight of the film. 

Universal's makeup department also went out of its way to make his Moriarty physically resemble the famed Sidney Paget depiction of the character, with an emphasis on his "heavy lidded" eyes. Atwill in turn lost his trademark pencil-line mustache to offer an engagingly different portrayal of Holmes' opposite number in crime. A minor and almost unnoticeable addition in the way of properties is the abacus on Moriarty's desk, reminding us of the professor's previous vocation as a mathematician, but with the device darkly using tiny skulls as counting units. Moriarty, who only appeared in Doyle's "The Final Problem" but is referenced in other stories, seemed to enjoy nine lives in the movies, somehow escaping doom to repeatedly plague Holmes. In the Universal series, the professor, memorably played by an icy but no less fascinating Henry Daniell, returns in THE WOMAN IN GREEN (1945).

THE SECRET WEAPON is significant for the Holmes series as it represents the first appearance of Dennis Hoey as Inspector Lestrade, the sleuth's police foil from Scotland Yard. Hoey, who had just completed a similar-type role in Neill's FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE WOLFMAN (1943), played Lestrade in five more of the Holmes films. While his participation appeared more comic relief in addition to the studio's conception of Watson as a bumbler, Hoey offered solid support as Lestrade, whom readers encountered in the inaugural Holmes novel from 1887, A STUDY IN SCARLET. 

Although listed by several sources as a 1943 release, historians Tom Weaver, John Brunas and Michael Brunas have given THE SECRET WEAPON a December 1942 premiere because of its production almost immediately after completion of THE VOICE OF TERROR the previous June.@ Their assertion is sensible because an early '43 release of THE SECRET WEAPON makes the late April distribution of the next entry, SHERLOCK HOLMES IN WASHINGTON, appear hurried. Rathbone biographer Michael B. Druxman also agrees with the late '42 appearance of THE SECRET WEAPON in theaters.@@

The reason for Holmes finding himself in the U.S. capitol is revealed in the opening, when law clerk John Grayson (Gerald Hamer) is kidnapped by a treacherous trio (Henry Daniell, Don Terry and Bradley Page) following his own arrival in Washington. We return to secret agent territory when we learn that Grayson was in reality Alfred Pettibone, crack British Secret Service operative charged with smuggling a microfilmed document of great importance to his counterparts in America. Holmes and Watson, inspecting Pettibone's rooms after their recruitment by Whitehall representative Mr. Ahrens (Holmes Herbert), discover that Pettibone put the missing document on microfilm and glued it to the inside of a match folder.

That folder, which Pettibone passed to a young woman, Nancy Partridge (Marjorie Lord) before his abduction and later murder by the gang that followed him, becomes Neill's tribute to the famous "McGuffin" of Alfred Hitchcock's cinematic thrillers of the '30s and later -- a vaguely-defined something everyone wants that motivates the action (and in the present Holmes film, we never do learn why the microfilmed document is of such vital consequence). While SHERLOCK HOLMES IN WASHINGTON plays like an espionage drama that was then-typical of Universal, the element of the chase for the elusive folder lends excitement, suspense and a bit of humor to the proceedings, especially in a party scene in which the matchbook is used by several hands before falling back into Nancy's purse. Bertram Millhauser, soon to become a major player in the Holmes series, and Lynn Riggs, who collaborated on the screenplay of THE VOICE OF TERROR, crafted a script for what is a most enjoyable 70 minutes.

Also of note is Holmes' eventual meeting with the man behind all of the skullduggery surrounding the hidden document -- Richard Stanley (George Zucco), respected, refined local antique dealer but in reality Heinrich Hinkle, onetime espionage agent in the first world war and now head of an insidious spy ring out to claim the document in question at all costs. Zucco, the Moriarty of Rathbone's THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES, is a sinister delight as the chief malefactor who, in a further teasing with the audience, takes the folder from Nancy's purse and lights his pipe with its matches several times, unaware it contains what he wants. 

The series had provided Holmes with opponents worthy of his mettle, and you can appreciate the ironic climax when Holmes uses the final match in the book to burn the postage stamps he'd tricked Hinkle into believing contained the microfilm. The character of Hinkle -- drawing much inspiration from the secret agent Von Bork in "His Last Bow" -- also hints at the supervillains of movies to come inspired by the James Bond craze of the 1960s. When Holmes examines an ancient cabinet and escapes the ax that serves as a booby trap secreted inside, the dialogue smacks of 007 and the bad guy of the moment exchanging pleasantries. "The piece was in shocking condition when I got hold of it, but I had it restored," Hinkle explains matter-of-factly. "Very lively ... now," Holmes observes.@@@

Neill did not allow the desperate hunt for the state secret to get in the way of a further exploration of the lead characters, which audiences came to enjoy and spoke to the deep personal friendship between Rathbone and Bruce. Away from his normal surroundings and methods, Holmes adapts quickly to the new environment. "I've never knew you were interested in the society page," Watson comments as his companion spots a Sunday newspaper announcement of Nancy's engagement party, from which she is spirited away by Hinkle's henchmen. Excited at the prospect of coming to America, Holmes nevertheless remains on task. It is left to Watson to experience the fish-out-of-water delights of U.S. slang, milk shakes and baseball during their Washington sojourn. Like the previous two entries, the film ends with a patriotic soliloquy by Holmes, this time referencing Prime Minister Winston Churchill as the backscreen projection shows them approaching the Capitol.

But as Holmes and Watson returned to London, it became obvious to the creative lights behind the series that further exploits of the detecting duo on behalf of the Allies were limited, and a return to the more familiar kind of mysteries with which the sleuth and his friend were normally associated was in order. Thus, in SHERLOCK HOLMES FACE DEATH, released Sept. 17, 1943, Bertram Millhauser's script (based on Doyle's "The Musgrave Ritual") acknowledges the war may still be on, but the dark doings at a gloomy manor house in the north of England are as far removed from the conflict as one can get. Such was the theme of successive series numbers until its end, with only PURSUIT TO ALGIERS (1945) utilizing overseas intrigue as a plot motivation.

Burying the war aspect and Holmes' new role as occasional operative for the crown was met with approval from some sources, who enjoyed the series' move toward traditional whodunits and the criminal element known by the detective. That formula was starting to run dry about the time the studio, now known as Universal-International, ended production of second features and serials in an effort to upgrade its image. And while fans preferred the remaining nine Holmes films, the first three served as worthy introductions to a modern, if not necessarily new Sherlock Holmes addressing the "significant problems of the present day."

* Steinbrunner and Michaels, THE FILMS OF SHERLOCK HOLMES, Secaucus, N.J.: Citadel Press, 1978, p. 13.
** Berkley Books edition of THE CASEBOOK OF SHERLOCK HOLMES, New York, 1964, p. 10.
*** Frank Buxton and Bill Owen, THE BIG BROADCAST 1920-1950, New York: Viking Press, 1972, pp. 272-273; also Michael B. Druxman, BASIL RATHBONE: HIS LIFE AND FILMS, South Brunswick, N.J., and New York: A.S. Barnes & Co., 1975, pp. 69-70.
@ Weaver, Brunas and Brunas, UNIVERSAL HORRORS: THE STUDIO'S CLASSIC FILMS 1931-1946, Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Co., 1990, p. 331.
@@ Druxman, p. 263.
@@@ Quoted in Steibrunner and Michaels, p. 103.