Sherlock Holmes and The Voice of Terror

DVD, Sherlock Holmes and The Voice of Terror (1942) film

What might be called the first proper film, or the one where Rathbone and Bruce's style comes to the fore. The stark contrast of the lighting in this black and white world provides an artful visual aesthetic, enhanced by the claustrophobic outdoor sets, and the brightly lit interiors. These also provide a more realistic setting compared with 'The Hound of The Baskervilles'. The incidental music improves the film, after 'Baskervilles' did without.

An interesting facet of the story; the mysterious voice of terror, has an inadvertent extra twist to its identity, beyond the confines of the story, for those that happen to have viewed some of the other films in the series before this one - suspicion for such a viewer must inevitably fall on Lloyd, played by the pale Henry Daniell, better known for the recurring role of Moriarty, Holmes' most dangerous adversary. I remember seeing this and thinking Lloyd was the definite traitor, and waiting for Moriarty to be unmasked! They must have been impressed enough with his role here to give him arguably the third most important in the other films.

The story is inspired by 'His Last Bow' rather than following it closely, which would have been difficult to make into a film thanks to it being mostly set in one room. The reworking of the situation for the Second World War, already three years long at the time, instead of the build up to the First, probably helped the film series to get off to a strong start, and cleverly a note at the beginning explains Holmes is a hero for any time. I imagine if a film were made now, perhaps set during the Iraq war, it would be a lot more difficult to see the character in the same way, but the World Wars were close enough together and within a not too distant timeframe to the true life of the character so it doesn't seem as strange. To us, the early part of the 20th Century all seems so distant that giving or taking fifty years is less obvious anyway.

Holmes' speech is typical of the films made during the war period, and the pulling together of the British people and the backing of one of the best literary creations must have swelled with pride cinemagoers of the time. It was also the year America joined the war, so perhaps a film about Holmes, crossed with the reality of the war was a big hit. The story has more humour, and little asides that play with the stereotypes gently, such as the moment Watson makes Holmes wear a more contemporary hat instead of a deerstalker. Slightly more accomplished than 'Baskervilles' many of the elements that would become familiar to the film series began here, even if they aren't quite as compelling as some in the series.

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