Sherlock Holmes In Washington

DVD, Sherlock Holmes In Washington (1943) film

I wonder how much of the pro-American/English speech at the end, and the whole concept of Holmes visiting the country was to rally the viewers in wartime, and how much was to ensure the continued success of the film series? Obviously America's entrance in WWII must have precipitated this film, and the series was already setting itself in the current time rather than Holmes' true period, but this story was more overt about the technology of the time, and made attempts to show the great detective fitting in with what should have been a different era.

There was also a bit of fish out of water for both Holmes and Watson, providing the humour, with the Doctor at his most fumbling, muttering best. Unfortunately this is the least Holmesian in the series so far, and its reuse of two actors from prominent roles was a bit confusing. With George Zucco and Henry Daniell in the cast I was certain Moriarty would be played by one of them, but they were different characters again! And the secret radios inside false urns, sarcophagus doorways and booby-trapped chests made this seem quite a silly kind of production. I wondered why an Englishman entering an antiques store in America didn't immediately arouse suspicions if they knew so early Holmes was on the case. It doesn't make the villain look too clever that he didn't get someone to check Pettibone's lodgings and deduce he'd used microfilm either, especially as it was arranged for someone to wait on the roof for snoopers!

Holmes visiting America was a good idea, and some parts were quite entertaining (the scene on the train where the English spy converses with each person to fool the pursuers into thinking he could have dropped off the papers with any one of them), but in not being even remotely connected to a proper story the characters do feel a little out of place, and the story could almost have been any old spy story from the black and white era. 

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