Die Geheimwaffe

Sherlock Holmes (Basil Rathbone) begins this story in disguise, helping to smuggle famous physicist "Dr. Franz Tobel" (William Post) out of Switzeralnad and under the watchful eye of the Nazis, who want his bomb sight plans. The Allies obviously want it, too, and Sherlock is there to help. Dr. Tobel has invented an instrument which greatly aids in the accuracy of aerial bombardment.

Holmes and Dr. Tobel arrive safely back at Baker Street but the scientist would rather be alone, for some mysterious reason, although he had promised the English to help them, not the Germans. He stays true to that promise but there are some desperate moments for Holmes and the English along the way.

It's an entertaining film and one in which our famous detective uses not one but three different disguises. He needs all the help he can get when he goes up against his arch-rival, "Professor Moriarity." One complaint: if Moriarity was that evil, he would have dispensed with Holmes without batting an eyelash, instead of giving him openings to escape. It's pretty sad, too, when the usual dim-witted Dr. Watson (Nigel Bruce) has to rescue his boss from certain death a couple of times!

Yes, there are some credibility issues in this story but if you can put your brain on hold a few times, it's a fun film to watch....and it looks beautiful, thanks to the great restoration job done on this DVD. It makes the old print come alive with some wonderful visuals, particularly the night-time shots.

One other note: whoever did the English subtitles in here misspelled or misinterpreted at least a half dozen words. It's very sloppy work, and not the first time I've encountered this watching the entire series on the restored DVD set.

Sherlock Holmes (Basil Rathbone) smuggles a Swiss inventor of a new bombsight into England and out of Nazi hands. But when the inventor is kidnapped right from under the nose of Scotland Yard, Holmes discovers it's not just the Nazis he has to contend with but his old nemesis Professor Moriarty (Lionel Atwill) as well.

The second in Universal's highly enjoyable Sherlock Holmes series is also the first directed by Roy William Neill, who would direct every Universal Holmes film after this. This is also the first appearance of Inspector Lestrade (Dennis Hoey), a pleasant addition to the series. Rathbone and Nigel Bruce are excellent, as usual. Rathbone gets to dress up in a few disguises, which are fun. He's still sporting that silly haircut from Voice of Terror. Lionel Atwill is a good Moriarty. Not the series' best but still very good. Any movie that features Basil Rathbone vs Lionel Atwill is one where you will be entertained.

For some reason, as with other WWII Holmes movies, a lot of reviewers seem to really hate the idea of Sherlock Holmes fighting against the Nazis or for England. They claim Holmes was never intended for "propaganda" and that he should be left to simple detective stories. Someone should have told Sir Arthur Conan Doyle that when he wrote "His Last Bow," a WWI-era story which saw Holmes helping his country catch German spies.

In the midst of WWII, Holmes is involved in the protection of a scientist working on a secret weapon that may prove to be a turning point against the Nazi's. When the scientist and his formulae goes missing, Holmes becomes involved in a rush to rescue the man and prevent nemesis Professor Moriarty getting hold of the rest of the formulae.

Although I'm not a major fan of the Holmes films where he finds himself in the modern day world, this is one of the better ones I have seen thus far. The plot is a little thick at the start but really gets going when the scientist goes missing. The investigation by Holmes is very engaging and the climax has a nice couple of scenes where Holmes and Moriarty match wits.

Rathbone makes a good Holmes as always and here he happily hasn't as bad a haircut as he did in some of the modern films. Bruce is much better than usual - he is less of a mug and is made less fun of by Holmes, he actually shows a bit of sense about him. Indeed so does Lestrade (Hoey), so often a comedy figure, it's nice to see him involved a bit more than usual! Atwill's Moriarty is good but I always saw him as a leaner, meaner man - Atwill looks more like Watson than Sherlock, even though their battle of wits is good I never felt that he was any match for Holmes, never mind being a nemesis.

Overall I enjoyed this film. It does have a small bit of propaganda at the very end but, unlike some of the other films, doesn't ram it down your throat - by making it about Moriarty rather than Nazi goons, the film works better. It has a slow start but it opens up to be very enjoyable.

There are times when Holmes and Watson seem just a bit out of place in the World War II setting, but "Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon" still has enough of the Holmes flavor to be worth watching. It's mostly enjoyable, with Holmes's usual deductions, disguises, and the like making up for the occasional war-time messages that come in from time-to-time. There are also some good moments of suspense, plus some pleasantly offbeat plot details, to keep your attention.

The plot gets pretty involved, with Holmes involved in protecting an inventor whose ideas the Nazis would like to get hold of. Some good turns follow as everything is played out in an interesting battle of wits. The supporting cast includes Lionell Atwill and Dennis Hoey, who are solid as Moriarty and Lestrade, respectively, plus Kaaren Verne.

Overall, most fans of the Rathbone/Bruce series should find it an enjoyable feature.

The first two Rathbone/Bruce movies were pretty good. Not just because they were in period but because their production values were good and because some effort went into the script. Only the first, "The Hound of the Baskervilles", was based on a Conan-Doyle novella. The second was a pastiche made famous on the stage by Gillette.

Then the franchise was moved to Universal Studios and a series of mostly declining quality was established. This was an early example. It's not terrible, not embarrassingly bad, it just loses something in being updated to the 1940s and in not having the atmosphere Conan-Doyle managed to inject into his characters and into the atmosphere itself. Not to mention some of Conan-Doyle's sometimes unwittingly delicious bon mots -- "The wind sobbed like a child in the chimney."

"The Secret Weapon" doesn't tell us much we don't already know about Holmes and Watson. There is a variation on Conan-Doyle's "Dancing Men" but not really much else that's too interesting. I never cared much for Lionel Atwill as an actor, and he looks especially clunky as Moriarty. Moriarty should be a reptilian ectomorph with an oscillating head.

Still, this is okay for fans of the series. Homes wears his hair combed from back to front on the sides, which is a little different. I wish the code had allowed him to do some cocaine once in a while. The best of the Universal films was unquestionably "The Scarlet Claw," so if you have to choose, choose that one to watch.