Mission à Alger

The definitive movie Sherlock Holmes is Basil Rathbone; the definitive movie Dr. Watson is Nigel Bruce. Together, these two brilliant actors made fourteen Sherlock Holmes films between 1939 and 1946, most of them loosely based on stories by Arthur Conan Doyle; a few based on Doyle stories in name only. All are thrilling, exciting excursions into the realm of mystery and deductive reasoning, even the later low-budget ones.

The original pairing of the super sleuth with his bumbling if lovable assistant portrayed by Rathbone and Bruce was in "The Hound of the Baskervilles," where star billing went to Richard Greene as Sir Henry Baskerville. The popularity of Holmes and Watson showed the studio that the audience cared more for the two supporting players than for the somewhat stiff Greene. Next time in "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes," Rathbone and Bruce deservedly received top billing.

During World War II with England in peril from the Luftwaffe, Holmes and Watson were utilized to booster the war spirit. Holmes could be heard at the end of the war-time films haranguing his fellow countrymen and their ally, the United States, about patriotism and gallantry. Winston Churchill was touted as the savior of his nation.

"Pursuit to Algiers," based on Doyle's "The Return of Sherlock Holmes," finds the crafty detective helping escort Nikolas (Leslie Vincent), heir of a foreign country and a target for conspirators, to assume his crown following the assassination of his predecessor. There are many clever scenes involving Dr. Watson unknowingly being used as a decoy to protect Nikolas. When Nikolas' supporters first contact Holmes surreptitiously, they employ a ruse involving a fish and chips cypher, beyond Watson's grasp. In the process Watson is propositioned by a hooker who calls the good doctor, Ducky, much to his chagrin. Holmes takes the high road by plane; Watson takes the low road by boat. There is much chicanery aboard the ship that takes up most of the movie. The ending may come as a surprise for many.

One of the high points of "Pursuit to Algiers" is Watson's story of "The Giant Rat of Sumatra." Entreated by his fellow passengers to tell about one of Sherlock Holmes' greatest adventures, Watson volunteers to entertain all with his giant rat fable. His use of inanimate objects on the table for purposes of illustration to make the exploits he relates more colorful is well worth the price of admission.

There are more songs than usual for a Sherlock Holmes outing. Such traditional Scottish airs as "Flow Gently Sweet Afton," sung by Marjorie Riordan as a girl from Brooklyn named Sheila Woodbury with something hidden in her sheet music satchel and "Loch Lomond," sung by Watson himself, not only serve as icing but are utilized to embellish the plot.

The twelfth in the Sherlock Holmes series and coming at the end of the war, "Pursuit to Algiers" is one of the most entertaining of the lot and there is no rousing speechifying by Holmes at the end. Those speeches were wonderful morale buildings at the time, but are a bit quaint for today's audiences.

Since the wartime production (1945) of the Sherlock Holmes' adventure, "Pursuit to Algiers", many films have been made involving a seagoing setting. Mysteries set aboard a ship I suggest are notoriously easy to begin and difficult to consummate; this is because it is easy to introduce characters in a claustrophobic setting but notoriously more difficult to arrange for a series of logical events perpetrated by them that is varied, believable and possessed of a wide-enough scope of action. I find "Pursuit to Algiers" to be an unusually believable decently-filmed low-budget ship-based adventure and a tidy storyline without any need for apologies. The writers began the piece on land, in fact using a low-grade but intriguing series of clues--recognized by detective Sherlock Holmes as such--to lure him to an expositional meeting. At that meeting, the Prime Minister of a fictitious Balkan country, one whose king has been murdered (though this fact has not been made public), hires the famous consulting detective to safeguard the nation's young prince as he heads home from his school in England to his homeland for a now-vital coronation ceremony. Holmes accepts the commission; then he heads off in an airplane, planning to meet his friend Dr. Watson later, for several reasons. Watson has cause to believe he has been killed; but he eventually does meet his partner aboard the ship they had planned to sail on, after several neat plot twists and a display of unusual intelligence by Holmes; and from then on, the two are kept exceptionally busy trying to assess who the potential murderers are (who will be their deadly opponents). They are given a fairly large cast of suspects to choose from. Holmes then neatly thwarts the villains at every turn, until near the end he is knocked unconscious and the prince is kidnapped--exactly as Holmes had planned. Basil Rathbone is less effective than usual as Holmes and Nigel Bruce more useful as Watson than he was usually permitted to be; he sings beautifully, and acts as an effective comedic foil to his sharp-eyed and sharp-witted partner throughout. Among the larger than usual cast for a Holmesian adventure, Rosalind Ivan as a noisy matron is far better than thin, pretty Marjorie Riordan who sings better than she acts. Veteran heavies Martin Kosleck, John Abbott, Rex Evans and Gerald Hamer steal the film as clever but outwitted suspects or murderers; aboard such a small ship, the scenarists permit the suspects and even the villains to interact with and try to outthink Holmes quite directly, a rarity outside seagoing comedic tales (and, I find, the film's primary distinguishing feature). Frederick Worlock is affecting as the Prime Minister; the young men in the cast are all routine at best. This film was kept moving swiftly and ably by its producer-director, veteran Roy William Neill; the script was done as a screenplay by Leonard Lee adapted from elements of an Arthur Conan Doyle story. The feature's cinematography by Paul Ivano and art direction by John B. Goodman and Martin Obzina are above average; Vera West's costumes are done on an admirably high level throughout. Bernard Brown, for once, keeps a British film's voices and sounds perfectly intelligible. Some of the scenes aboard the ship are quite realistic; others are less successful, although Russell A. Gausman and Ralph Sylos try manfully to make every setting from a cafe to cramped staterooms believable. The seminal portions of this film I assert are the dialogue interactions of the characters which take place throughout; despite the dialogue sometimes being low-key, it is adult, convincing and serviceable from beginning to end. This is a very good second feature by my standards, if no more, on a par with The Woman in White, and quite tightly plotted.

I've seen nearly all of Universal's Sherlock Holmes series by now, and have found that the level of quality doesn't vary too much between each instalment. Every entry in the series is worth watching, and I haven't seen any that I would describe as 'bad'. Pursuit to Algiers fits into this equation snugly, but even so; it's definitely one of the lesser Holmes mysteries. It does feature most of what makes the series great beyond the central plot line - such as a great performance from both the leads, a constant stream of intrigue and some great dialogue; but the actual mystery itself is rather lazy. It simply follows Holmes and Watson looking after a prince onboard a ship full of assassins. Adding to this is the fact that the sets are fairly samey, which doesn't help the film as it a few changes of scenery wouldn't have gone amiss. The film seems to know that it isn't the greatest of Holmes mysteries as well; and this translates to the screen. Holmes himself doesn't appear in the film for a proportion of the running time, which is never good when he's the main reason people are watching; and as good as Nigel Bruce is, he's not enough to carry a film about the great literary detective all on his own. I much prefer it when LeStrade features as well. Still, despite it's bad points, Pursuit to Algiers is a worthy yarn and still worth seeing for fans of these films.

Pursuit To Algiers involves Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson in a job of security more than detective work. Both are looking to get away to Scotland for a little rest and relaxation, but they get a curious call for help from the Prime Minister of some Balkan country where the king has died. Not by accident as reported, but was assassinated.

The Holmes mission is to get the Crown Prince to Algiers where presumably the state security people will take over. Why Algiers is never mentioned.

As Basil Rathbone so wisely puts it he dislikes plans made by other people as they have a habit of blowing up in their faces. Rathbone makes his own security arrangements and part of it is making poor Nigel Bruce a decoy in more ways than one. How he succeeds in his mission is quite a good tale.

Favorite scenes in this is Nigel Bruce singing Loch Lomond after singer Marjorie Riordan obliges him with a rendition of Flow Gently Sweet Afton. Nigel Bruce does not do bad with it either. The second scene is Rathbone outsmarting one of the three villains on a ship to Algeria. Martin Kosleck who is best known for playing Joseph Goebbels in several wartime films of varying quality plays an assassin skilled with the use of a thrown knife. I love how Rathbone not only foils him, but decommissions Kosleck for the rest of the film.

Pursuit To Algiers is not pure Holmes in terms of a faithful recreation of an Arthur Conan Doyle, but Rathbone and Bruce are in good form and back from wartime propaganda films and now doing good mysteries.

While this is contrived and silly at times, the best part of it, for me, was the fact that everyone knows what Holmes is up to and he still manages to come out on top. There are two plots at work here. One has to do with the transporting of stolen emeralds and the other the transporting of royalty. On numerous occasions, Holmes turns the tables on his adversaries. The dangers are everywhere and his head spins like an owls as he peers over his shoulder, through the fog, and through portholes. He sets up a wonderful ruse. The men who are out to squelch his efforts are really interesting: a mute thug who uses sign language, a wiry Peter Lorre type with a foreign accent, and a sort of Sydney Greenstreet wannabe. Watson becomes enamored with a pretty young singer who is carrying around secrets. He even belts out his own version of "Loch Lomond" and he proves to have quite a beautiful voice. Without giving anything away, Holmes keeps his cards close to his vest until the denouement. He suspects no one; he suspects everyone. I think this is a lesser effort, but still a lot of fun.