La clef

This is a solid Sherlock Holmes mystery in the Basil Rathbone/Nigel Bruce series, with an interesting story, a good villainess, and a good pace once it gets going. Although, as with many movies in the series, the plot is not found in any of the original Holmes books, a number of the story elements were drawn or adapted from various Doyle stories. A number of times Watson also makes reference to one of the 'canonical' cases.

The setup is good, and it produces some interesting possibilities. Holmes must not only figure out a peculiar puzzle involving music boxes, but must do so in a race with a criminal gang that is trying to accomplish the same thing. Patricia Morison makes an elegant adversary for Holmes, and Rathbone and Bruce work well together as always.

Although these later movies in the series do not hold closely to the Victorian atmosphere of the originals, most of them are pretty good in their own right, and while this one mostly follows the usual formula, it is an enjoyable entry in the series.

The Master minds -Holmes and Watson- tackle the master crimes . While Holmes and Watson encounter at 221 Baker Street talking about the publication of the story 'Scandal in Bohemia with Irene Adler' in the Strand Review , are visited by an old friend , a collector of music-boxes , explaining the robbing a special box manufactured by an inmate from Dartmoor prison . Holmes aware about a series of music boxes holds the key to plates stolen from the Bank of England . As always , Sherlock goes into the action dressed in tweed suit , tweed coat and Fedor , as in his twelve Holmes films produced by 20th Century Fox and Universal and mostly directed by Roy William Neill . Then he sets out in pursuit the baddies and in this episode Holmes confronts an uncanny enemy (Patricia Morrison) with malignant purports . This entry , as usual , finds Mrs Hudson , but doesn't appear Inspector Lestrade , substituting a commissioner of Scotland Yard (the eternal secondary Ian Wolfe) . At the ending is resolved the case in an exciting conclusion into library of Samuel Johnson who was a XVIII century poet and author of a notorious dictionary of English language .

Once terminated the movie , Rathbone dreary on Holmes character decided killing him , such as Arthur Conan Doyle made dropping Holmes into Falls of Reichenbach . This decision along with cancellation the radio-broadcasting proceeded long time ago , originated the followers were deeply annoyed and Nigel Bruce got anger , but he early died . After that , Rathbone only played as Holmes a parody in ¨Milton Berle show¨ and on Broadway stage about a play written by his wife Ouida and with Thomas Gomez as Moriaty . In spite of various historical and important roles performed by Rathbone such as ¨Disraeli¨ and ¨Svengali¨, none surpassed his immortal character , the ideal role for Rathbone and gave him fame and money .

"Dressed to Kill" puts Sherlock Holmes and the devoted but bumbling Dr. Watson on the trail of a ruthless gang intent on securing - by hook, crook or thrown dagger - three seemingly innocuous music boxes. The boxes come from a workshop in one of England's famous prisons. Perhaps vocational rehabilitation of cons has its downside.

The conspirators - a suave gentleman-type, a thuggish chauffeur and a beautiful woman - come close to writing finis to Holmes's career and his life. Of course they can not succeed where Dr. Moriarty has failed.

Set in a London past the time of Conan Doyle, the film features a never to be overused "follow that cab" episode. The usually exclusively cerebral Holmes here actually does some strenuous exercise and proves handy with a revolver.

Fun to watch, this isn't the best Rathbone/Bruce Holmes film but it's pleasant enough for a late, cold winter night's entertainment.

7/10.

The last Rathbone Holmes (14/14) is again a slightly weaker affair than most of the preceding entries, another variant of The Pearl of Death this time involving music boxes. Music boxes whose tunes play out the location of the stolen and hidden Bank of England £5 plates no less. Holmes proves he has an inbuilt police whistle and a photographic(?) memory for music, whilst Watson says that he likes brass bands but is tone deaf. The woman here, although a thoroughly bad hat is not The Woman, the one and only Irene Adler who had bested Holmes in 1891, but for most of the film she has the upper hand.

By now the steam had left Rathbone, and although Bruce wanted to carry on and Universal held the copyright until 1949 the series had reached its natural conclusion. Director Roy William Neill had less than a year left to live too. Some lovely bits: Holmes consoling Mrs Hudson, distraught at letting 2 people into 221b who turned it over; Holmes' biscuit jar was seen to good advantage. And yes, the bullet holes in the wall from Faces Death were still there at the end! No matter how bad, mawkish or daft this marvellous series got I've always loved every entry. Watching a clean Definitive DVD of this with a lump in my throat I think of Brian Wilson's line "It's so sad to watch a sweet thing die", without even the dignity of end credits (they're lost).

All things must pass.

A suspenseful Holmes and Watson feature about a group of killers out to find three music boxes sold at an auction. The boxes contain something in them that will help lead the crooks to loads of money. Only problem is that Sherlock Holmes is on their trail. Typical good acting and tight direction help this one rise above its somewhat implausible story. The chemistry between Rathbone and Bruce is as ever the binding of the film. Some other good performances are given by Patricia Morrison as a wicked woman and Edmund Breon as "Stinky," a school chum of Watson's. The verbal banter between Morrison and Holmes is for me the most memorable aspect of the film. As I watched the film, the lines slowly crept back into my head. "Praise from you is indeed gratifying Mr. Holmes," and then a line about respecting his memory. Great stuff!