La clef

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!

I have to agree with about everyone here on two things: 1 - it's sad to see this great combination of Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce end its run of Sherlock Holmes films, and 2 - it's too bad it ended with a mediocre film.

The story involves several music boxes which are made in prison and sold at an auction. Whoever buys them, gets killed. (I was sorry to see Dr. Watson's friend "Stinky" bite the dust so early, as he was one of the more interesting characters.)

The main culprit is a deadly female who reminds Holmes of an ex-foe he has great respect for: "Irene Adler." This character is "Hilda Courtney" (Patricia Morrison).

Actually, if I was grading this, I'd give it a C for "average." It's not the worst one in the series, as some people think, but it's not riveting, either, and I can see why the guys decided to "pack it in" after this one. The end of World War II also signaled the end of this series as a number of them were WWII stories.

It was a wonderful ride. I own all of them in the series and have a high regard for everyone connected with the set. I still think Rathbone is THE Sherlock Holmes and always will be.

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 .

Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Code isn't quite among the best of the series like Hound of the Baskervilles, Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Scarlet Claw but it is better than Pursuit to Algiers(my personal least favourite of the series) and Voice of Terror. Neither of them are bad films though, even the weakest have entertainment value, but none are masterpieces nor did they try to be so. The story takes a little too much time to get going, things get more interesting once Holmes arrives on the scene, the film does end rather abruptly and agreed Holmes does make a few dumb and uncharacteristic mistakes here(like with the poorly guarded box). Basil Rathbone is excellent as Holmes as always, distinguished, cunning and authoritative. Nigel Bruce gives his all to Watson, while at times too much of a bumbling idiot he brings some joviality to the proceedings. Patricia Morrison is an elegant and calculating female nemesis too, and the supporting roles are well-taken. Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Code is solidly made and directed, they don't try to be too fancy but neither do they take a cheap route and they do give off a good atmosphere. The music score is appropriately eerie and doesn't overbear the mystery at all, the dialogue is snappy and amusing with a few suspenseful elements and once it gets going the story- with a good if daft idea- is fun with some nice twists and turns. The climax may be somewhat too easy but it's also very exciting, while the Holmes comforting Mrs Hudson and Watson imitating a duck scenes are nice too. All in all, not a high note end to the entertaining Rathbone-Holmes films series but hardly a sour note either. 7/10 Bethany Cox

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.