Le triomphe de Sherlock Holmes

I am thoroughly enjoying making my way through my Mystery DVD set. One of the simple pleasures is in coming across an unheralded, long-forgotten movie that is a cut above. The "Triumph of Sherlock Holmes" is one of these. I thought the story was absorbing and it was well-acted down to the smallest role, although somewhat stagey. I struggled with the soundtrack and took into account that the film is almost 75 years old and may have been copied from a copy, and that the sound system may have been primitive to begin with.

I am beginning to think that Arthur Wontner is the definitive Sherlock Holmes. I enjoy his characterization and that of Lyn Harding, who makes a sinister Moriarty. Other entries have given capsule summaries and filled in some background. I just want to endorse this picture as well worth the time. I try to pretend how well some of them would work on a big screen, as in a movie theater, and this one would be worth the price of admission.

Warts and all, I give it a rating of 8.

"The Valley of Fear" is an interesting part of the Sherlock Holmes canon. Most with casual interest in the great detective don't know much about this story. It concerns a brotherhood of evil that runs a town and its people. The implication is that they are drunk with power and may go beyond their current climes. In the movie, Professor Moriarity is furious that Holmes has gotten in his way on numerous occasions, "inconveniencing" him. He is the evil equal of Holmes and usually gets what he wants. This film has a nice mix of a flashback, which takes place in America. There is revenge and spying and romance. There is secrecy and surprise. For a fairly low budget film, this captures the spirit of the original pretty well. Holmes is really at the center of things for only a few moments. This is acceptable because much of his talent for solving crimes takes place between his ears. I would urge someone who enjoys some of the less often dramatized Holmes stories to enjoy this one. It's quite good.

Good camerawork helps this stylishly shot although slightly stagily performed version of Doyle's THE VALLEY OF FEAR. The principals are excellent in their roles, but the supporting actors tend to ham it up a bit. Wontner gives a witty performance as Holmes and Ian Fleming -- no, not that Ian Fleming -- is an intelligent Watson.

The Story holds pretty true to the book (The Valley of Fear), especially the flashback segment. Wontner and Fleming have excellent chemistry as Holmes and Watson, and Harding is a great Moriarty. The only drawbacks to the film, are the claustrophobic sets, and the silent movie style of direction.

This is a good entry in the Arthur Wontner series of Sherlock Holmes movies, adapting one of Arthur Conan Doyle's most interesting and involved stories. The movie does a solid job of telling the story within its obvious budgetary constraints, Wontner as usual looks authentic as Holmes, and the story does the rest. Lyn Harding is solid as Moriarty, but as this series tended to do, the character is played more as a tough guy than as a twisted genius of crime.

The original story is a particularly good one because it takes a Holmes mystery with the usual intriguing details and puzzles, and combines it with an elaborate story about the backgrounds of the other characters involved. The original story has rarely been used in the movies, and it was unfortunately one of the ones not included in the outstanding Jeremy Brett series. So it's particularly fortunate that this version of it is still around.

The settings range from an old English castle to a rough part of the USA where outlaws are in charge. It's too bad that the production values were so low, because with some extra work, the settings could really add a lot to the atmosphere. Here, at least, they provide just enough to make a believable backdrop to the interesting story.