Sherlock Holmes contre Moriarty

Dedicated Sherlockians on both sides of the Atlantic used to regard Arthur Wontner as the definitive Holmes. Partly this was reaction against the Basil Rathbone films, with their serial-style WWII plots and the portrait of Watson as a lovably bumbling idiot; Rathbone was admired but the films were blasphemy. By comparison, Wontner's Holmes was visually the absolute picture of the Sidney Paget illustrations that accompanied the original stories in The Strand, and at least some of the six films (not all of which survive) were faithful adaptations of notable Holmes stories not otherwise filmed.

Then... along came Jeremy Brett (also the picture of the Paget illustrations), and it had to be admitted that the Wontner films were so cheaply made that they really had nothing going for them besides Wontner, and lacked the polish and entertainment value of even the Universal Bs in the Rathbone series. Next to Brett, also, Wontner's Holmes is if anything too genial; he lacks the suffer-no-fools snappishness that is an essential part of Holmes' character. (That's especially odd considering that that's exactly the sort of character Wontner plays in his best-known role outside this series, as an acerbic ambassador in The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp.) Silver Blaze (a short story padded out much like the Brett series episodes would be) is probably the best of the bunch, and remains watchable but, now, a minor chapter in the saga of Holmes on film next to better movies starring Holmeses such as Basil Rathbone, Robert Stephens, Christopher Plummer, Ian Richardson and, best of all, Jeremy Brett.

Murder at the Baskervilles (1937)

** (out of 4)

Sherlock Holmes (Arthur Wontner) and Dr. Watson (Ian Fleming) investigate a kidnapped horse and the murder of its trainer. Wontner appeared as Holmes in six films, although two are now lost and this one here was the last in the series. I can't say I was really impressed with that much here, although there's one very good sequence when a car is following Holmes and tries to kill him. There's some nice tension in this scene but tension is missing throughout the rest of the film, which moves at a snail's pace. It takes twenty-six minutes for the actual mystery to start and all of the introductions leading up to it are rather bland and boring. The supporting cast doesn't help matters as they add very little to the movie. Wontner on the other hand is quite good as Holmes and he certainly makes me interested in the other films in the series.

(Some Spoilers) Going to a well deserved vacation at the Baskerville Manor, the sight of one of his most famous cases some 20 years earlier, Sherlock Holmes, Arthur Wootner, and his long time friend and aid Dr. John H. Watson, Ian Flemming,have anything but free time to rest and relax there. Not far from the Baskerville Home there's a racetrack and it's to have it's biggest race of the meet that weekend, The Barchester Cup, with the much heralded horse Sliver Blaze the very heavy betting favorite. Unknown to everyone in and out of the track the brilliantly evil Prof. Moriarty, Lyn Harding, is involved to make sure that Silver Blaze does not only lose the race but is not even on the track the day the big race is to be run.

Being contacted by big time British bookie Miles Standford, Gilbert Davis, and given $10,000.00 to make sure that Silver Blaze is out of the winner circle at the end of the Barchester Cup race Moriarty goes to work overtime to make sure that it happens. Big-time bookie Stanford will end up broke if Silver Blaze win the race since he doesn't have the cash to cover all the winning bets he has on the racehorse. Things start to go into motion days before the race with the stable boy of Silver Blaze found dead and the horse gone. Later the trainer James Straker, Martin Walker, of Silver Blaze in found dead on the moors outside Baskerville Manor with his neck broken. Holmes in his usual and brilliant way picks up the clues that everyone else on the case missed including police inspector Lasterade, John Turnball. Like Sherlock Holmes tells him: "You see what I see but I trained myself to notice what I see".

Holmes deduces that the groom of Silver Blaze died from an overdose of opium that was put in his curry dinner meal that night at the stable by non other the Silver Blaze's trainer James Straker. Straker taking Silver Blaze out to the secluded moors outside the stables tried to cut the horses tendon with a surgical knife so it would break down during the race. The equine instead reared up and broke his neck with a well placed kick killing him.

Finding the horse disguised with his silver blaze across his face colored over with black paint Silver Blaze is entered into the Barchester Cup race only to have his jockey shot, with a hidden air-gun inside a newsreel camera, off the horse during the race thus losing it. Holmes later using Dr. Watson as bait, to find and trap Prof. Moriarty, who's pistol-whipped and taken prisoner blindfolded to the Moriatry hideout by one of his goons Moran, Arthur Goullet.

Afer receiving his $10,000.00 from Stanford for getting Silver Blaze to lose the race Prof. Moriarty has Watson about to be dropped 80 feet to his death Sherlock Holmes and the police comes to Watson's rescue and take Moriarty and his goons, as well as Stanford, into custody.

As prof. Moriarty is taken away by the police at the end of the movie he gives the usual "I'll Be Back" speech that you get from movie villains as their arrested at the end of a crime/murder movie. Prof. Moriarty has been coming back, in dozens of Sherlock Holmes films, ever since.

Arthur Wortner appeared as Conan Doyle's great detective in six films, four of which survive today. Silver Blaze was the last one, by which time Wortner was over sixty, although still looking the picture of Holmes as he appeared in the Paget illustrations of Strand Magazine.

This version of Silver Blaze takes some liberties with the story; it involves Sir Henry Baskerville, plus Professor Moriarty (an engaging and entertaining performance from Lyn Harding), and Colonel Moran from The Empty House. However it retains the same twists and turns which were present in the original story and, as a film, it works very well.

Filmed on the cheap with obviously faked sets (notably when Holmes and Watson transfer their investigations to 'the moors') it is good to see Wortner's excellent Holmes, sardonic and sharp. Dr Watson is played by Ian Fleming, who is fairly good as well.

John Turnbull as Lestrade is a good foil for Holmes, and one can sense the level of tolerance and grudging admiration that exists between the two crime-solvers.

For Sherlockians, this version of Silver Blaze compares well with the one created during the 1980s as part of Granada's TV adaptations, and stands up well in its own right as a B-picture mystery.

Twenty years after solving the famous 'Hound of the Baskervilles' case, Sherlock Holmes is invited to return to Baskerville Hall to take a holiday. At Watson's urging he accepts and the pair head to the West Country. They haven't been long when a stable boy working for a local race horse owner is found murdered and the prize horse, Silver Blaze, is missing. Following tracks onto the moor the horse's trainer is found dead... presumed murdered. Holmes soon begins to suspect that his arch nemesis Professor Moriarty is behind the events.

While this is far from the best Sherlock Holmes mystery it is still rather fun. Certain aspects of the story are fairly easy to figure out, such as who actually stole the horse, but others are less obvious. Arthur Wonter does a solid job as Holmes and Ian Fleming is a decent Watson. Lyn Harding isn't bad Professor Moriarty although the case does seem a little trivial for such a master criminal. Given the fact that it is over eighty years old it isn't surprising that it shows its age somewhat; but that shouldn't put anybody off. It might not be a must see but if you are a fan of inter-war cinema it passes seventy minutes nicely enough.