Les aventures de Sherlock Holmes

Original title: The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

1939
Approved
1h 25m

IMDb RATING

7.2/10

7.8K

YOUR RATING

Basil Rathbone, Ida Lupino, and George Zucco in Les aventures de Sherlock Holmes (1939)

The master sleuth hunts his archenemy, Professor Moriarty, who is planning the crime of the century.

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Crime Mystery Thriller

The master sleuth hunts his archenemy, Professor Moriarty, who is planning the crime of the century.The master sleuth hunts his archenemy, Professor Moriarty, who is planning the crime of the century.The master sleuth hunts his archenemy, Professor Moriarty, who is planning the crime of the century.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.2/10

7.8K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Videos1

Trailer 0:59

Trailer

Photos51

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Storyline

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Trivia
Based on an 1899 stage play by William Gillette which--famously--was the stage debut of Charles Chaplin, playing the character of Billy. Terry Kilburn plays the character in the film.

Goofs
In the Tower of London, the British guards are shown wearing the uniforms of the King's / Queen's Foot Guards (i.e. Buckingham Palace ceremonial guards with the tall bear skin hats) rather than the Yeomen Warders (Beefeaters), who are the real guards of the Tower. The Yeomen Warders do not wear the tall bear skin hats, like the King's Guards do.

Quotes
Inquisitive Stranger: [Watson is lying in the street in order to reconstruct a murder - a stranger stops and stares] I say there, has something happened?
Doctor John H. Watson: Definitely. Would you mind moving back a few paces?
Inquisitive Stranger: Eh, not at all.
Doctor John H. Watson: Thank you.
Inquisitive Stranger: Perhaps I could find a doctor?
Doctor John H. Watson: I'm a doctor. What's the matter with you?
Inquisitive Stranger: I'm all right. I was thinking of you.
Doctor John H. Watson: Why?
Inquisitive Stranger: But... But, aren't you ill?
Doctor John H. Watson: Certainly not. I'm dead.
Inquisitive Stranger: Well. I'm afraid I must be getting off.
[He leaves, hurriedly]
Doctor John H. Watson: Don't let me detain you. Stupid fellow.

Crazy credits
Opening card: In all my life I have encountered only one man whom I can truthfully call the very Genius of Evil -- Professor Moriarty. For eleven years he has eluded me. All the rest who opposed him are dead. He is the most dangerous criminal England has ever known. Sherlock Holmes. 9 May 1894.

Alternate versions
When this movie aired on WPBS, the song that Basil Rathbone sings was changed from "By the Sea" to "I've got a Loverly Bunch of Cocoanuts."

Connections
Featured in The World's Best Known Dicks (1987)

Soundtracks
I Do Like To Be Beside the Seaside
(uncredited)
Written and Composed by John Glover Kind
(1907)
Performed by Basil Rathbone

User reviews87

Featured review

8/10

DVD Improved The Atmosphere, Story

Some national critics rated this the best of the old Sherlock Holmes films. I don't agree with that, but it's a good one. It's also a film I didn't fully appreciate the first time. On the second look, thanks no doubt to the wonderful "restoration" job on the DVD, it brought the cinematography to the forefront and made the whole story more attractive, too.

There are some wonderful scenes with light and shadows and foggy London streets. Story-wise, it's okay nothing that memorable except we see a very young and innocent-looking Ida Lupino playing a nice British girl. Holmes (Basil Rathbone) is his usual deductive self and Dr. Watson (Nigel Bruce) elicits a few laughs along the way, not as many as he did in future films but more than he did in his first Holmes film, "The Hound Of The Baskervilles."

There weren't as many suspects in this SH adventure as in most of them, but that was fine with me. It was more a battle of wits between the good detective and his nemesis, "Dr. Moriarity" (George Zucco), which is better than having a dozen suspects.