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Sherlock Holmes and The Secret Weapon (1942)
American Adventure Crime Drama.
Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson must protect a Swiss inventor of an advanced bomb sight from falling into German hands.
Sherlock Holmes and The Secret Weapon is the fourth in the Basil Rathbone/Nigel Bruce series of 14 Sherlock Holmes films.
Although credited as an adaptation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s short story “The Adventure of the Dancing Men”, the plot is an original story based on historical events which happened after Doyle’s death. The only resemblance to the credited story is a cameo by the “secret code” of stick figure drawings. There is another moment taken from Doyle’s “Sign of Four”: the trail of luminous paint is confused when luminous paint is picked up by wheels of another vehicle at a crossroads.
Interesting Trivia:
Moriarty taunts Holmes by saying “The needle to the last, eh, Holmes?” Possibly a reference to Sherlock’s cocaine habit, an important character element from the books. This could not be depicted openly in this series, due to film taboos of the time. Or maybe this line simply means that Holmes is a “needle” in Moriarty’s side.
This was the second film in the Universal “Sherlock Holmes” series, and the first to be directed by Roy William Neill, who went on to direct all subsequent Sherlock Holmes films at Universal.
| Directed by | Roy William Neill |
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| Produced by | Howard Benedict |
| Written by |
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| Screenplay by | Edmund L. Hartmann |
| Based on | The Adventure of the Dancing Men 1903 novel by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle |
| Starring |
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| Music by | Frank Skinner |
| Cinematography | Lester White |
| Edited by | Otto Ludwig |
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Production
company |
Universal Pictures
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| Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
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Release date
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Running time
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68 minutes (restored version) |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
