A Study in Scarlet (1933)

Reginald Owen: Sherlock Holmes

Quotes 

• Mrs. Murphy : Then you've had to take me, Mr. Holmes?

  Sherlock Holmes : I'll, ahh, take up your case.

  Mrs. Murphy : Mind you, it'll have to be for love.

  Sherlock Holmes : Love?

  Mrs. Murphy : For nix. I've noticed how you like workin' for nothin'.

  Sherlock Holmes : My interest is to bring the criminal to justice.

  Mrs. Murphy : Well, never mind about justice, never mind about the crime. All I want is my husband's lawful money. And I want you to slap that thievin' lawyers face right across, between his greasy fat chops. Good night, Mr. Holmes. I'll be seeing you and thank you kindly.

• Sherlock Holmes : You came to see me professionally.

  Inspector Lestrade : Well, er, unofficially.

  Sherlock Holmes : I see. Heads you win, tails I lose.

• Sherlock Holmes : Come, Watson; the game is afoot.

• Dr. Watson : I'm amazed at your wasting your energies on such a morbid trifle. Who is this Merrydew?

  Sherlock Holmes : London's most dangerous crook. The king of blackmailers. A gliding, slidy, venomous snake. Once in his power, he'll squeeze and squeeze until he's drained his victims dry. More than once I've had my net around him, but so far he's managed to wriggle his way out. The time has come, Watson. The time has come for Mr. Thaddeus Merrydew.

• Mrs. Murphy : Mr. Holmes, I'm in such a mess. Such a mess! My husband up and died without leaving me as much as a threepenny bit. It's a crying shame, Mr. Holmes, that's what it is.

  Sherlock Holmes : Sit down and try to compose yourself.

  Mrs. Murphy : Cut off without a farthing by an ungrateful good-for-nothing. Me! And my kind of life! No dirty dog had a better wife. I've waited on him hand to mouth, stood by his side morning, noon, and night, and what does the stinker do? He ups and kills himself and - and leaves his money to a trust. And Mr. Merrydew. Yes. And there's another stinker if I never saw another. Won't even let me have a sixpence. He won't even let me have a ha'penny, Mr. Holmes.

• Sherlock Holmes : An angry woman is hard to pacify, so I thought an amicable discussion with you would put me in possession of certain facts with which I could prove to my client the absurdity of her claim.

• Inspector Lestrade : There's been a bad business during the night. An old gentleman. You'll find it a bit of a puzzler.

  Sherlock Holmes : You mean, you found it a bit of a puzzler?

• Inspector Lestrade : He was well-known as a stamp collector.

  Sherlock Holmes : Hmm, very interesting.

• Sherlock Holmes : What's the matter? You look worried.

  Inspector Lestrade : Worried? I'm up to my neck.

  Sherlock Holmes : Again?

  Inspector Lestrade : Before I can begin to finish one case, I'm plunged into another.

  Sherlock Holmes : That's the penalty of being smart.

• Dr. Watson : Holmes, what did you write on that sheet of paper?

  Sherlock Holmes : A long shot in the dark, Watson. But it hit a bullseye.

• Sherlock Holmes : Is that all you observed?

  Dr. Watson : Was there anything else?

  Sherlock Holmes : A hundred things.

• Sherlock Holmes : How far is the Grange from here?

  Will Swallow : Some will tell you four miles and some will tell you five. But I say it's more than four and less than five.

• Will Swallow : An old gentleman? Wearing a cape? Stoops a bit? Big in the belly?

  Sherlock Holmes : You've seen him?

  Will Swallow : Have I seen him? Yes, sir. And Dolly at the Grange seen him and Dr. Smallwood ought to have seen him but he never set eyes on him.

• Sherlock Holmes : The last survivor will become the recipient of the entire booty.

• John Stanford : A maid told me that she left in the early afternoon with a strange woman... .

  Sherlock Holmes : A Chinese woman?

  John Stanford : Yes.