The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1939)

User Rating:

7.8/10   

Director:

Alfred L. Werker

Writers:

Edwin Blum (screenplay) and
William A. Drake (screenplay) ...
(more)

Release Date:

1 SZEPTEMBER 1939 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

The Struggle of Super-Minds in the Crime of the Century!

Plot:

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

Plot Keywords:

Tower Of London | Murder | Investigator | Robbery | Scotland Yard

Cast

Basil Rathbone	...	Sherlock Holmes
Nigel Bruce	...	Dr. Watson
Ida Lupino	...	Ann Brandon
Alan Marshal	...	Jerrold Hunter
Terry Kilburn	...	Billy
George Zucco	...	Professor Moriarty
Henry Stephenson	...	Sir Ronald Ramsgate
E.E. Clive	...	Inspector Bristol
Arthur Hohl	...	Bassick
May Beatty	...	Mrs. Jameson
Peter Willes	...	Lloyd Brandon
Mary Gordon	...	Mrs. Hudson
Holmes Herbert	...	Justice
George Regas	...	Mateo
Mary Forbes	...	Lady Conyngham
Frank Dawson	...	Dawes
William Austin	...	Stranger
Anthony Kemble-Cooper	...	Tony (as Anthony Kemble Cooper)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Frank Baker	...	Unconfirmed Presence [AFI Catalog Name: Tompkins] (unconfirmed)
Gordon Hart	...	Unspecified Guard (unconfirmed)
Brandon Hurst	...	Unconfirmed Presence [AFI Catalog name: Footman] (unconfirmed)
Leonard Mudie	...	Barrows (scenes deleted)
Ivan F. Simpson	...	Unconfirmed Presence [AFI Catalog Name: Gates] (unconfirmed)
Frank Benson	...	Unconfirmed Presence [AFI Catalog Name: Cockney] (uncredited)
Harry Cording	...	Second Phoney Policeman [Extra] (uncredited)
Robert Cory	...	Tower Sentry (uncredited)
David Dunbar	...	Unspecified Scotland Yard Man (uncredited)
Herbert Evans	...	Unspecified Scotland Yard Man (uncredited)
Neil Fitzgerald	...	Clerk of the Court (uncredited)
Denis Green	...	Sergeant of the Guard (uncredited)
Ivo Henderson	...	Unspecified Bobby (uncredited)
Leyland Hodgson	...	Unspecified Bobby (uncredited)
Boyd Irwin	...	Bobby (uncredited)
Charles Irwin	...	Marine Sergeant [Extra] (uncredited)
Robert Nobel	...	Foreman of the Jury (uncredited)
C. Montague Shaw	...	Captain Mannering (uncredited)
Robert R. Stephenson	...	Unspecified Cabby [Extra] (uncredited)
Eric Wilton	...	Conyngham Butler (uncredited)

Directed by
Alfred L. Werker		(as Alfred Werker)

Writing credits
Edwin Blum		(screenplay) and
William A. Drake		(screenplay) (as William Drake)
William Gillette		(play "Sherlock Holmes")
Arthur Conan Doyle		characters (uncredited)

Produced by
Gene Markey	....	associate producer
Darryl F. Zanuck	....	producer (uncredited)

Original Music by
Robert Russell Bennett		(uncredited)
David Buttolph		(uncredited)
Cyril J. Mockridge		(uncredited)
David Raksin		(uncredited)
Walter Scharf		(uncredited)

Cinematography by
Leon Shamroy

Film Editing by
Robert Bischoff

Art Direction by
Richard Day
Hans Peters

Set Decoration by
Thomas Little

Costume Design by
Gwen Wakeling

Production Management
Darryl F. Zanuck	....	executive in charge of production

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
William Eckhardt	....	assistant director (uncredited)
Virgil Hart	....	second assistant director (uncredited)

Sound Department
W.D. Flick	....	sound
Roger Heman Sr.	....	sound (as Roger Heman)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Sam Benson	....	wardrobe supervisor (uncredited)

Music Department
Cyril J. Mockridge	....	musical director

Production Companies

• Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Distributors

• Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation (1939) (USA) (theatrical)
• MPI Home Video (2004) (USA) (DVD)
• MPI Home Video (2004) (USA) (VHS)
• MPI Home Video (2006) (USA) (DVD)
• Umbrella Entertainment (2009) (Australia) (DVD)

Also Known As:

Sherlock Holmes (UK)

Runtime:

85 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Certification:

UK:PG | Finland:K-16 | USA:Approved (PCA #5486)

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

Although William Gillette's name appears in the credits, this film bears little or no resemblance to his 1899 play "Sherlock Holmes".

Goofs:

Continuity: Holmes's pipe disappears from one shot to the next as he sees Sir Ronald Ramsgate out the door early in the film.

Quotes:

Sherlock Holmes: Very effective, Watson!
Doctor John H. Watson: Elementary, my dear Holmes, elementary.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in A Night at the Movies: The Suspenseful World of Thrillers (2009) (TV)

Soundtrack:

I Do Like To Be Beside the Seaside

The Crown Jewels

Released in the landmark movie year of 1939, this is my favorite Sherlock Holmes film. It is set in the proper period, has a reasonable budget, excellent sets, and fog so thick one would have to cut it with a razor. The story has to do with Professor Moriarity's scheme to steal the crown jewels. More than anything, however, the movie is a vehicle for Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce, whose interpretations of Holmes and Watson are so engaging and larger than life that several decades later actors are still compared (usually unfavorably) to these two whenever they attempt to take on these roles. Rathbone makes an impressive Holmes,--cunning, gentlemanly, high-minded, somewhat competitive, intensely focused. One of the many things that makes Rathbone so perfect as Holmes is that while he may fall short of the mark in his portrayal of the character Conan Doyle created in print, he is an ideal movie Holmes. There's an heroic quality to him. Rathbone was more than a bit of a swashbuckler on screen, as is obvious in his many duels with Flynn and Power, and he brought some of this edgy, assertive quality to his interpretation of Holmes, and as is so often the case when an actor varies somewhat from a character created in fiction (Bogart is a far cry from Hammett's "blonde Satan" of a Sam Spade), this can actually work in his favor. Rathbone is Hollywood's Sherlock Holmes, and I can't imagine a better one. Bruce often played Watson as a bumbler later in the series, but in the early entries was more serious and competent. His movie Watson is overall somewhat comical, and creates a charming contrast to the grim, determined Holmes, and works for me because I like a little respite from the seriousness of a mystery, any mystery, since the genre is melodramatic, and hard to take when it gets too heavy. With Bruce on hand it never does.