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The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1939)
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Overview
User Rating:
Director:
Writers:
Release Date:
1 SZEPTEMBER 1939 (USA)
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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. full summary | add synopsis
Plot Keywords:
User Comments:
DVD Improved The Atmosphere, Story
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Cast
(Cast overview, first billed only)| 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 |
Additional Details
Also Known As:
Sherlock Holmes (UK)
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Parents Guide:
Runtime:
85 min
Country:
Language:
Color:
Aspect Ratio:
1.37 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)
Certification:
Fun Stuff
Trivia:
The movie's line "Elementary, my dear Watson." was voted as the #65 movie quote by the American Film Institute (out of 100).
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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.
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Quotes:
Sherlock Holmes:
You've a magnificent brain, Moriarty. I admire it. I'd like to present it pickled in alcohol to the London Medical Society.
Professor Moriarty: Holmes, you only now barely missed sending me to the gallows. You're the only man in England clever enough to defeat me. I'm going to break you. I'm going to bring off right under your nose the most incredible crime of the century, and you'll never suspect it until it's too late. It'll be the end of you Sherlock Holmes. Then I can retire in peace. I'd like to retire; crime no longer amuses me. I'd like to devote my remaining years to abstract science.
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Professor Moriarty: Holmes, you only now barely missed sending me to the gallows. You're the only man in England clever enough to defeat me. I'm going to break you. I'm going to bring off right under your nose the most incredible crime of the century, and you'll never suspect it until it's too late. It'll be the end of you Sherlock Holmes. Then I can retire in peace. I'd like to retire; crime no longer amuses me. I'd like to devote my remaining years to abstract science.
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Movie Connections:
Referenced in "Doogie Howser, M.D.: The Adventures of Sherlock Howser (#4.16)" (1993)
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Soundtrack:
I Do Like To Be Beside the Seaside
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This was a little slow-moving compared to most of the Basil 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 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.