Movie Review, Sherlock Holmes in Dressed to Kill
1946 Film Starring Basil Rathbone As Holmes & Nigel Bruce as Watson
Sep 23, 2009
In 1942 Universal Studios bought the rights to Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories for seven years and signed Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce to reprise the roles they had created three years before in 20th Century-Fox’s The Hound of the Baskervilles and The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.
Basil Rathbone as Holmes
The decision to cast Rathbone, who usually played suave villains, against type was a brilliant one. Physically, his height of 6-1 and facial features, particularly his aquiline nose and high forehead, nearly matched those of the literary Sherlock. Rathbone was also able to bring a dignified sophistication, and often cold-hearted edge, to the role.
Nigel Bruce as Dr. Watson
Bruce had built his movie career playing good natured and loyal, but often slow-witted, characters. He would bring these same traits to the role of Watson and, in so doing, would alienate Holmes purists who point out that Doyle’s Watson was actually younger, more intelligent, and quite capable on his own. Regardless the choice of Bruce helped to create a memorable pair.
Synopsis of Dressed to Kill
John Davidson is serving a term in Dartmoor for the theft of never-recovered Bank of England engraving plates. Unable to contact his gang as to where the plates are hidden, he sends a coded musical message in three cheap music boxes that he has made in the prison workshop. His gang, led by Hilda Courtney (Patricia Morrison), tries to buy them at a London auction, but her assistant, Colonel Cavanaugh (Frederic Worlock), arrives too late. All have been sold.
Later, Watson's old school chum Julian Emery (Edmond Breon), a collector who has bought one of the boxes, visits Baker Street. He has just been robbed and when Holmes investigates, he finds it strange that only a cheap music box would be stolen when much more valuable collectibles were left untouched.
When the gang later discovers that they have stolen the wrong box, Hilda visits Emery. Her seductive charms fails to obtain the box and he is then killed by one of her henchmen. His murder puts Holmes on the trail and he soon deduces that the boxes are tied to the stolen plates.
The second music box is then stolen by the gang, all three being needed to crack the hidden code. But, before they can get the third, Holmes tracks it down and buys it, beginning a cat-and-mouse game between Courtney and Holmes as to who will solve the coded message first and find the missing plates.
Weaknesses of Dressed to Kill
There are several flaws and too many coincidences in the plot. Davidson tells his prison mate that he is not allowed contact with the outside world. So, how does the gang know about the music boxes and where they will be sold?
It is made clear that Hilda and Emery are old acquaintances and she, therefore, has a legitimate reason to visit him. In a city of several million, what are the chances of a gang leader knowing the very man who has purchased something that she wants?
Watson also makes two comments which inadvertently tell Holmes: (1) the key to solving the code and, later, (2) the location of the missing plates. One such comment could be considered fortuitous, two stretches the limits of credibility.
Strengths of Dressed to Kill
The acting is good, particularly Patricia Morrison who would later go on to have a successful singing career. Her Hilda Courtney portrayal reflects the same qualities as other femme fatales in the Universal series: intelligence, beauty, seductiveness, elegant taste in clothes, and, most notably, ruthlessness.
The conversations between Rathbone and Bruce bounce between melancholy and humor, and often make references to Doyle’s actual writings such as The Solitary Cyclist and A Scandal In Bohemia. In fact, there is definitely a touch of Irene Adler in Hilda Courtney.
It is also nice that for one of the few times in the series, Watson is treated more as a steady companion than clumsy buffoon. The police, too, are treated more fairly. Inspector Hopkins (Carl Harbord) is portrayed as a puzzled, but competent professional, just as he was in the original Doyle stories.
The movie is fast paced and the puzzle concerning the music boxes is entertaining, similar in plot to Doyle’s The Six Napoleons. And, two elements found in the original stories are cleverly turned topsy-turvy when Hilda uses Holmes’ knowledge of tobacco to lure him into a trap and, later, uses the smoke bomb ploy of A Scandal in Bohemia to trick Watson into revealing the location of the third music box.
Dressed to Kill DVD
There are several DVD releases available. These vary in quality, particularly the older ones, so buyers would do well to read reviews on them first.
Other Rathbone-as-Holmes Movies: Woman in Green, House of Fear
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