Superb version of the stage play...excellent performances by Rathbone, Bruce and Lupino...
13 April 2001
Having recently completed a film article due for publication in FILMS OF THE GOLDEN AGE on Ida Lupino, it's a pleasure to report that this is one of her best early performances. She plays a terrified young woman who seeks the help of Sherlock Holmes when she becomes concerned about her brother's safety. He soon determines that she too is being stalked by killers. Her brother is killed and the plot thickens with a sub-plot involving Professor Moriarty's plans to steal the Crown Jewels and the Star of Delhi. Holmes eventually solves the case and defeats the diabolical Moriarty with a plan of his own. Reviewers judged this film even superior to the earlier 'Hound of the Baskervilles'. Indeed, it's fully as atmospheric and suspenseful with handsomely staged scenes in gas-lit Victorian London. George Zucco makes an ideal villain and the main roles by Rathbone, Nigel Bruce and Ida Lupino are handled with their customary skill. Definitely worth seeing and far superior to the later Universal entries which updated all of the Holmes stories.
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