Serviceable third entry in the Universal series takes Sherlock (Basil Rathbone) and Dr. Watson (Nigel Bruce) to America where Holmes attempts to secure valuable documents being kept on microfilm after the man carrying them is murdered. Among the bad guys who'd like to get their hands on it are the reliable George Zucco (sporting an unusual head of hair for a change) and Henry Daniell. One rather tedious element involves the coincidental passing around of a mysterious matchbook, which always rather conveniently just manages to change hands. This film reportedly did not fare very well at the time and so from the next feature onward it was decided to drop the early formula Universal had employed; instead of featuring Sherlock Holmes as some sort of superhero who battles Nazi spies, they got him down to more traditional sleuthing. This approach was deemed more preferable by most fans of the legendary detective. **1/2 out of ****
Review of Sherlock Holmes in Washington
