This is about on par with the lowest of the Monogram films that the U.S. produced during the '40s--however, it's a British B-film with little to recommend it.
Holmes is played by sharp-featured Arthur Wontner (who bears somewhat of a resemblance to Basil Rathbone) and Ian Fleming is a suave version of Dr. Watson. Unfortunately, Lyn Harding is a very unimpressive figure as Professor Moriarty.
The story taken from "Silver Blaze," left me uninvolved with its racetrack background. The TCM presentation begins with an announcement that the film has been restored, but you'd never know it. The soundtrack is poor with much of the British dialog unintelligible and the scenes themselves are murky and poorly photographed.
I lost count of how many times Wontner says, "Elementary, my dear Watson," but let's just say this will never rank as one of my favorite Sherlock Holmes stories.
Summing up: A feeble exercise in mystery that seems longer than its one hour and six minutes.
Holmes is played by sharp-featured Arthur Wontner (who bears somewhat of a resemblance to Basil Rathbone) and Ian Fleming is a suave version of Dr. Watson. Unfortunately, Lyn Harding is a very unimpressive figure as Professor Moriarty.
The story taken from "Silver Blaze," left me uninvolved with its racetrack background. The TCM presentation begins with an announcement that the film has been restored, but you'd never know it. The soundtrack is poor with much of the British dialog unintelligible and the scenes themselves are murky and poorly photographed.
I lost count of how many times Wontner says, "Elementary, my dear Watson," but let's just say this will never rank as one of my favorite Sherlock Holmes stories.
Summing up: A feeble exercise in mystery that seems longer than its one hour and six minutes.