This Movie Can Only Be Described With One Word.

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

This portrayal of Holmes and Watson by Rathbone and Bruce is one shot by Universal Studios, what some fans consider to be a period of decline for Sherlock Holmes films. This film is the first time that Roy Williams Neill takes the helm as director, he would later direct all the other Universal/Sherlock projects. Based loosely on Conan Doyle's "Dancing Men" Sherlock has to uncover the truth about the 'secret weapon' and make sure England and it's populous are safe. Naughty Holmes nemesis, Professor Moriarty (Lionel Atwill), is working with the Nazi's, by devious means they are about to build a machine which would control the seas of the world. Will they build their machine and take a step towards global domination, can Holmes stop them?This isn't the best Sherlock film I've seen with Rathbone/Bruce/Atwill but it's still entertaining and harmless. Another decent watch for a lazy Sunday afternoon, just don't watch it with a critical mind because there are holes to poke at. You'll still get witty dialogue from the stars with strong individual performances, silly disguises from Holmes, a little tension and some mystery. There is no way I can rate this as high as "Hound of the Baskerville" but still it's not offensive to the senses.

Roy William Neil took over directing the remainder of the series that stars Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes & Nigel Bruce as Doctor Watson. This film, loosely based on 'The Dancing Men', finds Holmes undercover in a Swiss village smuggling out an inventor of a new bomb-sight both the Allied & Axis powers want. They are successful, but back in London the inventor is kidnapped, but had broken up his bomb-sight into four parts, and is being interrogated by the enemy, which this time is Professor Moriarty(played by Lionel Atwill) while Holmes races to find his location. Rather stodgy film with Atwill uninspired though Rathbone still fine. Film starts well but loses steam altogether.

Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon (1943)Is there any point to a film as flimsy as this formulaic quickie? Maybe. It's rather plump as a quasi-propaganda piece, prototypical in several ways, a sliver of light onto the day-to-day home front of WWII London.Maybe we do really need to be reminded of the subtle infiltration of Nazis of all colors into everyday British life since enemies will be among us in any war. How do you distinguish? Who do you trust? We might prefer Sam Spade or Peter Falk, for style (or a CSI team for results), but that's only because we Americans don't really own Sherlock Holmes. Never mind that Holmes worked half a century before the SS started gassing morphine users. Who in the whole world would make a better Nazi-hunter? Basil Rathbone does it reasonable justice, made only more cunning by the glaring contrast of Nigel Bruce as his bumbling and necessarily lovable sidekick, Dr. Watson. (Why do you think touring rock bands use local acts as warm-ups?)For Sherlockians (or whatever they are called), there is the problem of transplanting the sleuth from the smoky, opium-glazed, romanticized London that we depend on. It's some comfort to see the old Victorian mechanical tricks (secret doors), elegant revelations (water spilling on the cipher and revealing its key), and good old disguises (three). Because this really is Holmes all over again. And guess who wins? The English, specifically. And guess who disappears to an apparent but unconfirmed death? Yes, Professor Moriarty himself.This is the middle of three Holmes WWII adaptations. The first, Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror (1942), is also set in London (great mood throughout). The third, Sherlock Holmes in Washington (1943), is a throwaway. There were fourteen movies made for the standard Rathbone/Holmes oeuvre from 1939 to 1946. Not one of them is a masterpiece, but some of them, Hound of the Baskervilles for starters, are distracting in the best way. In the eerie calm after the Blitz, Secret Weapon was surely transparent and glib, and rather fun, and not really propaganda at all. Today, it remains transparent and glib, and rather fun. I miss Mycroft.

I liked this probably slightly more than Terror by Night though not enough to give it the extra *. The beginning is just brilliant, as we peek in on Nazi agents scheming to get their hands on a new bomb sight and its inventor in a small Swiss village, only to be foiled by a disguised Holmes who spirits the scientist back to London. Once there, he does everything he can to keep the scientist from falling into the hands of the man behind it all -- not Hitler, but worse: Holmes' arch-enemy Moriarty. Of course the scientist disappears, leaving a tantalizing coded note, and Holmes goes in pursuit, once again in disguise. A climax in Moriarty's dockside lair is suitably exciting, and we can all guess that all ends well, can't we? Slightly over-the-top patriotic message as the credits roll. Now that I think of it, the fine sense of place despite the obvious sets, Rathbone's use of disguise and the way in which so much plot is crammed into just over an hour -- what the heck it gets that extra * and is my favorite of the 5 Rathbone/Bruce films I've seen to date.Watched on DVD, part of the "50 Mystery Classics" set from Mill Creek Entertainment. Many of the transfers on these el cheapo box sets are of very poor quality, but Holmes fans take note that the Rathbone/Bruce films (there are 4 on this set) are all quite watchable and reasonably sharp.