Basil Rathbone, Nigel Bruce and the Sherlock Holmes Films in One of My Life’s Passions
The same director who staged a battle between two monsters also guided Sherlock Holmes through fog, music boxes and murder. Andrew Balzano says that was no coincidence.
In One of My Life’s Passions: Classics and Mysteries, Andrew Balzano draws a clear line from the Universal monster films to the Sherlock Holmes mysteries starring Basil Rathbone as Holmes and Nigel Bruce as Dr. John H. Watson. That line runs through Roy William Neill, who directed Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man and produced and directed most of the Holmes films. Neill did not make every entry in the series, and Balzano’s list focuses on the ones that carry his signature.
Neill’s gift for atmosphere helps explain why both series still hold up. He brought the shadows and suspense of the horror films to a detective who did not believe in the supernatural but was very good at unmasking those who hid behind it.
Fog, Doors and a Dusty Cellar
Balzano begins with Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon, which Neill directed, before moving to the seven films Neill both produced and directed. Sherlock Holmes Faces Death offers what Balzano calls good mystery elements: wind-blown doors, Watson stuck behind a sliding door and a dark, dusty cellar. At one point, the killer believes Holmes has been shot dead. Holmes, of course, is far too crafty for that.
Sherlock Holmes in Washington sends Holmes and Watson by plane over New York on the trail of valuable microfilm, which Holmes notes could be reduced to the size of a postage stamp. Balzano singles out Gerald Hamer’s performance as John Grayson, also known as Alfred Pettibone, and calls the film one of the best of the series.
A Detective Who Does Not Believe in Werewolves
The Scarlet Claw gives Balzano one of his favorite exchanges. When Watson remarks that he thought Holmes did not believe in such things, Holmes agrees that he has no time for the supernatural variety, the werewolf who attacks its victims’ throats. A murderer who uses a five-pound garden weeder, however, is more in his line. Holmes eventually unmasks a master of disguise, and Balzano praises Neill as superior with this mystery.
• Is a human villain more frightening than a monster?
• How does a great detective stay calm when everyone around him expects the worst?
Spiders, Comrades and Moriarty
The variety in the series impresses Balzano. In The Spider Woman, Gale Sondergaard plays the villain, and the climax unfolds in a bazaar and carnival setting where Holmes must escape peril. In The House of Fear, actor Gavin Muir briefly narrates as an insurance underwriter who asks Holmes to look into the deaths of members of a club called the Good Comrades. Holmes and Watson travel to Drearcliff House off the coast of Scotland, where Sally Shepherd stands out as the housekeeper.
The Woman in Green sets Holmes against Professor Moriarty, played by Henry Daniell, after a series of gruesome London murders. Dressed to Kill pits Holmes against a woman whose powers of deduction appear to match his own, as both race to decode a message hidden in a set of musical boxes. Holmes reasons that the secret must be in the tune; otherwise, why use musical boxes at all? His nemesis, convinced that nothing can go wrong with Holmes out of the way, is in for a rude awakening.
A Series Worth Rediscovering
The connections Balzano draws make these films even richer. Basil Rathbone, before he became the definitive Holmes for a generation, played the son of Frankenstein opposite Boris Karloff’s Monster. Neill, the director at the center of it all, also guided Karloff in The Black Room, which Balzano describes as worth viewing. Following those threads turns a single film night into a full tour of the era.
Balzano’s love for these films comes through in every recommendation. He tells readers where to look, what to listen for and when to watch for the twist.
A fog can hide a killer…
A legend can hide a human hand…
Sherlock Holmes will uncover both…
In One of My Life’s Passions: Classics and Mysteries, the game is still very much afoot!
