Post by Salzmank on Mar 27, 2017 23:41:03 GMT
Adventures of Sherlock Holmes- despite a good cast led by Ida Lupino it's not so engaging but I always watch it because Rathbone does à a wonderful music Hal turn, singing and dancing to I do like to be Beside the Seaside. Hilarious and charming, proving that practically all British actors love tye music hall.
Pursuit to Tangiers- one of the better stories , a romantic interest played by Marjorie Riordan, with Rosalind Ivan's and Martin Kosleck in support. Nigel Bruce does a bit of parkour singing , giving a stirring rendition of Loch Lomond.
Dressed to Kill- a delightful performance by Patricia Morison, a very underused actress. She does a glamorous society lady and a cockney char in great style, Nigel Bruce makes a noise like a duck and one of the victims has a glorious collection of music boxes. Among the music boxes is a personal favorite, a singing rabbit coming out of a cabbage, made by Roullet et Decamps . It was also featured in You Can't Take It With You.
Sherlock Holmes faces Death- another very good cast with Hillary Brook as a young heiress and Gerald Hamer as one of the shellshocked flyers convalescing at her country estate. He's joined by Vernon Downing , another great British character who often plays bits in good films. He's very funny in this one. It's full of arresting scenes ,the best of which is a giant chess game played on the marble floors of the manor.
The Voice of Terror- another very strong cast led by Evelyn Ankers as the cockney girlfriend of a murdered policeman. It's a great part, with a rousing speech to the coster mongers to rally their patriotism, and some wonderful creepy scenes with Thomas Gomez as an oily villain.
Adventures of Sherlock Holmes is a bit slow-moving and talky, but with that cast at least the talk is well-played! Lupino's performance, before she achieved stardom, is first-rate, and the plot, though not a whodunit (you know Moriarty is the mastermind from the get-go), is delightfully complex and complicated. I also love Rathbone's turn as a music-hall man--wonderful moment. It's nice to see Rathbone and Bruce playing the characters in the original 1890s setting, and, if Bruce for the first time makes Watson a dolt ("Boobus Britannicus," as Matthew Bunson calls him), the performance is so much fun that one can't help but love it anyway. (Even as a Holmes fan, I've never minded Bruce's non-canonical Watson; Bruce is just so lovable that Watson comes off equally so.)
Sherlock Holmes Faces Death has an obvious murderer, but it's one of the best (and spookiest) of the series. There are so many great moments: the reading of the Musgrave Ritual is a first-class scene, and the business on the giant chessboard and in (Dracula's) crypt are excellent as well. One of my favorites.
(Unfortunately, I'm going to have to agree with the majority and say that I find Pursuit to Algiers the weakest of the films--but the moment you highlight, Bruce's marvellous rendition of "Loch Lomond," is, however, one of the series' greatest moments.)
My other favorites are The Spider Woman (absolutely dotty plot, but Gale Sondergaard is a great villainess/match for Holmes), The Spider Claw (best at combining mystery and horror elements, best all-round of the movies), The Pearl of Death (most suspenseful, Rondo Hatton as "The Creeper"), and The House of Fear (best mystery, surprisingly well-clued). Oh, and The Hound of the Baskervilles, of course! How could I forget that?
Thanks for your list, Marshamae!