Experiment #3 - "Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror" (1942)

In which Sherlock Holmes fights the Nazis. Meanwhile, we try to determine whether the garishly-dressed woman is a “lady-of-the-night” and try to come-to-grips with the detective’s new, particularly dumb hairdo.

***

Nick insists upon another history lesson:

Nick: So, after the two films at 20th Century Fox with Rathbone and Bruce, the studio decided to end the series. However, that was by no means the end of Holmes and Watson for Rathbone and Bruce as they joined Mary Gordon’s Mrs. Hudson on the radio which occupied their time between the years 1939 and 1942. They were also familiar faces on film still and Rathbone turned up as one of my favorite villainous roles in the original 1940 The Mark of Zorro.

And then, in 1942 Universal Studios - who were at this time best known for their horror and monster movies - secured the rights to the Arthur Conan Doyle stories and went about casting Rathbone and Bruce once more. However, this time the detective duo would be once more inhabiting a modern world and fighting Nazis!

Now, before we go any further, I have this vague memory of you telling me that you liked the old Universal monster movies? Is that correct or am I wrong?

Cat: No, that is correct! ….Though I’ll be entirely honest...I haven’t actually seen any…. I appreciate from afar? (I’m cringing as I say this.)

Nick: Understandable….and certainly glad to know that you appreciate the great Universal monster movies. The Sherlock Holmes films are made in a very similar style and feature a lot of the same actors. (Not to go out on too much of a tangent) But, I know that you are a fan of the movie Van Helsing.   

Cat: That I am. I don’t care who calls it cheesy or whatever, I entirely, unironically enjoy the movie.

Nick: I understand that completely. It’s a very entertaining film. And, when we get around to the BBC’s 2002 Hound of the Baskervilles, you’ll get to see Richard Roxburgh (Dracula in Van Helsing) take a very interesting stab at the role of Holmes!

Cat: Yaaaay!

Before things spiral in a completely off-topic discussion of the merits of Hugh Jackman fighting vampires, we decide to move on to the film at hand.

Vital Statistics:

Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror (1942)

Major motion picture

Starring: Basil Rathbone (Sherlock Holmes), Nigel Bruce (Dr. Watson), Evelyn Ankers (Kitty), Reginald Denny (Sir Evan Barham), Thomas Gomez (Meade)

65 minutes, black-and-white

Thoughts:

Nick: Well, I think it’s fair to say that you were pretty excited at the prospect of seeing Sherlock Holmes fight the Nazis. So, I’ll ask you point-blank: Did this movie live up to those expectations?

Cat: I...honestly am not sure how to answer that. Hmm. Okay. Yes and no? I mean, say it outloud, “Sherlock Holmes is fighting the Nazis”. It still sounds a bit weird, even after seeing the movie. It wasn’t quite as goofy as I thought it would possibly be (again - Sherlock Holmes fighting Nazis, WEIRD) and it was just BAM, we’re in the 40s. I know I’m not making a ton of sense here, but it was a lot to take in, let’s say that.

Nick: No, no. That makes perfect sense. It is a strange thing to wrap your head around. That’s why Universal put that weird little disclaimer in at the beginning: “The character of Sherlock Holmes, created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is ageless, invincible, and unchanging. In solving significant problems of the present day, he remains, as ever, the supreme master of deductive reasoning.” That was their explanation of bringing the whole series into the modern day. In doing so, Universal made a couple of interesting decisions...such as Basil Rathbone’s hairdo.

"It looks like Oscar Wilde's bedhead!" - Catharine

Cat: THAT HAIR. Okay, is it bad that I’m minorly proud of tainting your perception of that hairdo? Because he does look like Oscar Wilde. (HOW DID YOU NOT SEE THIS BEFORE, NICK??)

Nick: I...I don’t know because, I think that really was what they were going for. It was a really, really strange decision because Universal chucked the deerstalker and gave Rathbone a weird coiff. (I have heard that hair described as the “locks of Sherlock.”)

Cat: The poor deerstalker... :’(

Nick: I hate to break it to you Catharine, but you won’t see the deerstalker hat for a while. It’ll crop up on a hatrack throughout the rest of the Universal films but we’ve seen the last of Basil Rathbone donning the infamous piece of headgear. (When I was about seven or eight and I was first getting into the Rathbone films I was really upset that he never wore the deerstalker because - in my mind - that was the only hat which Holmes was allowed to wear. I’ve come to accept the fedora which he wears throughout the rest of the series now.)

Cat: I wouldn’t even mind it, except he already wore it! There was an attachment in place! Universal just...they messed up their relationship! It’s just not right. It’s sad. Basil and the deerstalker had something beautiful, and it got destroyed. (Catharine may or may not be too easily upset by the small details in life…)

Nick: I completely understand. Now, the interesting thing about Rathbone and Bruce in this movie is that - for the most part - they act almost completely the same as they did in the two Fox films which, of course, took place in the Victorian Era. And, honestly, I think that’s really cool. Did you have any thoughts about their performances in this film compared to the two previous ones?

Cat: You know, now that you mention it, I never consciously picked up on that fact. Oddly enough, it still works, despite being an entirely different time period. When I wasn’t being too distracted by Rathbone’s dishevelled Oscar Wilde hair, I was making commentary virtually identical to that of the running comments I made with the other two movies. Bruce is still infuriatingly endearing and Rathbone still kicks some serious ass.

Nick: One of my all-time favorite Nigel Bruce moments can be found in this movie and that’s when he is inspecting the bullet wound which was inflicted on Sir Evan and, when asked what he makes of the wound, he (brilliantly) declares: “Bullet wound.” Yes...Nigel Bruce’s Watson is an idiot...but I love him so much.

Sassypants Watson or stupid Watson?

Cat: I’m glad you mentioned that particular scene, because I was about to myself.. I’d honestly have to rewatch that part, because immediately I was overcome with frustration with Watson and couldn’t properly focus for a good fifteen seconds - but I wouldn’t be surprised if that wasn’t said with the intent of being a touch oblivious and overly obvious, but if that was supposed to be thinly veiled sarcasm. (As in something along the lines of, “What do you THINK it is? A papercut?”). I could be reading too deeply into this in my (futile) hopes to see him be competent for more than five seconds, and like I said, that did throw me off for a moment, but that might have to take a place as one of my favorite “No s**t, Watson,” moments.  

Nick: Well, we did determine that Bruce’s Watson is something of a sassypants so it’s possible, but it’s just Watson being stupid. Now, we were introduced to another unofficial member of the Baker Street Gang in this movie in the (short-lived) form of Kitty played by Evelyn Ankers. I swear that that is a reference to The Illustrious Client as there is a character therein who may-or-not be a prostitute and she serves a very similar function in that story as she does here. What did you think of her because I think she’s great and certainly one of the best female leads in the Universal Holmes movies.

Cat: She was pretty cool. I could have gone for seeing more of her, to be entirely honest. The scene when they’re in the bar (which, as Nick mentioned when we were watching the movie, is pretty freaking close to the one in The Great Mouse Detective) and she’s trying to rouse everyone to help her out with patriotism was actually really cool. A bit unexpected, but a very cool moment to get right after meeting her character. (Also, going off of your theory, Nick, because I know more about The Great Mouse Detective than I should - Kitty is also the semi-unofficial name of the showgirl mouse in blue in the aforementioned bar. Weird coincidence, if you ask me…)

Nick: It is. Is there some unofficial Arthur Conan Doyle Estate stipulation that all Sherlockian adaptations must include a female character who (maybe) is a prostitute named Kitty? I know that you were quite surprised when she was killed in the end. I definitely recall being very surprised when I first saw this movie because it’s a pretty shocking death and really comes out of NOWHERE.

Cat: It DOES. Although, in hindsight, I suppose I wasn’t too surprised. Nick, you mentioned before we started that this was probably the most film noir-y of the Rathbone movies. It is sort of a staple of film noir for the femme fatale character to die at the end. Kitty wasn’t exactly a femme fatale, but she was the only major female character, so I suppose that’s close enough for her fate to not shock me too much - in hindsight. Before I had time to reflect on that, I was a bit surprised at how she died more than the fact that she died at all. When I saw a gun being pulled, and Kitty noticing it, I surely thought it was going to get aimed at Holmes and maybe she was going to either jump in the way or push him out of the way, but nope! She got the bullet entirely. That seemed a bit odd to me. I mean, while I didn’t want to see Basil Rathbone get shot, it certainly would have made more sense to try to shoot the Great Detective while his back was turned. Maybe that’s just me, I don’t know. So that was honestly what surprised me more than Kitty biting the dust in general.

Nick: This is the most film-noir-esque Sherlock Holmes movie ever made and that’s one of the reasons I love it so much and, your reasoning behind her death does make complete sense. I think the behind-the-scenes reason is that (in the censors’ eyes), Kitty was without a doubt a prostitute and (again in the censors’ eyes) she was an amoral being who had to die. This is despite the fact that she worked for Sherlock Holmes and was completely willing to fight for her country.

Cat: Ah, I do love that good ol’ old Hollywood sexism. Prostitutes aren’t people! They totally suck and deserve to die! (This is dripping with sarcasm, if you can’t tell.)

Nick: For a moment I thought you’d gone off your rocker Cat! Well, while we’re discussing the end of this movie, I think we need to discuss the twist ending! Sir Evan, the representative of the Inner Council who hired Holmes in the first place, was revealed to be a German agent Von Bork! Color me surprised! That is one of the few things that this movie carries over from the original Doyle story "His Last Bow." That and the beautiful speech which Holmes delivers at the end which, watching it again, gave me genuine chills: “But there's an East wind coming all the same, such a wind as never blew on England yet. It will be cold and bitter, Watson, and a good many of us may wither before its blast. But it's God's own wind none the less. And a greener, better, stronger land will be in the sunshine when the storm is cleared.”

Cat: (Nick, the day I start spewing misogynistic BS is the day I need to be stopped). Yes, that was a pretty good way to end the film. However, with the context of them just busting the Nazis, it took an...oddly patriotic tone? Yet again, it was weird. It’s not that it entirely came out of nowhere, but it was this sudden slap of “God Bless America/England” that was weird for the sheer fact that you were hearing it come from Sherlock Holmes himself (who, again, just to further restate the point FOUGHT NAZIS). This was, of course, followed by the patriotic plea to buy war bonds and all that jazz. Media from the 40s absolutely fascinates me with the subtle and overt levels of propaganda that they have in them, so it was a little funny to see that not even Sherlock Holmes escaped this cinematic fate.  Nonetheless, it was a lovely bit of dialogue to end the movie with.

"There's an East Wind coming..."

Nick: And equally beautifully delivered by Basil Rathbone. (While watching this movie we were forced to pause while I went on and on about I loved Rathbone’s voice. His readings of Edgar Allan Poe poems and stories are brilliant.) But, at its heart Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror is really a propaganda piece. I mean, who’s more British than Sherlock Holmes? It’s kind of the ultimate morale boost for both Britain and the U.S.

Cat: I will spare everyone me going into a whole tangent about American WWII propaganda (for now at least), but the thing I want to mention about it right now is that it was effective. You’re entirely right, Nick, who is more British than Sherlock Holmes? When Sherlock Holmes fights Nazis, you know it’s legit. If Sherlock Holmes told me to buy war bonds, I’d probably heavily consider it. And then maybe go donate some money to the Red Cross, because I’m too pacifistic for war. But still!

Nick: Well, I certainly think that it is entertaining propaganda and certainly well-made propaganda. As we mentioned before, this movie is certainly the most film noir-esque Sherlock Holmes ever made and...I love it. The extreme close-ups and the lighting...it looks great. While I love Roy William Neil (who directed the remaining eleven films for Universal), John Rawlins - this film’s director - brought a really cool and different approach to the material.

Cat: It certainly is very nice to look at (and not just when Basil Rathbone’s on screen…). I particularly loved the lighting and the shadows and all that good film technique-type stuff in the scene leading up to Holmes and Watson entering the bar and finding Kitty. I don’t believe it was a very long sequence, when they were outside in the alleyways and roads, but it was just seriously awesome. I think the best way to sum it up would be to say that it was film noir in all the right ways.

It’s time for Final Thoughts:

Nick: I don’t quite know what it is about this movie but everything feels right to me. Yes; the film is essentially a propaganda piece and it may very well be weird to see Holmes fight the Third Reich but I think it’s handled so well. Rathbone and Bruce are so good in this movie and Evelyn Ankers is great as Kitty. We didn’t touch on Thomas Gomez’s Nazi ringmaster but he almost steals the show. Bolstering across-the-board fine performances and brilliant cinematography, I just really love this movie. It may have its faults but I am entirely willing to look past them. It may not be the best of the Rathbone/Bruce films but it is without doubt one of my favorites if not my favorite of the movies in the series. And you Catharine?

Cat: I don’t exactly know what it was, but I just couldn’t fully get into this movie. Don’t get me wrong, it has some tremendous strengths to it, (I mean, really, I don’t think you can really go wrong when you’ve got Basil Rathbone as Holmes, am I right?) but I think seeing Sherlock Holmes in the 40s, Nazis, and some additional war propaganda all at once might have been a touch too jarring for me to be able to take that all in and then go about properly enjoying the movie. It also doesn’t help that I kinda sort of was talking over the first half a minute of dialogue, so it took me about fifteen minutes to figure out what the hell the Voice of Terror actually was. However, that is no fault of the movie. The propaganda there at the end really did throw me a bit because throughout the rest of the movie, it wasn’t anything too overt, except for maybe Kitty’s speech at the bar which was a bit different than hearing it literally from Rathbone himself. So, while I totally am not knocking the movie and I did really love bits and pieces of it quite a bit, I don’t necessarily think that this movie was perfectly suited to my tastes. But hey, I got 65 minutes of Basil Rathbone, so I ain’t complaining!

Nick: So, with that being said, what is your official rating for this particular entry?

Cat: I award this movie 3.5 deerstalkers! Still a pretty freaking good movie, just not entirely for me. And you. Nick?

Nick: Well, I’m going to have to go with my gut and give this one a perfect score. I really don’t give many things a perfect 5 out of 5 but I feel like this one really is deserving. I REALLY like this movie and it’s towards the top half of my all-time favorite Sherlock Holmes movies.

Up to this point our scores have been exactly the same. Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror has proven to be something of a point of debate for us. We can guarantee that it won’t be the last time…

Nick's Rating

Catharine's Rating

Next Time: The so-called "Nazi Trilogy" continues...