SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE SECRET WEAPON (1942)

In a cafe in Switzerland, an old man with a bundle of books approaches two men and offers to sell them some rare books. But actually, the two man are German spies trying to get their hands on a new bombsight made by Prof. Tobel, who lives just across the street from the cafe, and the old bookseller is their contact, who has been assigned to approach Tobel while the other two men wait for his signal to come and grab the bombsight. But the old man is Sherlock Holmes in disguise and he uses Tobel's servants as decoys to spirit Tobel away and off to safety in London. Holmes has Tobel stay the night at his place (221B Baker Street, of course), and leaves his associate Dr. Watson to guard him, but Tobel sneaks out to see his girlfriend Charlotte. He gives her a coded message, written in the form of dancing stick figures, to give to Holmes if anything should happen to him. The next day, Tobel attends a test of the bombsight and, though he offers its use to the British government, he insists on keeping its secrets to himself, going so far as to hire four different technicians to make the parts of the device. Soon, Tobel has vanished and Scotland Yard is called in, with Inspector Lestrade assisting Sherlock Holmes. Charlotte gives Holmes the envelope with the coded message, but inside is just a note saying "We meet again" from his nemesis, the evil Prof. Moriarty. Following leads, Holmes again disguises himself and noses around the docks only to be caught by Moriarty and his thugs. Holmes is stuffed into the false bottom of a large trunk and is about to be dumped in the river when Watson and Lestrade come to the rescue. Moriarty decodes the dancing men message and finds three of the four bombsight parts, then tortures Tobel to find the fourth scientist. Meanwhile, Holmes has also pieced together the coded message, and he and Moriarty do meet again, this time in person, where Moriarty plans on killing Holmes by slowly and painfully draining his blood from his body. Can Watson and Lestrade save the day?

This is the second of the 1940's based Holmes films, and like the first (VOICE OF TERROR), it has a wartime propaganda element—a patriotic quote from Richard II ends the film in a rousing fashion—but that doesn't detract from the adventure. Rathbone as Holmes is fine, as is Nigel Bruce as Watson, though this movie seems to mark the beginning of making Watson a bumbler, beginning with his falling asleep while guarding Tobel, allowing him to leave the apartment. Lionel Atwill is a bit of a letdown as Moriarty, seeming a little low energy compared to George Zucco in Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. Dennis Hoey makes his first of several appearances as Lestrade, and Mary Gordon is back as Mrs. Hudson. It is fast-paced with lots of action, and the blood draining scene is worthy of being included in a horror movie. A notch above Voice of Terror in plotting, a notch below in terms of style and mood. Pictured are Rathbone and Atwill. [DVD]