Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon (1942)
Director - Roy William Neill
The Plot
Based on the Arthur Conan Doyle's The Dancing Man, Sherlock Holmes (Basil Rathbone) smuggles a Swiss scientist and his secret bomb-sight out of Switzerland into England. Before the scientist can begin production of the device for the Allies, he is kidnapped by Professor Moriarty. Holmes and Watson must find him before their nemesis can take him to Germany.
Film Notes
Holmes and the Nazis?
Nothing in Hollywood ever gets in the way of making a good (or bad) film from a literary source. Just because the original Sherlock Holmes stories took place in the 19th century is no obstacle to setting this story in the 1940s, so World War II is in mid-swing and the great detective is on it.
No English drawing room play pace for this feature, The Secret Weapon fires on all serial style cylinders to pretty good effect. It also takes advantage of the London blackouts as an excuse for a moody low-lit atmosphere of bombed-out streets and menacing shadows. Expressionistic film fans should watch for the pub-crawling montage as Holmes, disguised as a drunken seaman, stumbles through London's darkest streets and back alleys.
Roy William Neill
The very definition of a veteran B-movie director, Roy William Neill began his career as an assistant to Thomas Ince in 1915. Mr Neill directed close to 100 films in a career that ended in 1946.
As producer and director of nine of the Basil Rathbone Sherlock Holmes films, he was most responsible for the consistency of tone and style of the series to itself, if not the original Arthur Conan Doyle tales.
As a Universal Studios director, he also adhered to the updated Germanic look of the horror films that the studio was most famous for in the 30s and 40s. He himself contributed one of the last "serious" additions to the monster films - Frankenstein vs The Wolfman.
If You're Keeping Score
The music for this film was a combination of the work of Charles Previn (Andre Previn's cousin) and Hans Salter. It is immediately recognizable in its borrowed resemblance to the scores of the many Universal horror films. Though familiar, the score is effective.
Trivial Pursuit
Look closely and you'll spot many of the same sets used in Universal's Frankenstein films.
-- Ed Schneider
Cast & Production Credits
| Basil Rathbone | Sherlock Holmes |
| Nigel Bruce | Dr. John H. Watson |
| Kaaren Verne | Charlotte Eberli |
| Lionel Atwill | Prof. Moriarty |
| William Post, Jr. | Dr. Franz Tobel |
| Dennis Hoey | Inspector Lestrade |
| Holmes Herbert | Sir Reginald Dailey |
| Mary Gordon | Mrs. Hudson |
| Guy Kingsford | London Bobby |
| Henry Victor | Frederick Hoffner |
| Philip Van Zandt | Kurt |
| George Burr McAnnan | Gottfried |
| Universal Studios | |
| Roy William Neill | Director |
| W. Scott Darling | Screenwriter |
| Edmund L. Hartmann | Screenwriter |
| Edward T. Lowe | Screenwriter |
| Lester White | Cinematographer |
| Charles Previn | Musical Direction/Supervision |
| Hans Salter | Composer (Music Score) |
| Frank Skinner | Composer (Music Score) |
| Otto Ludwig | Editor |
| Martin Obzina | Art Director |
| Jack Otterson | Art Director |
| Howard Benedict | Associate Producer |
| Russell A. Gausman | Set Designer |
| Edward Ray Robinson | Set Designer |
| Vera West | Costume Designer |
| Bernard B. Brown | Sound/Sound Designer |
| Paul Neal | Sound/Sound Designer |
For More on...
Sherlock Holmes Museum on the Web
Arthur Conan Doyle
Basil Rathbone