Sherlock Holmes and The Voice of Terror (1943)

DVD really does justice to old black and white movies and Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror, available both as a single disc and as part of a box set, has been remastered to provide crystal clear black and white images and punchy sound. This was the third time that Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce had been paired as Holmes and Watson but was actually the first in the Universal Pictures Holmes series. The previous two movies had been made by Fox and were set in the late Victorian era, while the Universal series brought Holmes into the current day in order to fight the Nazi menace as well as provide a moral boosting speech during the close of the movie, which had movie audiences of the day applauding from their seats.

"Germany broadcasting. Germany broadcasting. People of Britain, greetings from the Third Reich. This is the voice you have learned to fear. This is the Voice of Terror. Again, we bring you disaster: crushing, humiliating disaster. It is folly to stand against the mighty wrath of the Fuhrer... "

Much of the criticism of this Holmes series centres on the fact that Nigel Bruce played Watson as a bumbling fool, but in all fairness Bruce's portrayal is the perfect counterpoint to Rathbone's intense Sherlock Holmes. The chemistry between the two is remarkable and each manages to compliment the other. True there are moments when Watson's only purpose seems to be to provide comic relief but all the same the pairing of Rathbone and Bruce is one of cinema's great double acts. For many people Rathbone and Bruce are Holmes and Watson.

The movie made during the early days of the second world war involves a Lord Haw Haw like traitor who is broadcasting from Germany to the UK, who is working with a group of saboteurs who are striking deep in the British mainland. Holmes is brought into the case by the British government and right away we are aware there is a traitor within the war department, but we are fed a red herring meal so that the character we thought was the traitor is completely innocent, and it is he we least expect who turns out to actually be the fifth column.

I'm far from a Sherlock Holmes expert but I have read all of the canon, and it was Rathbone and Bruce who first got me interested in the characters. When I was growing up the movies were regularly shown on BBC2 early in the evening and watching these led me to seek out the original stories, so I was always have a place in my heart for this particular Holmes and Watson.

Voice of Terror is a great film and even although it was produced in the fashion of a B movie it looks superb with effective photography and an almost noirish atmosphere. And despite the changes to the Watson character, Rathbone and Bruce rank among the truly great celluloid  versions of Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson.