Don't expect anything much, apart from a stiff performance by Wontner as a Sherlock fond of disguises, but deficient in acting. This plot involves a race-horse and the solution of a conspiracy designed to drug the horse so that he does not win a big race.The action moves awkwardly from inside to a studio-bound exterior shot and back again. It looks what it is - a shoddy effort designed to milk Wontner's status as one of the screen's most famous Sherlocks.

This Arthur Wontner / Sherlock Holmes film is not all that bad but it's not the greatest Holmes film on the market. And I find it's not as good as the title suggests or sounds like it would be but it is still fun little ditty to watch! Here we have Sherlock and Doc Watson on a case of murder and a stolen horse named Silver Blaze. Sherlock suspects his old nemesis Professor Moriarty to be behind it all. But why does Moriarty want Silver Blaze badly enough to murder the stable boy? What are his diabolical plans this time? A pretty good morning murder mystery to watch with a cup of coffee! Not a bad way to wake up.7/10

This is about on par with the lowest of the Monogram films that the U.S. produced during the '40s--however, it's a British B-film with little to recommend it.Holmes is played by sharp-featured Arthur Wontner (who bears somewhat of a resemblance to Basil Rathbone) and Ian Fleming is a suave version of Dr. Watson. Unfortunately, Lyn Harding is a very unimpressive figure as Professor Moriarty.The story taken from "Silver Blaze," left me uninvolved with its racetrack background. The TCM presentation begins with an announcement that the film has been restored, but you'd never know it. The soundtrack is poor with much of the British dialog unintelligible and the scenes themselves are murky and poorly photographed.I lost count of how many times Wontner says, "Elementary, my dear Watson," but let's just say this will never rank as one of my favorite Sherlock Holmes stories.Summing up: A feeble exercise in mystery that seems longer than its one hour and six minutes.

Wontner is not my favourite Holmes; to me he seems a bit nondescript altogether. The storyline of this movie of course is well-known and follows, if not exactly but pretty closely the story of the same name in the canon. There is just a whiff of EMPTY HOUSE in it, with Col. Moran using the famous air gun on Holmes. What's a bit odd is the inclusion of Sir Henry Baskerville (presumably because the story is set in Dartmoor) and what's even weirder is Baskerville's adult daughter who has a minor role in the story (but where's Beryl I wonder? Or maybe she isn't the mother....). Then of course we have the omnipresent and stereotypical Professor Moriarty (who was given the first name 'Robert' **ROFL**!!!) but I think he doesn't come across very convincingly. All in all watchable but average.