This fine Holmesian adventure marks the second time that Rathbone took up the deerstalker and pipe and stands as one of the best episodes in the popular series. The material is solid, packed with incident, and the film boasts a strong budget used nicely to represent a late Victorian London, full of pea-souper fog, horse-drawn carriages and mysterious gentlemen hanging around on street corners. Holmes fans will find Basil Rathbone giving a definitive performance as the refined detective and I believe this to be his best turn in the role, equalling Cushing's steely determinism twenty years later.Also fantastic is Nigel Bruce, at his most lovable as the doltish, good-natured Watson, and a supporting cast that give assured and lively performances. Standing out from the crowd are Ida Lupino as the strong-willed and beautiful heroine; Alan Marshal as the cultured but slightly sinister lawyer; and in particular everyone's favourite villain from the 1940s, George Zucco, as Holmes's arch-enemy, the inimitable Professor Moriarty. Zucco is the epitome of refined evil in his performance here and I don't think it could have been bettered in any way.The story takes many twists and turns and pulls off the difficult job of dealing with two apparently separate story lines at once. At times it appears to be unfocused and doesn't make much sense, but everything ties nicely together in a little package at the end, as is the habit of these movies. This is a film featuring loads of interesting elements, including a South American weapon of death; murders on fog-bound streets; the "Crime of the Century" in the theft of the Crown Jewels; an Incan funeral melody (!); a chinchilla's foot; an albatross; even a greenhouse full of plants features strongly. Everything gels together nicely with some priceless dialogue from our two heroic leads. THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES is an exciting, entertaining, downright enjoyable interpretation of literature's most famous detective and showcases Rathbone and Bruce at the peak of their careers.

Sherlock Holmes' arch-nemesis Professor Moriarty (George Zucco) orchestrates a plot to keep Holmes busy while he commits the crime of the century. Second of the Basil Rathbone Sherlock Holmes series and the last at Fox. Considered by many (not me) to be the best of the Rathbone Holmes films. Rathbone is pitch perfect as Holmes. Bruce, in my opinion, is perfect as Watson. I know that ruffles the feathers of purists who don't appreciate Bruce's comic Watson but I find him endearing and an incredible asset to the series. Zucco is a great Moriarty but I kept wishing there was more of him throughout the film. He was the first of several actors to play Moriarty in the series, my favorite being Henry Daniell. Ida Lupino, never the strongest actress, does fine here. The rest of the supporting cast is good, with the always enjoyable E.E. Clive a standout. The series would move to Universal three years after this. While I enjoy both of the Fox films immensely, I prefer the Universal ones. But then, I'm a fan of Universal and their style during the 1940s in particular.

Very atmospheric and generally entertaining - you really want to find out what happens and there's the sense that Holmes may be out of his depth through being stretched both ways. But as none other than Moriaty threatens to pull of a crime that will ruin Holmes, I can't say it lives up to its promise. It begins great - Holmes and his nemesis agree to share a handsome cab from the court where Moriaty has been acquitted from a murder everyone knows he committed, and engage in Bond-Scaramanga over dinner type banter. Other Bond moments are anticipated, including the use of a bolus, decapitated statues and some Baron Samedi creepy stuff with a flute-like instrument.While it's very atmospheric, with good use of foggy London, I found the plot quite risible. Rathbone had the usual bite and authority, but it made his cavalier regard for his clients quite astonishing. I mean, the day a man is due to be killed, he's left alone while Holmes is faffing about for clues at the Natural History Museum! And the brother is therefore allowed to walk home through thick London fog on a dark night! You have to say, that's not down to Moriaty's genius, more Holmes' stupidity.What's more, we know that Moriaty is up to something thanks to some heavyhanded exposition with his subordinate, so we are one step ahead of Holmes all the way. At times I felt it was aimed at 10 year olds.The ending simply doesn't add up either, unless Moriaty had been 10 years in the planning of this caper.

**SPOILERS** Professor Moriarty, George Zucco, did it again! Just when it looks like curtains for him he managed to beat a murder rap that would have sent his sorry neck straight to the London Gallows. It was only because his arch enemy the great Sherlock Holmes, Basil Rathbone, couldn't get to the courtroom on time with evidence that would have completely contradicted Moriarty's alibi that got him acquitted of murder.Knowing that it's only a matter of time before Holmes gets the goods, as well as the hangman's rope, on him Moriarty concocts a devious plan to the destroy Holmes reputation as a great detective one's in for all. Something that would be worse then death for him! By throwing a fake pass in him having Lloyd Brandon, Peter Willis, murdered by his paid goons Moriarty, being the sneak that he is, is planning to pull off a quarterback sneak, within inches of the goal line, and score the big one in heisting the British Royal Family's Crown Jewels locked securely in the Tower of London. Knowing how Holmes' mind works Moriarty plans to send him on a wild goose chase all throughout London in finding Brandon's killer while he with his famous beard shaved off, and impersonating a London Bobbi or policeman, breaks into the Tower of London and checks out with the Crown Jewels!One of Sherlock Holmes' most baffling and difficult cases to crack in that he's up against a determined Professor Moriarty who uses all his criminal genius to make make a monkey out of Holmes and look foolish in the eyes of the British public that think the world of him.***SPOILERS*** Despite all of Holmes' efforts to save Lloyd's life he ends up getting it, in the neck, in front of dozens of witnesses on a crowded London street! This has Lloyd's kid sister Ann, Ida Lupino, terrified in that she'll be targeted next by her brother's murderer! Since she was sent the same death threat, in a letter, that he got just before he was murdered! In the end it was Sherlock Holmes' brilliant powers of deduction that uncovered Moriarty's evil plan to destroy his reputation as a great, if not the greatest, English detective. As Holmes brilliantly concluded what's the big deal about some garden verity murder, which he committed dozens during his criminal career, to Moriarty when he was planning to pull of the crime of the century! Something that would not only make newspaper headlines but be forever talked about and studied in police and military academy's the world over for years to come. It was by the boastful Moriarty bagging to Holmes what he was going to do in advance that tipped off the great detective to watch out for any false flags, like a simple murder, and not try to be fooled by them. Which in fact Holmes wasn't!P.S In fact the crime of the century was actually pulled off the very day that the film "The Advantures of Sherlock Holmes" was released to the public; September 1, 1939! It was on that very day that Adolph Hitler sent his panzer and infantry divisions into Poland which started the bloodiest war in all of recorder history: World War II!