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Sunday, June 1, 2008

SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE SECRET WEAPON (1942)


The second entry in the Basil Rathbone & Nigel Bruce Universal series is not only one of the liveliest of the bunch, but probably the only one that actually benefits from the WWII/Nazi era modernization imposed @ Universal. The other stand-out efforts @ Universal either ignore or bury the time shift. It’s also uses a real Doyle tale (THE RUNNING MAN) as a baseline and has Lionel Atwill’s malevolent Moriarty showing what top-flight character acting can do to ratchet up the dramatic possibilities. The foggy atmosphere & surprisingly rich look were maintained throughout the series, but on this one they’ve got more to support.

CONTEST - Listen closely to the brief fanfare that plays over the Universal Studios logo at the opening of the film. Sound familiar? Name the famous film composer and the famous film that all but swiped the little fanfare as their main theme and win our usual prize, a MAKSQUIBS Write-Up on your choice of any NetFlix DVD.

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