THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES, the second screen Sherlock saga starring Basil Rathbone, along with being a cracking good yarn, introduced the immortal pithy comeback “Elementary, my dear Watson.” The plushly appointed 20th Century-Fox offering started shooting right upon the completion of The Hound Of The Baskervilles and came out five months later than that one, in September of 1939, that monumental year for the movies and the woe-beset world that craved them. *

London, 1894. When justice fails and brilliant criminal ‘Professor Moriarty’ (George Zucco) gets off scot-free from a murder charge, he baits nemesis Sherlock Holmes. The dextrous deducer parries: “You’ve a magnificent brain, Moriarty. I admire it. I admire it so much I’d like to present it pickled in alcohol to the London Medical Society.” Soon after their encounter, antagonistic but civilized—they’re English gentlemen, after all—Holmes is approached by young ‘Ann Brandon’ (Ida Lupino) fearful over death-foreboding notes her brother has received. Taking her worries seriously, Holmes and loyal wingman Dr. Watson (Nigel Bruce) pursue the party or parties behind Ann’s panic, uncovering a trail of misdeeds that ultimately leads to the Tower of London and the Crown Jewels of the United Kingdom. Something dastardly is a(clubbed)foot.

Directed by Alfred L. Werker, the script from Edwin Blum and William A. Drake was not based on a Arthur Conan Doyle story but was freely adapted from a 1899 play that Doyle wrote with William Gage. Swift-moving, excellently photographed by Leon Shamroy, the mix of mystery, action, wit and atmosphere is blessed with Rathbone’s energy, eloquence and confidence, Bruce’s bearish likability and Zucco’s suave nastiness. Lupino, 21, shines in career-boosting role.

In disguise, Holmes/Rathbone even sings popular British music hall song—actually written 13 years after the story is set, but whatever—“I Do Like To Be Beside The Seaside”. Was that really him dancing? Since Basil was Hollywood’s most agile fencer, it only figured he could manage some footwork. Elsewise, the score was one of the studio’s all-batons-on-deck missions with contributions from Cyril J. Mockridge, David Buttolph, David Raksin, Robert Russell Bennett and Walter Scharf. The haunting melody that periodically reoccurs was performed by vaunted violinist Louis Kaufman. ***

“The nose of a police dog, though long and efficient, points in only one direction at a time.”

A box office ruling of $1,900,000 landed at 121st place for the year, 42 spots higher on the list than its predecessor. That was even with the indignity of Fox dumping it onto double-bills. 85 minutes, with Alan Marshall, Henry Stephenson, Terry Kilburn (12, the smart lad Watson can’t abide) and E. E. Clive. Swell stuff.

                   Terry Kilburn

* Give ’em what they want—besides Sherlock’s debut duo, Mighty ’39 rolled out triples of Andy Hardy, Blondie, Mr. Moto, Charlie Chan and Torchy Blane, two Dr. Kildare’s, a pair of Saints and the first entries for The Lone Wolf and the Mexican Spitfire. The second Holmes affair had the ‘Fun, meet Fate’ timing to launch on September 1, the day Hitler invaded Poland. Three years later, when the series re-started, it was with a different studio, Universal, and the first three of the following dozen with Basil & Nigel were temporarily and patriotically updated to fit the war effort.

Rathbone, 47 in ’39, was having a plum year–the two Sherlock stories, nasty Richard III in Tower Of London, a gallant British Empire colonizer in The Sun Never Sets, a crook in Rio and Baron Wolf von Frankenstein in Son Of Frankenstein.

“Whatever Watson has found out, you’ll know inevitably. I have unbounded confidence in his lack of discretion.”

** Bruce, in his memoirs:  “We took over 5 weeks to make a rambling and complicated story which had no resemblance to any of the writings of Conan Doyle. In this picture Ida Lupino had her first really dramatic part and making full use of her chances, she gave a grand performance which may be said to have started her on the road to stardom.”

*** “Get Kaufman!”  Don’t know Louis Kaufman (1905-1994)? His 384-page autobio is “A Fiddler’s Tale: How Hollywood and Vivaldi Discovered Me.” If you know movies, you’ve heard him, though, as did countless millions: with more than five hundred assignments in movies between 1934 and 1977, he’s the most recorded and widely heard violinist in history. Bride Of Frankenstein, Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs, Gone With The Wind, The Grapes Of Wrath, Casablanca, For Whom The Bell Tolls, Around The World In 80 Days, North By Northwest, Ben-Hur, Spartacus, Breakfast At Tiffany’s, Mutiny On The Bounty, Cleopatra, Mary Poppins, The Sound Of Music, Planet Of The Apes, Patton, The Godfather Part II……