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Sherlock Holmes in Washington

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Director
  
Roy William Neill

Initial DVD release
  
October 28, 2003

Duration
  

Language
  
English

7/10
IMDb

Genre
  
Mystery

Film series
  
Sherlock Holmes

Country
  
United States

Sherlock Holmes in Washington movie poster

Release date
  
April 30, 1943 (1943-04-30)

Based on
  
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Writer
  
Arthur Conan Doyle (characters), Bertram Millhauser (screenplay), Bertram Millhauser (story), Lynn Riggs (screenplay)

Cast
  
Basil Rathbone
(Sherlock Holmes),
Nigel Bruce
(Doctor Watson),
Marjorie Lord
(Nancy Partridge),
Henry Daniell
(William Easter),
George Zucco
(Heinrich Hinckel aka Richard Stanley),
John Archer
(Naval Lt. Pete Merriam)

Similar movies
  
Mr. Holmes
,
Sherlock Holmes
,
Without a Clue
,
Sherlock Holmes
,
Young Sherlock Holmes
,
The Hound of the Baskervilles

Sherlock Holmes in Washington (1943) is the fifth film in the Basil Rathbone/Nigel Bruce series of Sherlock Holmes movies. The plot is an original story not based on any of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Holmes tales, though it bears some similarity to "The Bruce-Partington Plans."

Contents

Sherlock Holmes in Washington movie scenes

Plot

Sherlock Holmes in Washington movie scenes

British secret agent Alfred Pettibone carrying a vital secret document is murdered on his way to deliver it in the USA. The British government turns to Holmes for help. He deduces that Pettibone converted the document to microfilm. Avoiding an assassination attempt, he hurries to Washington with Watson to retrieve it before it falls into the hands of an "international spy ring". Holmes is certain that the spies do not yet possess the document, as people who were in contact with Pettibone on his journey have been harassed. Pettibone's body was then delivered to Holmes by the spies as means to throw Holmes off the track.

Sherlock Holmes in Washington Amazoncom Sherlock Holmes in Washington Basil Rathbone Nigel

Before his death, the agent managed to pass the microfilm, hidden inside a "V for Victory" matchbook, into the unwitting hands of Washington debutante and bride-to-be Nancy Partridge. The matches get passed from hand to hand at a party unknowingly and end up in the inadvertent possession of the chief spy, Heinrich Hinkel (known as the seemingly respectable Richard Stanley in Washington), when he has Partridge kidnapped.

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Holmes tracks down the ring to an antiques shop, where he confronts Hinkel. During their cat-and-mouse conversation, he even tells the spy that "the man who has it doesn't know he has it", with the matchbook in plain sight. Holmes is taken prisoner, but just as he and Partridge are about to be murdered, the police, summoned by Watson by prior arrangement with Holmes, break in and, after a gunfight, rescue the pair. Hinkel gets away, along with the matchbook, however. Holmes races to the office of Senator Henry Babcock, having led Hinkel to believe the microfilm is under a stamp of a letter in the senator's possession. Holmes arrives first and, as Hinkel eavesdrops, reveals the importance of the letter. Hinkel takes the letter at gunpoint, only to have the police capture him. Holmes then takes the matches and sets fire to the letter, before revealing that the microfilm was in the matchbook all along.

Cast

  • Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes
  • Nigel Bruce as Dr. Watson
  • Marjorie Lord as Nancy Partridge
  • Henry Daniell as William Easter
  • George Zucco as Heinrich Hinkel
  • John Archer as Lt. Pete Merriam
  • Gavin Muir as Mr. Lang, government agent
  • Edmund MacDonald as Detective Lt. Grogan
  • Don Terry as Howe
  • Bradley Page as Cady
  • Holmes Herbert as Mr. Ahrens
  • Thurston Hall as Senator Henry Babcock
  • Gerald Hamer as Alfred Pettibone or "John Grayson" (uncredited)
  • Clarence Muse as George, porter (uncredited)
  • Ian Wolfe as Antiques Shop Clerk (uncredited)
  • Cast notes

    John Archer and Marjorie Lord, who play an engaged couple in this film, were actually married when it was made. The two main villains played Holmes' nemesis Professor Moriarty in other films, George Zucco in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1939), and Henry Daniell in The Woman in Green (1945). Gerald Hamer, who appeared in four more of Rathbone's Holmes movies, has a brief uncredited, but pivotal, role.

    Oskar Homolka was originally cast as Holmes's elder brother Mycroft. He quit due to family issues, and Mycroft's character was replaced by Mr. Ahrens, portrayed by Holmes Herbert.

    References

    Sherlock Holmes in Washington Wikipedia
    Sherlock Holmes in Washington IMDbSherlock Holmes in Washington themoviedb.org