Sherlock Holmes in Washington
7 /10 1 Votes7
Initial DVD release October 28, 2003 Duration Language English | 7/10 Genre Mystery Film series Sherlock Holmes Country United States | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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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 (Sherlock Holmes), (Doctor Watson), (Nancy Partridge), (William Easter), (Heinrich Hinckel aka Richard Stanley), (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

Plot

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.

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.

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
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 WikipediaSherlock Holmes in Washington IMDbSherlock Holmes in Washington themoviedb.org