Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon

UPC: 089218601995

Studio: Alpha Video

Summary: The second of Universal's "modernized" Sherlock Holmes films pits the Great Detective (Basil Rathbone, of course) against that "Napoleon of Crime," Professor Moriarty (Lionel Atwill). Surpassing his previous skullduggery, Moriarty has now aligned himself with the Nazis and has dedicated himself to stealing a top-secret bomb sight developed by expatriate European scientist Dr. Franz Tobel (William Post Jr.). Before being kidnapped by Moriarty's minions, Tobel was enterprising enough to disassemble his invention and distribute its components among several other patriotic scientists. Racing against the clock, Holmes and Dr. Watson (Nigel Bruce) try to stem the murders of Tobel's colleagues and prevent Moriarty from getting his mitts on the precious secret weapon. The now-famous climax finds Holmes playing for time by allowing Moriarty to drain all the blood from his body, drop by drop ("The needle to the last, eh Holmes?" gloats the villain). Dennis Hoey makes his first appearance as the dull-witted, conclusion-jumping Inspector Lestrade. Constructed more like a serial than a feature film, Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon (based loosely on Conan Doyle's The Dancing Men) is one of the fastest-moving entries in the series; it is also one of the most readily accessible, having lapsed into public domain in 1969. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Category: Mystery

Features: [None specified]

Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon

Format: DVD

Release Date: 08/27/2002

Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 Pre-1954 Standard

Runtime: 68 Minutes

Sides: 1

Number of Discs: 1

Language(s) English

Region: Universal Compatability

Chapters: Side #1 --
2. Chapter 1 [12:38]
3. Chapter 2 [13:50]
4. Chapter 3 [14:13]
5. Chapter 4 [12:06]

Craig Butler

Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon is an enjoyable entry in the Holmes series, although it suffers more than most of the Universal pictures from being moved to modern times. Some of the other modern Holmes movies merely seem to have placed Holmes and Watson into then-contemporary clothing and given them a few 20th century props, but Secret Weapon is drenched in the 1940s, with Nazis, secret weapons, and bombed out buildings seemingly at every turn. All this is distracting, but it doesn't do fatal damage to the film, which is quite a lot of fun. True, it plays up the action and adventure aspect at the expense of good old-fashioned sleuthing and deducing, but this proves quite diverting. The screenplay is a bit slapdash, and viewers may be unconvinced that Moriarty would fall for Holmes' ploy for disposing of him, but it's such a nifty method that most viewers will overlook this. Indeed, Secret Weapon has some sort of secret charm of its own that makes it easy to overlook its flaws and just sit back and enjoy this rousing little adventure. ~ Craig Butler, Rovi

Cast and Crew: Harry Woods  Actor 
Rudolph Anders  Actor 
George Eldredge  Actor 
Henry Victor  Actor 
James Craven  Actor 
Guy Kingsford  Actor 
Philip Van Zandt  Actor 
John Burton  Actor 
Leyland Hodgson  Actor 
Leslie Denison  Actor 
George Burr McAnnan  Actor 
Harold de Becker  Actor 
Harry Cording  Actor 
Hugh Herbert  Actor 
Paul Fix  Actor 
Paul Bryar  Actor 
Howard Benedict  Producer 
Edmund L. Hartmann  Screenwriter 
Edward T. Lowe  Screenwriter 
Roy William Neill  Director 
Roy William Neill  Producer 
Hans Salter  Composer (Music Score) 
Frank Skinner  Composer (Music Score) 
W. Scott Darling  Screenwriter 
Basil Rathbone  Actor 
Nigel Bruce  Actor 
Kaaren Verne  Actor 
Lionel Atwill  Actor 
William Post, Jr.  Actor 
Dennis Hoey  Actor 
Holmes Herbert  Actor 
Mary Gordon  Actor 

Country: USA