Transcript for I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere Episode 122: Basil

Rathbone and Nigel Bruce

Scott Monty: [00:00:00] I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere celebrates the 125th birthday of an iconic
Sherlock Holmes.

Various: [00:00:07] [Rathbone and Bruce clips.

Burt Wolder: [00:01:04] Support for this episode of I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere is made
possible by the Wessex Press, the premier publisher of books about Sherlock Holmes and his world.
Find them online at WessexPress.com.

Scott Monty: [00:01:17] And Sherlock Holmes and the Cryptic Clues: A Grave Undertaking by
Michael McClure.

Burt Wolder: [00:01:24] And the Baker Street Journal the leading publication of Sherlockian
scholarships since 1946. Subscriptions available at BakerStreetJournal.com.

Scott Monty: [00:01:35] I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere Episode 122: Basil Rathbone and Nigel
Bruce.

Charles Grey: [00:01:43] I hear of Sherlock everywhere since you became his chronicler.

Narrator: [00:01:47] In a world where it's always 1895 comes I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere, a
podcast for devotees of Mr. Sherlock Holmes, the world's first consulting detective.

Jeremy Kemp: [00:02:02] I've heard of you before. You're Holmes the meddler. Holmes the
Scotland Yard jack in office. Hope you can hear.

Narrator: [00:02:12] The game's afoot as we discuss goings on in the world of Sherlock Holmes
enthusiasts, the Baker Street Irregulars, and popular culture related to the great detective.

David Burke: [00:02:23] As we go to press, sensational developments have been reported.

Narrator: [00:02:30] So join your hosts, Scott Monty and Burt Wolder, as they talk about what's
new in the world of Sherlock Holmes.

Jeremy Brett: [00:02:35] You couldn't have come at a better time.

Scott Monty: [00:02:47] Thank you. Thank you for that introduction. Wow. This is going to be
quite a time today here on I hear of Sherlock Everywhere. The first podcast for Sherlock Holmes
devotees where it's always 1895. I'm Scott Monty

Burt Wolder: [00:03:05] I'm Burt Wolder.

Scott Monty: [00:03:06] And boy oh boy do we have some fun in store. We have an episode ahead
of us that folks have been asking for for a long time.

Burt Wolder: [00:03:15] Oh I'm really excited. This is something we've talked about for a long
time and wanted to do for a long time and the calendar tells us it's so appropriate.

Scott Monty: [00:03:24] Yes.

Burt Wolder: [00:03:25] Because as you realize.

Scott Monty: [00:03:29] It's someone's birthday.

Burt Wolder: [00:03:30] Yes!

Scott Monty: [00:03:30] Happy birthday, Burt! Oh no.

Burt Wolder: [00:03:34] I'm only a hundred and twenty five years old. Oh no no. That's Philip St.
John Basil Rathbone is 125 on June 25th is that it?

Scott Monty: [00:03:45] June 13th, just two days ago.

Burt Wolder: [00:03:47] Oh dear.

Scott Monty: [00:03:50] Now you're going to have to send him an apology. I'm sorry I missed your
birthday card. Oh my goodness.

Burt Wolder: [00:03:57] You know I never know what to get somebody. You know oddly enough
when you go to the Hallmark store there are no cards that says Happy 125th birthday. I wonder
why?

Scott Monty: [00:04:07] Well you know at 50 you get gold, 75 diamond, 125.. oxygen! Something
to help people breathe and to make it through 126 I guess.

Burt Wolder: [00:04:19] You know one of the things that's always -- first of all I've been like you
have been a big fan of Basil Rathbone's Sherlock Holmes for years and years. So an opportunity to
devote some time to remembering all those classic films is really great. But the in preparing for this
and thinking about it and you look at the calendar you'll realize that Basil Rathbone was born in
1892 and Nigel Bruce was born in 1895. So contrary to what one might think, Rathbone is actually
three years older than Nigel Bruce. But the other interesting thing about this which we haven't
actually had a chance to talk about is I realize the other day you know what's interesting from a
Sherlockian perspective about Rathbone's birthday?

Scott Monty: [00:05:04] I do not.

Burt Wolder: [00:05:06] The year 1892.

Scott Monty: [00:05:08] Well it's the year that Wisteria Lodge was supposed to have taken place
which is.

Burt Wolder: [00:05:13] No no no no no. Oh, really, Wisteria Lodge?

Scott Monty: [00:05:16] Yeah.

Burt Wolder: [00:05:19] That can't be the case. Well it depends on what chronology you're looking
at. So if you think that The Final Problem happened in April of 1891, then 1892 is of interest
because it's during the great hiatus.

Scott Monty: [00:05:34] That's right.

Burt Wolder: [00:05:35] And therefore I shall obviously have to write a paper about this and send
it to Steven Rothman for the Baker Street Journal. It's perfectly possible that while Holmes was
wandering through Tibet what he was actually doing was fathering Basil. [LAUGHTER] And that
counts for quite a lot including that odd resemblance between Rathbone and all those drawings by
Sidney Paget.

Scott Monty: [00:06:03] It could be -- that could very well be. Well we know of course that
Rathbone was born in South Africa. So I don't know that Holmesever made it through there
although they did send... who was it? Young Gilchrest from the Three Students he was banished to
Rhodesia to join the Rhodesian police. Of course folks at home, if you're playing our home game,
you'll know Rhodesia now as Zimbabwe. Yeah it was. It was a mystery lodge where Watson
himself says "I find it recorded in my notebook that it was a bleak and windy day towards the end
of March and the year 1892."

Burt Wolder: [00:06:43] Well that can't be the case because Final Problem happened in 1891 and
Empty House happened in 1894. So Watson you know... it must be a coffee stain in Watson's name.

Scott Monty: [00:06:54] Maybe Watson was covering for Holmes's paternity leave here.

Burt Wolder: [00:06:58] That's right.

Scott Monty: [00:07:02] Well we want to cover one thing before we jump into more Rathbonian
topics here. And I believe one of those things we want to cover is our friends at Wessex Press.

Burt Wolder: [00:07:20] The ancient Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Wessex is about to celebrate
midsummer Eve - the festival of the summer solstice when we light bonfires to protect against evil
spirits. But you will be safe once you buy your copy of the Drury Lane Theatre Mystery and
original Sherlock Holmes screen treatment by Dennis Hoey from West Express dotcom. What if
Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce had made one more movie? This previously unknown screen
treatment by Inspector Lestrade himself is a backstage mystery set in London's Drury Lane Theatre.
It includes comments and background from Dennis Hoey's son Michael. Summer is the time when
meadow, grove and stream, the earth and every common sight to us may seem apparelled in
celestial light. It's a perfect time to reach for the pleasure only a volume from the Wesex Press can
provide. Choose yours. Today.

Burt Wolder: [00:08:29] All the big the big problem you know when you're dealing with these
ancient Anglo-Saxon kingdoms is like everything else; I have mechanical watches and every so
often you know they do need to be adjusted and cleaned and wound. But when you try to do that
was Stonehenge. My goodness it's difficult. You have to bring in the bulldozers...

Scott Monty: [00:08:46] That's why it was a group project. There was a whole cult involved there.

Burt Wolder: [00:08:56] That's right.

Scott Monty: [00:08:58] Crazy. Well, we're not here to talk about Stonehenge or cults or anything
else like that -- we're here to talk about Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce as we promised. They of
course are the definitive Holmes and Watson for I would say a number of generations not just the
generation that grew up in the 30s and 40s because these are films and there were what, 14 films
and all with the Rathbone and Bruce? And of course their wonderful radio series. These are
portrayals that have gone on to be played and replayed in countless theatres and television stations
and in homes all across the world. I think at a time that was very critical you know this is only about
less than 10 years after Conan Boyle's death you know about a decade after the final Sherlock
Holmes story appeared in print. From its original publication. The Sherlock Holmes interest was
alive and well -- this is around the time that the Baker Street Irregulars was formed and about the
same time at the Baker Street Journal was coming in to at least conception. So it was really at a
height of Holmes mania much like we are seeing in the current day if you will. Yeah.

Scott Monty: [00:10:31] Well, we're getting a little bit ahead of ourselves here why don't we
actually talk about some of the films and the roles that we're here to talk about under this amazing
series. Of course it all started with with Fox Studios. There were two films under 20th Century Fox
that were made. There were 12 that were made under the Universal banner. But let's begin at the
beginning when at the end of October 1938 Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce had signed on to star
and the Hound of the Baskervilles. You know, if you're if you're going to start a new movie series
there really isn't much better a Holmes story to start with than The Hound of the Baskervilles. This
was a film that or a story I should say that had been attempted to be brought to the screen
previously, but the Rathbone/Bruce version really became the definitive version. And I think still is
today because although the Hound of the Baskervilles is just a master class in storytelling from
Conan Doyle, it's also a difficult one to film just in terms of getting all the elements and
characterizing the dog itself and you know it really has not successfully been brought to screen in a
remarkable way other than this 1939 version.

Burt Wolder: [00:12:11] And what a cast in addition to casting Rathbone and Bruce we they also
cast Richard Greene who had a famous role on television in the 50s as Robin Hood as Sir Henry
Baskerville, and Lionel Atwill who we'll see again in the years ahead as as Dr. Mortimer.

Scott Monty: [00:12:32] Yes. Love Lionel Atwill. And speaking of Dr. Mortimer, it is he who we
meet in the first scenes of the Hound of the Baskervilles just like in the story and he has that
wonderful quote that still at least in my case raises the hairs on the back of my neck.

Dr. Mortimer: [00:12:54] I had information which lead me to believe that for centuries past every
basketball was headed to the states as mate with a violent and sudden death.

Sherlock Holmes: [00:13:02] But as I recall it the child's died from natural causes heart failure.

Dr. Mortimer: [00:13:06] Apparently that was the verdict of the coroner in which I a child's
physician concurred. But it was one point which I kept back from the police from everybody.

Sherlock Holmes: [00:13:13] Yes?

Dr. Mortimer: [00:13:15] About 50 yards away as the child fell dead were... footprints.

Sherlock Holmes: [00:13:22] A man's or a woman's?

Dr. Mortimer: [00:13:23] Mr. Holmes, t hey were the footprints of a gigantic hound.

Scott Monty: [00:13:31] I love that.

Burt Wolder: [00:13:33] I'm one of the best chapter ends in any story. And we should also we
should also mention that in Hound of the Baskervilles we also had the first appearance of Mary
Gordon as Mrs. Hudson so we will be seeing her again.

Scott Monty: [00:13:49] Yes. Yeah I love how they they made fair use of a number of recurring
not only recurring roles but recurring actors in different roles. And as you said Lionel Atwill will
make another appearance although in a different form later on. But one interesting bit of trivia about
the Hound of the Baskervilles is as they put together this Dartmoor set, in order to really make it
look believable, realistic -- they pumped fog in to the set for the duration of the filming. I guess it
was over the course of many weeks and at the end at the end of it the artificial fog reportedly cost
$93,000. Not a small amount in those days.

Burt Wolder: [00:14:45] And you know the lovely thing about this at the time was this was
Rathbone's first opportunity to really create the character of Sherlock Holmes and he looked back
down he apparently looked back on that with a great deal of fondness.

Scott Monty: [00:15:01] He did. He did you know even in his in his autobiography in and out of
character. I think he still had warm feelings for this particular outing as Holmes. So and you know
there was I think a few things to quibble with. It was fairly faithful but of course you had the seance
scene which interestingly actually touched into Conan Doyle's own interest in spiritualism. And
strangely you had Barrymore The Butler and his wife. He was renamed Berryman. Why do you
think that would have been, Burt?

Burt Wolder: [00:15:50] Oh, well that's because of John Barrymore. And I think at that point
Barrymore's stars certainly had faded a bit and the idea of having a butler named Barrymore.
Particularly with how visible John Barrymore was but not only that Ethel and Lionel Barrymore.

Scott Monty: [00:16:12] Yeah, don't forget Lionel! And Happy New Year to you - in jail!

Burt Wolder: [00:16:21] Friends it's the only place you're going to hear an impression of Lionel
Barrymore this week -- and a good impression. But you know I think it was feared that in the film
community that that would seem to be sort of the group to a gratuitous insult and it's an easy enough
thing to change the name of Barrymore to Berryman. And Barrymore--Berryman was played by ...
well I just blanked on his name. One of my favorite actors. Martha Plimpton's Uncle.

Scott Monty: [00:16:51] John Carradine?

Burt Wolder: [00:16:53] Yes yes Carradine. Right.

Scott Monty: [00:16:55] Old what's his name. It's my favorite actor. What's his name. Well.

Burt Wolder: [00:17:02] Where's my Google assisted memory?

Scott Monty: [00:17:06] When it was released it was it was actually reviewed quite favorably. And
let's not forget 1939 was quite a year for movies. You had Gone with the Wind, The Wizard of Oz...
You know a number of films that still remain in the collective consciousness today. So in the
Spectator Graham Greene wrote, "In his new film Holmes is undoubtedly Holmes and he hasn't to
compete desperately with telephones and high speed cars and 1939. The atmosphere unmechanical
Edwardian flurry is well caught. The villain rolls recklessly along Baker Street in a hansom and our
hero discusses plans for actions in a four wheeler." So that period very astutely maintained by 20th
Century Fox.

Burt Wolder: [00:18:02] Right. Very well-received and so well-received that just a little bit more
than two months after the Hound opened in the cinema, good old 20th Century Fox began work on
the second Sherlock Holmes film, which was The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, which was
supposed to be an adaptation of the William Gillette play. But it really depends on your definition
of "adaptation." If you think an adaptation is typed because the original was typed and has Sherlock
Holmes in it because the original Sherlock Holmes in it, then this is in fact an adaptation. But other
than that there's nothing at all in the Adventures of Sherlock Holmes that links to that original
Gillette play. By the time they got done with the scriptwriting.

Scott Monty: [00:18:52] And this wasn't the first time that Gillette's play had been adapted for the
screen. Of course we know that Gillette himself did did so very faithfully in 1916 and that silent
film was recently rediscovered in the last couple of years. We wrote about that of course. On I Hear
of Sherlock Everywhere we actually broke the news. But it had also been adapted for the screen in
1932 by Clive Brook but you know seven years later. That was old news and you've got you've got
the new Sherlock Holmes on your hands so in this case we've got an ingenious plot by good old
Moriarty who wants to stage a robbery of the crown jewels out of the Tower of London and, well
we'll let Lionel Atwill as Moriarty tells us all about it himself.

Moriarty: [00:19:52] As. You've only now had a machete meet got to go the one them to defeat.
The situation has become impossible. Have you any suggestions. I'd like to break you. I'm going to
bring off right on the nose the most incredible crime of the century and you will never suspect it
until it's too late. That'll be the end of you, Mr Sherlock Holmes.

Scott Monty: [00:20:17] Not quite as bone chilling as "they were the footprints of a gigantic
hound," but still enough to leave an impact, right?

Burt Wolder: [00:20:23] Yeah. You know when you're doing this one of the things you've got to
do is introduce Moriarty. And then when he does it doesn't have the quite the prominence that
Holmes does. You know you can presume that the movies as The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
people are going to go to the cinema and expect to see a fellow who looks like Sherlock on it. So
you have to introduce Moriarty. But part of the problem with the way that the story works is you
take out a lot of suspense with that with that early challenge. And so you don't have homes. I don't
think effectively trying to figure out what all of these details and strange events really me. And so I
think it's a less successful picture than that.

Scott Monty: [00:21:10] Yeah. And you know it seemed at least to not only some reviewers but
even some of the actors at the time that this plot or at least the script was just too padded. It went on
for too long and wound in different ways that didn't really propel the action forward as urgently as it
might otherwise have done. And you know you've got you've got interludes too. You know the
comic relief of of homes plucking on his violin throughout the thing will get to the denouement of
that in a bit. But of course there was the musical interlude with Rathbone in disguise singing that
old favorite, I Do Like to Be Beside the Sea Side.

Sherlock Holmes: [00:22:03] [Rathbone singing.

Scott Monty: [00:22:34] You know one of the funniest reminders of that was a couple of years ago
at the Baker Street Irregulars weekend the Baker Street Babes had their annual gala. And the theme
was the beach and they encouraged people to show up in appropriate Victorian beach attire. Well
good old Tim Greer one of our listeners and he was with us here on the show recently. Tim Greer
showed up as Basil Rathbone in that getup from "I do like to be beside the seaside." You know the
striped blazer and the straw boater and even the false nose and mustache It was pretty creative and
funny.

[00:23:21] Oh it's a hoot. You know it's a lovely moment in the picture. It's one of the most creative
things about when I'm Sherlock Holmes is disguises that you could imagine and it gave Rathbone
an opportunity to sing and dance. You know my goodness he must've enjoyed it. But you know
even Nigel Bruce in his autobiography -- it's an unpublished autobiography of Nigel Bruce that you
can find -- observed that "we took five and a half weeks to make a rather rambling and complicated
story which had no resemblance to any of the writings of Conan Doyle."
Scott Monty: [00:23:56] It's very interesting from an actor playing a Watson eventually that had no
resemblance to the Watson of the books. But I do like a couple of points about this film. One is that
they clearly had fun on the set. Ida Lupino this -- was really her first dramatic part -- but she she had
fun on the set because she called Rathbone by her pet name which was Basil Bathrug. There's no
record as to how he took to that but it was very interesting. Oh, oh you know what my mistake my
mistake. We we thought Lionel Atwill was Professor Moriarty. He was not.

Burt Wolder: [00:24:50] Oh right. No. No. Did we say that. Oh right we did do we say it was
when we started with him.

Scott Monty: [00:24:55] Yeah. Because he appeared in a later version. But he was replaced at the
last minute by George Zucco -- one-take Zucco. So our apologies for that. That's who you heard in
that clip -- it was not Lionel Atwill, but George Zucco. But the other thing was in terms of the the
fun that the folks had here we as viewers were treated to some of that fun as well. And the ending
didn't really tie up all the loose ends was changed to a brief restaurant scene where you've got
Holmes once again plucking away on his violin and Watson really stepping in to save the day for
not only for Holmes but for all of us as well.

Holmes & Watson: [00:25:51] [Plucking and fly swatting] "Very effective, my dear Watson!
"Elementary, my dear Holmes. Elementary."

Scott Monty: [00:25:58] There we go. That's almost reminiscent of of Christopher Plummer
squashing the pea for James Mason.

Burt Wolder: [00:26:08] "You squashed my pea."

Scott Monty: [00:26:10] He roles were reversed. Well at that point you know there's a bit of a
hiatus here with Holmes and Watson. This this of course was toward the end of 1939 that the film
was released in September 1st is when it was released into the into the cinemas. But then by the
time October rolled around you've got a slightly different appearance by Rathbone and Bruce as
Holmes and Watson they decided well through their agents I'm sure that they would suddenly take
to radio starting on October 2nd 1939 Rathbone and Bruce would appear every Monday night on
NBC from 8:30 to 9 and we've got a wonderful dramatization of the stories done by none other than
Edith Meiser. And she was she was admired by both Rathbone and Bruce and her husband Tom
McKnight directed the series. He was a Sherlock Holmes enthusiast.

Radio Clip: [00:27:26] This episode from the life of Sherlock Holmes will be transmitted to our
men and women overseas by shortwave and through the worldwide facilities of the Armed Forces
Radio Service. Petri Wine brings you Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce in The New Adventures of
Sherlock Holmes. The Petri family, the family that took time to bring you good wine invitess you to
listen to Dr Watson tell us another exciting adventure he shared with his old friend that master
detective Sherlock Holmes.

Scott Monty: [00:28:04] You know I don't know if the Petrie family took quite enough time.

Burt Wolder: [00:28:10] But you know it was such a charming set up for those stories the idea, the
concept was of course that Watson had retired to a rambling Redwood ranch house (in California in
the United States for some reason) with I think puppies and dogs is something like that. So we were
kids we would encounter Watson in the Pacific Coast sitting before a raging fire tending to his dogs
puffing on his pipe and quaffing whole quarts of Petri wine, sherry.
Scott Monty: [00:28:49] And he used to call Mr. Bartell "youngfellowmilad." But yeah it was it
was a formula that worked for quite some time. This series went on for I think a couple of years and
then was resurrected in the mid 40s once again. So it was it was probably 1940 to before we got
back to Holmes and Watson on the screen you know the war began after the Pearl Harbor attack on
December 7th 1941. And the Conan Doyle estate and 20th Century Fox were in protracted
negotiations. And as one might expect when the Conan Doyle sons are involved the negotiations
broke down between Dennis and Adrenaline -- excuse me, Adrian.

Burt Wolder: [00:29:57] Well the interesting thing is that you know Rathbone up until the time he
was cast in Sherlock Holmes he had been playing movie villains and he was a little concerned about
being typecast. And so he plays Holmes twice. Well and this is an actor who was for his career was
so concerned about being typecast I knew felt he was typecast by him. So when the two 20th
Century Fox pictures. And what does he do. He becomes the villain in the muck in the Mark
observed. And Nigel Bruce oddly enough makes a couple of pictures with Alfred Hitchcock in
Rebeca and Suspicion. So it's interesting how versatile for all of the typecasting the way Bruce
himself was typed as boobus Britannicus. It's interesting how many parts he got to play and what
his experience was with directors like Hitchcock.

Scott Monty: [00:30:47] Yeah. Absolutely. I remember seeing him in what was it, Suspicion, as as
Cary Grant's friend. So so so you've got you know this interlude here of a couple of years and for
20th Century Fox wanted to they wanted to move away from the traditional. And of course the war
was on everyone's minds and spies and foreign agents and spies were much more typical and topical
than the antiquated criminal activities of Professor Moriarty and the like, according to the
executives at Fox. So, what ended up happening is with 20th Century Fox no longer being in
official negotiations with the Conan Doyle family, Universal Studios stepped up. And they decided
that they would do the unthinkable. They would transport Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson to
present day to 1942.

Burt Wolder: [00:32:06] And it's it's it's worth pointing out that detective films at that time were a
big deal and Universal was the only studio that didn't have a series so 20th Century Fox said Charlie
Chan they had Mister Moto played by Peter Lorre. MGM had the Thin Man which went on for over
a decade. Warner Brothers had series, Philo Vance was at Paramount but Universal didn't have a
detective, and so voila.

Scott Monty: [00:32:31] Yeah. And you know when you think about this that it was not some outr
thing that Universal did by bringing Holmes to present day. And when you look at Hound of the
Baskervilles and the Adventures of Sherlock Holmes -- those were actually the first films of
Holmes that were done in Victorian times. Right. All of the other films until then were filmed as
modern-day adaptations. You know Eille Norwood, Clive Brook, John Barrymore those all played
Sherlock Holmes in present day London.

Burt Wolder: [00:33:09] The last series of stories of course is published in 1927 so from 1890 to
1927 and that's almost 40 years. Holmes was a constant figure in publication and therefore always
viewed as contemporary. So even when Raymond Massey did the Speckled Band in the 1930s he
was shown in modern dress in this sort of bizarre detective agency with lots of secretaries and
dictographs. And and you're absolutely right. Rathbone was the first to take Holmes back to
Victorian time.

Scott Monty: [00:33:43] So you've got this deal that Universal did with the Conan Doyle estate
with the brothers it was a seven year deal -- $300,000. And it included the rights to 21 stories from
the canon and the only stipulation therein was that Universal had to make three movies a year and at
least two of which had to be adaptations of the original stories. So it was a obviously a creative
writing effort for the writing staff there. They had to be a little inventive in terms of how they
adapted and it's very clear as you'll see in some of these films which stories came into play based on
the plots but Rathbone and Bruce got a long term contract out of this as well. They had $850 a week
for 40 weeks a year and then a raise of $100 a week at the end of each year. So especially for Bruce
who appreciated steady work this was a good deal. So then we move into February of 1942 when
Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror kicked off. This was directed by John Rawlins and was
based loosely on His Last Bow. But this is of course the infamous debut of the Basil Rathbone "do"
or "don't," as some may put it bad hair basil with that with that look as if he stood backwards in a
wind tunnel and was impersonating Julius Caesar or something. But you've got you've got homes in
pursuit of the Nazis who are spreading propaganda on the radio through something that is known as
the voice of terror.

Movie Clip: [00:35:44] [Voice of Terror clip]

Scott Monty: [00:36:19] I have to say that's an interesting accent. I can't quite make out whether it's
English and German or Japanese. Aa little bit of everything in that one.

Burt Wolder: [00:36:29] And of course that was based on the real life exploits of Lord Haw-Haw,
who was really a small group of English speaking announcers who broadcast from Germany or
broadcast into the United Kingdom by a medium wave and by short wave around the world and to
the United States, and one of those was a fellow named William Joyce who was an American
Irishman who became a German citizen and who began every one of his broadcasts with the
distinctive announcement "Germany calling, Germany calling." And so this was very relevant
people would know yeah would relate this to something that they had the bombing raids in the
motor cars and the gun fights the very different from from the Hound of the Baskervilles and the
Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.

Scott Monty: [00:37:18] It is very different but when you think about the realistic nature of the
Sherlock Holmes stories in the Strand Magazine as they appeared -- people writing to Baker Street
thinking that Sherlock Holmes was a real individual -- this was an extension of that. And and look
this is no I mean you think about radio itself. Remember it was in 1938 that Orson Welles ran War
of the Worlds and that was so realistic in fact that people actually believed that it was happening. So
there's this notion of art imitating life I think was a running theme.

Burt Wolder: [00:37:56] And in his unpublished autobiography A Nigel Bruce observed that
"Basil and I were much opposed to the modernizing of these stories but the producer pointed out to
us that the majority of the youngsters who would see our pictures were accustomed to the fast
moving action of gangster pictures and that expecting machine guns police sirens cars travelling at
80 miles an hour and dialogue like 'put 'em up, bud.'"

Dr. Watson: [00:38:23] "How do you do? I suppose I should say how are you buddy? What's
cooking?"

Scott Monty: [00:38:40] Oh my goodness.

Burt Wolder: [00:38:42] Well that's wonderful. And that's from Washington, right? Sherlock
Holmes and Washington?

Scott Monty: [00:38:45] No no no that that was that was this one.

Burt Wolder: [00:38:49] Oh really.

Scott Monty: [00:38:50] Yeah yeah. Voice of Terror. "What's cooking, buddy.

Burt Wolder: [00:38:54] Oh that's right. He meets an American. He tries to speak American to
him.

Scott Monty: [00:39:00] I think we get to do more of the gum chewing and whatnot in Sherlock
Holmes in Washington.

Burt Wolder: [00:39:06] Well this is where the real the character of Watson really changed. You
know and I think that was because they felt the need to introduce a little light relief. And Nigel
Bruce again in his autobiography he said you know "As I played him, the doctor was a complete
stooge for his brilliant friend, and one whose intelligence was almost negligible. Many of the lovers
of Conan Doyle must have been shocked not only by this caricature of the famous doctor but by
seeing the great detective the lighting from an airplane and the good doctor and listening to his
radio."

Scott Monty: [00:39:43] Yeah. I mean even Loren Estleman later on observed that you know "if if
a mop bucket appeared in the scene, his foot would be inside it. And if by some sardonic twist of
fate he managed to stumble upon an important clue, he could be depended upon to blow his nose on
it and throw it away." Yeah this is really where we see the origin of Watson as boobish Britannicus
unfortunately. Well you know our friend Jerry Kegley is -- yeah he is a staunch defender of Nigel
Bruce as Watson and I don't I don't think Jerry buys into the boobus Britannicus claim.

Burt Wolder: [00:40:27] Oh well I'm a great fan of Nigel Brous do you think it's important to note
that Nigel Bruce didn't get up one morning and say to himself "You know, I think this is what I'm
going to do. I mean now the idea of the comic relief to this story was something that was suggested
to him.

Scott Monty: [00:40:42] Of course and of course he didn't get up and say that. He got up and said.
[MUMBLING] What was that again?

Burt Wolder: [00:40:51] He got up and said "Oh my check is here now."

Scott Monty: [00:40:56] No you're absolutely right. This was a deliberate move by the creators the
entire team. It was not a Nigel Bruce decision. But Rathbone himself understood the importance of
having his colleague and friend Nigel Bruce playing Watson he said "There's no question in my
mind that Nigel Bruce was the ideal Dr Watson not only of his time but of possibly of and for all
time. There was an endearing quality to his performance that to a very large extent I believe
humanized the relationship between Dr Watson and Mr. Holmes. It has always seemed to me to be
more possible that our adventures might have met with a less kindly public acceptance, had they
been recorded by a less lovable companion Holmes than was Nigel's Dr Watson, and a less
engaging friend to me than was Willie Bruce."

Burt Wolder: [00:41:48] Well that's you know the one the one word really that stands out in that to
me is loveable. Nigel Bruce's Watson really was lovable. I think that came through the audience.

Scott Monty: [00:41:57] Yes indeed but someone who was not lovable in that film was our friend
Henry Daniell - a waspish suspicious a member of the British intelligence and he of course will
appear later in the series as I think one of the definitive Moriartys in this series. Henry Daniell. And
of course we also had the debut of another series regular Harry Cording. He played I think eight
roles in the Universal series and he was Camberwell. Of course you remember Camberwell the
poisoner --he was the ex-prisoner who confronts Holmes in a bar in Limehouse.
Scott Monty: [00:42:44] So then we've got to wait another five months before we get to Sherlock
Holmes and the Secret Weapon, which again was was it was in the war torn London based on the
adventure of the dancing men and you've got notably here a few firsts. We've got the first time that
we see Dennis Hoey as Inspector Lestrade and you've got... well why don't we why don't we pause
for a moment and honor the memory of Lestrade.

Inspector Lestrade: [00:43:21] [LESTRADE. QUOTES]

Scott Monty: [00:44:11] So there we are. You know Hoey would would go on to star in a number
of or join them in a number of other movies. And this is where we see the return of Lionel Atwill.
He played Moriarty in this version after getting dropped from the Adventures in favor of George
Zucco. But more importantly I think this is the start of another collaboration and that is with the
director Roy William Neill.

Burt Wolder: [00:44:47] Oh yes indeed. And we noted back in IHOSE Episode 36 I think it was
where we first used a little clip of this that Neill's entry into this series was major -- he really had a
huge effect on the staging, the characterization, the production. And Neill really defined the rest of
these pictures and you know it's worth pointing out this is the second in the series at 12 that
happened at Universal. So the first one was Voice of Terror. And so from now on they will be
directed by Roy William Neal and some years ago Rathbone in one in a rare talk recounted the
experience of this production and the influence of Roy William Neill:

Basil Rathone: [00:45:39] [RATHBONE REMARKS.

Scott Monty: [00:48:06] That's a wonderful recording we should probably note that that was made
on a visit with the Maiwand Jezzails in Wayne, Nebraska in November of 1965. So that would have
been just about two years before Rathbone passed away. He was very hesitant usually to join
Sherlockian societies for meetings and never accepted an invitation to attend the Baker Street
Irregulars dinner. But he did manage to make it to this this this group in Nebraska of all places and
gave that wonderful talk.

Burt Wolder: [00:48:52] It's lovely to hear his perspective. He's slightly shocked I hear the idea of
starting at eigh o'clock. What he would have to say about today's film production? And then four
o'clock they broke for tea and they took 17 days. Well my goodness you could tell. And they got
paid a princely sum and you could tell why Nigel - well particularly Nigel Bruce was so fond of
having this continue as long as possible.

Scott Monty: [00:49:26] [CHUCKLING LIKE BRUCE] And the fond memories of George "Zuck-
OW" as Moriarty.

Moriarty: [00:49:33] [MORIARTY THREATENS HOLMES]

Scott Monty: [00:49:51] And of course there's Lionel Atwill from this time around in the Secret of
Sherlock Holmes.

Burt Wolder: [00:50:00] No it's not the Secret of Sherlock Holmes it's Sherlock Holmes and the
Secret Weapon.

Scott Monty: [00:50:03] Yes. I don't know why I keep doing that.

Burt Wolder: [00:50:06] I think that was their original title or something. Oh no it was supposed to
have been called Sherlock Holmes Fights Back.

Scott Monty: [00:50:12] Yes yes well. So let's let's keep moving along here now that we've got
Roy William Neill on board. He kept them going at a pretty quick pace. Let's do the same.
Originally titled Sherlock Holmes in the USA we of course have Sherlock Holmes in Washington
which this was Universal's original story. You've got a British secret agent who's assigned the task
of smuggling out an important document. Of course is vital to the war effort and wants to get it to
the authorities in Washington. He's shrunken this message into a microfilm and the microfilm is
encased in a match folder. So this of course is where we see Henry Daniell join us once again as a
kind of a smarmy yet suave henchman called Mr. Easter. So we're delighted to be graced with his
presence once again.

Burt Wolder: [00:51:23] But the villain Hinkel you know was played by George Zucco. So he is I
think he's an antiques dealer or something like that. As an inspector and this would be the last time
that he turns up in the Holmes picture he was of course Moriarty in the Adventures of Sherlock
Holmes. And here he is as the evil Heinrich Hinel. Boy I wonder what we'd give him away with a
name like Heinrich Hinkel in 1943.

Scott Monty: [00:51:53] And and just to just to have it summed up accurately, let's turn to Holmes
himself.

Sherlock Holmes: [00:51:59] [HOLMES SUMS UP THE PLOT.

Burt Wolder: [00:52:41] Now oddly enough you know the plan was that they would have Mycroft
in this picture which is a great loss for me. So Mycroft never appeared and the idea of having
Mycroft in it was you know never followed up on and the idea was that Mycroft would be the one
who would be getting involved in this case at the beginning of the picture. But the casting was
supposed to be Oscar Homolka. Ooh. You know if you Google search ask her Homolka and see his
photograph. I mean he he's a fine actor he's an Austrian. He was in one of Hitchcock's pictures but it
certainly wasn't my particular conception of my so probably it's you know not a great tragedy.

Scott Monty: [00:53:24] Yeah. Which we. We didn't get any kind of any kind of portrayal of
Mycroft at all in the rest of the series which is unfortunate when you think about it. You know I
think Robert Morley was alive at the time and he -- I don't know if he ever played Mycroft in a film
he would have made the type of you know had the type of profile of an actor that could have been
entirely appropriate as a Mycroft. But anyway I just love the name Oscar Homolka. There was there
was an old George Carlin routine where he was talking about some beach blanket bingo type movie.
He said starring Sandra Dee, Bobby V and Oscar Homolka. It would have been quite a film. Well
onto the next couple of Holmes films we're moving away from--

Burt Wolder: [00:54:21] Oh you know, I just remembered something.

Scott Monty: [00:54:23] What's that?

Burt Wolder: [00:54:25] Morley did play Mycroft. I think with what's his name with John Neville.

Scott Monty: [00:54:33] Oh you're right. 1966?

Burt Wolder: [00:54:35] A Study in Terror.

Scott Monty: [00:54:36] 66? 67? What was that 65. Yes. Yes.
Burt Wolder: [00:54:45] And I was trying to remember because Morley did so much you know
and I remember more links from you know a lot of his detective comic detective pictures but I'm
pretty sure he was Mycroft with it with John Neville.

Scott Monty: [00:54:58] I think that is the one that is the one. Because it was it was a set piece. It
was done in the actual time. And it was Holmes versus Jack the Ripper Jack. Yeah yeah. Morley
was in that one. So perfect.

Scott Monty: [00:55:17] Well we are on to the next Holmes film in nineteen forty three. I guess
Neal at this point had tired of the Nazis so it was on to Sherlock Holmes Faces Death. This of
course was an adaptation of the Musgrave Ritual. An interesting take on it was not quite the same. It
didn't have the same meter as the Musgrave ritual. But we'll we'll let you hear it.

Movie Clip: [00:55:48] [CLIP FROM FACES DEATH]

Scott Monty: [00:56:13] Any time you're going to have thunder and lightning effects wrapped in,
that really adds to it.

Burt Wolder: [00:56:20] Oh it's great. This is one of the great classic pictures. I mean it's not really
Sherlock Holmes but it's such a wonderful example of those universal pictures. You know you've
got secret passageways, A castLE so you've got the Musgrave's ritual which plays out as a chess as
a chess game which is a little bizarre even as a chess game. You've got people like Hillary Brooke
who we were just listening to went on become sort of the comic foil for Abbott and Costello years
later and you'vegot Watson is taking care of all of these shellshocked veterans in the war and in the
Musgrave in Musgrave's manner. And you've got Milburn Stone who went on to a great role in the
television series Gunsmoke in the United States. And he was very short as an actor. And I think
everybody they cast was taller than nobody's done so one wonders why they cast him in the first
place. But even even in Rathbone who was not particularly a tall man you know there was one
scene where he had to walk across the floor or something with Milburn Stone and so Rathbone
walked on the floor and Millburn Stone walked on a little stage that they had put up you know that
sort of elevated him by a foot.

Scott Monty: [00:57:41] That's wonderful. Well and of course this is the first time we are treated to
Sherlock Holmes and the Universal series without that windswept hairdo. Yes it is. It is back to the
old swept back style. But you know largely Sherlock Holmes Faces Death is regarded as one of the
better films in the series and if you know if you're going to start anywhere in the universal series if
you want to skip over the the the war torn Sherlock Holmes Sherlock Holmes versus the Nazis this
is a fine piece to start with fine movie because it's just that classic genre of. Well partially that of the
Hollywood 1940s horror films, you know because you've got aspects of the sets in there -- that
locked room mystery, it's got the chessboard, it's the Musgrave ritual tied in, it's got a lot of great
elements that make it a lot of fun.

Burt Wolder: [00:58:41] Yeah we should point out that they made these in traunches. So the first
three pictures they made together so it's not as Rathbones said in his discussion. You know they get
together for 17 days and say goodbye. So they did Voice of Terror, Secret Weapon and Sherlock
Holmes in Washington and in one go. And then Faces Death and Spider Woman, which we're about
to talk about, in the second go.

Scott Monty: [00:59:06] But before we get to the Spider Woman, we want to have a little bit of fun
regarding death ourselves. We do have a new sponsor for the show Sherlock Holmes and the cryptic
clue is a grave undertaking. This is a book by Michael W. McClure who is a fellow member of the
Baker Street Irregulars. And I have to say there really isn't another book like this on the market. It is
-- Michael's investiture in the Baker Street Irregulars is Stimpson and Company. Now Burt, do you
know the significance of Stimpson and Company?

Burt Wolder: [00:59:49] Oh they were always digging for the truth that they were in for something
they weren't they?

Scott Monty: [00:59:54] Yes they are the only the only funeral service mentioned in the entire
canon. And Michael formed a scion society of the BSI in 1990 called Stimpson and Company. And
these are for people that work in the funeral business who are also Sherlockians. So you know you
talk about niche. You know that not only is that group niche but this book this book is targeted at
people who have gallows humor. You know if you've ever visited Disney World Magic Kingdom or
Disneyland and have gone through the ride the Haunted Mansion, you wait in line there and there
are some pretty amusing tombstones that await you. And basically what you've got with this book is
a graveyard that is honoring about 300 Sherlockians. It's all invested irregulars and ASH, and their
faces are featured on various tombstones and grave sites along with a name of a character from the
canon. Now the only the only trick is the name that appears on the tombstone does not necessarily
align with that person's investiture. So it's a bit of a treasure hunt. And so you know we talk about
the the gamesmanship and the treasure hunt in Sherlock Holmes faces death. Not really that
dissimilar here in in Sherlock Holmes and the Cryptic Clues.

Burt Wolder: [01:01:46] And it is a terrific book and I have to tell you that although I've had it for
a couple of weeks I am dying to get into it.

Scott Monty: [01:01:58] Well and you can enjoy some headlines or some tombstones like "Here lie
the remains of Frankland the crank. For the piece we enjoy we have God to thank." "John Clayton's
fame was quite vast. He'd drive his cab very fast. Claiming I am renowned for covering ground. The
ground covered him at the last." Rest in peat.

Burt Wolder: [01:02:26] But surely as that happens if you're buried in Scotland.

Scott Monty: [01:02:28] Don't call me Shirley. Well if you would like to get the final word in
Sherlockian scholarship go ahead and get on over to BaskervilleProductions.com and check under
the books section there. You can buy it in paperback or hard cover. It's it's poignant it's it's punny. It
is everything you would want in gallows humor and Sherlockian. So Burt and I are thrilled to be
included in this tome and we are thrilled to have Sherlock Holmes and the cryptic clues as part of
our sponorship lineup.

Scott Monty: [01:03:13] Well back to Rathbone and Bruce we were we were crawling over to the
Spider Woman as I recall. Oh yeah. So this one this this is another one that involved some of the
original stories or was based on some of the original stories.

Burt Wolder: [01:03:30] Well kind of. Well it starts with a tip of the fishing cap to The Final
Problem in which Holmes appears to be dead. But unlike the noble battle with Professor Moriarty at
the Reichenbach, Holmes mentions to Watson that he's got some strange symptoms which in about
20 seconds Watson's keen diagnostic gifts apparently lead him to quickly conclude that Holmes has
just minutes to live. And so of course they do what you and I would do: they go fishing. And
amazingly Holmes while he's out there in the pond or in the river falls in and the world is aghast to
learn that Sherlock Holmes is dead.

Scott Monty: [01:04:36] Go figure. Well not for long. Now as soon as we're about to hear Holmes
does in fact find Lestrade and gets on the case.
Moriarty: [01:04:49] [HOLMES AND LESTRADE.

Scott Monty: [01:05:09] The ventilator and an animal crawling through it. Where do they get that
from.

Burt Wolder: [01:05:14] Oh it sounds a bit like the. Speckled Band.

Scott Monty: [01:05:17] Yes. Yes. Well it was a lot of fun. And you've got Gale Sondegaard who
joined them this time around for this wonderful. She really was a wonderful villain, really kind of
standing in the place of Moriarity as a villainous foil.

Burt Wolder: [01:05:40] Yeah I always wonder. Yeah really wonderful. Terrible. Adrea Spedding.
The Spider Woman -- she became so popular -- at least the character name and Gale Sondegaard
become so popular and there was I think another picture in which she played Spider Woman in
1944. Oh, with we're on with Rondo Hatton who we're about to find in another picture.

Scott Monty: [01:06:03] Yes. Yeah. So that was a fun outing. And of course we went on to
Sherlock Holmes and the Scarlet Claw. And just as a reminder we are still in 1944 here and
happening also concurrently in the Sherlockian world I think 44 was when the Trilogy dinner
happened. That was the extra Baker Street Irregulars function that year in March of 1944. Tt was
called the Trilogy dinner because three books were published and handed out at that dinner. Those
books were the Misadventures of Sherlock Holmes by Ellery Quee;, and let's see Sherlock Holmes
and Dr. Watson: a Textbook in Friendship by good old Christopher Morley; and I believe the third
was Profile in Gaslight by Edgar Smith. So just some remarkable books in the Sherlockian trove at
the time. While these films were being put out so Spider-Woman followed by now Scarlet Claw.

Burt Wolder: [01:07:20] Oh and the Scarlet Claw is one of my favorites. It's got to be my favorite
top one or two of the Rathbone Universal Pictures. This is a picture that borrows sort of
atmospherically from the Hound of the Baskervilles So you have this this creepy fog ridden area.
You're up in Canada in a remote village called La Mort Rouge. So. So when you when when you
when you have your letterheads imprinted the red death you know something is wrong.
[LAUGHTER] "Oh where do you live, David?" "Oh it's a charming town called La Mort Rouge." I
don't know about that. Michael McClure might like that.

Scott Monty: [01:07:59] Yes yes.

Burt Wolder: [01:08:00] And there's some strange beast cutting at the throats of its victims and
Holmes' client sadly is Lady Penrose, who unfortunately dies ringing the church bell for help.

Scott Monty: [01:08:16] Now and once again and in this film we're greeted by Gerald Hamer. Oh
yeah. Yeah. So a lot of lot of fun there.

Burt Wolder: [01:08:29] He's a lucky guy - he got to play some really unique roles and as part of
the stock company.

Scott Monty: [01:08:35] Yeah. Well done. And on to the next entry in the series Sherlock Holmes
and the Pearl of Death which came out in September of 1944. Now of course we've heard of a black
pearl of the Borgias in the original stories and the adventure of the six Napoleons. And now you've
got the same kind of thing happening in homes stopping the theft of the Borgia Pearl by a thief
who's in the employment of a master criminal.

Movie Clip: [01:09:13] [PEARL OF DEATH CLIP]

Scott Monty: [01:10:09] Well you know it's interesting that as their plot devices whether it's a
spider woman or Miles Conover that's it. It's always a Moriarty stand in some kind of mastermind
who's pulling the strings behind everything. I just -- you know I think they they found a formula and
they ran with it. They just changed the plots changed the name from time to time.

Burt Wolder: [01:10:38] Well, it works. You know you've got a superhero as you have pointed out
as we've pointed out in the past than Holmes and he needs a worthy opponent.

Scott Monty: [01:10:48] That is true. And you know worthy opponents also come with henchmen.
You know you mentioned henchmen in this case it was the Creeper -- the CREEPER, played by
Rondo Hatton who had acromegaly. So he looked even creepier than a creeper might normally look.
And he actually went on to have his own series of films of the creeper and joining Dracula,
Frankenstein, the Phantom you know in the universal Hall of monsters as it were before he died
prematurely in 1946.

Burt Wolder: [01:11:29] Yeah so sad. He was a sportswriter who'd grown up in Florida and he had
been voted the handsomest boy in his class while at high school and in Tampa Florida and then at
20 He developed this disease which is a disorder of the pituitary gland. And he did manage to have
quite a career a short lived career as you say in the film.

Scott Monty: [01:11:52] Well, we move on from horror to fear as the house of fear was released in
1945 and this one was based on the Five Orange Pips. This this marks Nigel Bruce's 50th film in
Hollywood. And of course we've got the good comrades which is a group of men living remotely in
a Scottish manse named drear Cliff House and they're being murdered they're being picked off one
by one and they're tipped off as to who's going to be killed next by the receipt of an envelope
containing five orange pips.

Movie Clip: [01:12:33] [HOUSE OF FEAR CLIP]

Scott Monty: [01:12:56] The Good Comrades? Isn't that what they call the White House
administration?

Burt Wolder: [01:13:02] All for one and one for the other team.

Scott Monty: [01:13:03] I kid. I kid. But yeah again this gothic horror type filled film. It really
seemed to be doing the trick in the mid-forties at Universal. And it was double billed -- it was
released as a double bill with The Mummy's Curse which when you think about it is pretty
interesting because the mummy had its origins with a Conan Doyle story years prior. "Lot No. 249."

Burt Wolder: [01:13:36] That's right.

Scott Monty: [01:13:37] You know a lot of fun there. So then we move on to the eleventh outing.
You know remember there are only 14 films here folks we're at 11. So you know if you need to
pause and use the restroom now you go right ahead. Well understand but we'll keep going there will
be no intermission here on I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere. But this brings us to The Woman in
Green. So we've experienced the elements of the Empty House, or rather The Final Problem in the
earlier film is says elements of the Empty House thrown in. And this of course is that that film
where Watson is famously hypnotized. And we of course see the return of none other than Professor
Moriarty this time by our friend Henry Daniell.

Burt Wolder: [01:14:39] The best.

Scott Monty: [01:14:40] He was. He's been described as a Moriarty who is weary and suave and
almost as if he couldn't be bothered by you know this evil doing business. But he had the power to
electrify those in his presence just by just a mere glance and Rathbone himself in his autobiography
said "there were other Moriarty's but none so delectably dangerous as that of Henry Daniell."

Burt Wolder: [01:15:15] And there's one lovely thing that happens here of course. This particular
picture draws from the Adventure of the Empty House. And it also draws the Ripper murders
because the whole premise here is that the women are being murdered and each one bizarrely is
having a finger removed. But the last thing it draws from is the meeting between Moriarty and
Holmes which is which is how we first had this great scene with Henry Daniell.

Movie Clip: [01:15:46] [HOLMES AND MORIARTY IN THE WOMAN IN GREEN.

Scott Monty: [01:18:00] I mean just the play off between the two even though it was updated for
the movie here, it's that classic scene between Holmes and Moriarty where you've got these two
brains. You know the meeting of the minds, as it were -- just wonderful to see and played so well by
by both Rathbone and Daniell.

Scott Monty: [01:18:24] Well we move into the fall of 1945 and we find Rathbone and Bruce
preparing for the fifth season of their radio show The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and then
by the end of October we've got the twelfth in their movie series together. It's Pursuit to Algiers
where they're preparing for a holiday on Scotland and they get onboard a ship obviously bound for
Algiers. I'm not as familiar with this one as I am with some of the others but I can't say that this was
one of the ones that has ranked high and very many folks' estimation.

Burt Wolder: [01:19:12] Well no but there some charming things in it. You know the basic idea
here is that there's this very mysterious opening where they're sort of directed to this fish and chip
shop or this pub and they find out that they've got to intercede to protect the king of some small
European country. And then they wind up on the the ship. But it's not you know Holmes hasn't
made the ship and Watson hears that Holmes's plane has crashed. So he's you know he's you know
deeply deeply discouraged and then it turns out you know the king is really on board et cetera et
cetera. But there's a couple of lovely things here: one is where there's a scene with Nigel Bruce at
one of the dinners in the ship where he's attempting to recount the case of the giant rat of Sumatra
and he starts by by explaining a bit of action using I think a stick of celery is Holmes and salt shaker
is himself. This whole scene goes on you know nothing happens. They come to a brick wall and
he's got to move the celery and the salt shaker back. And there's another lovely scene where he gets
to sing which I think is really Nigel Bruce's voice. He gets to sing "Flow Geently Sweet Afton." But
in terms of great dramatic moments and things that are really central to Sherlock Holmes I think it's
safe to say there aren't very many here.

Scott Monty: [01:20:30] Yeah, and I would side with our friend and fellow Baker Street or regular
David Stuart Davies, who in Holmes of the Movies said "Pursuit to Algiers showed a decided
decline in inventiveness and proved to be the weakest of the series." So, we'll see.

Scott Monty: [01:20:50] But then we are on to another another one that finds our heroes trapped
aboard a transportation vessel this time not a ship but a train. And that is Terror by Night where
they're on the Scottish Express and the star of Rhodesia priceless diamond has been stolen from one
of the passengers and the villain. Of course we've moved on from Moriarty has Henry Daniell fell
to his death and in the previous film -- two films previous in Woman in Green. That's right. Instead
we have Colonel Sebastian Moran making an appearance here.
Burt Wolder: [01:21:38] And his air gun.

Scott Monty: [01:21:40] That is true. His air pistol.

Burt Wolder: [01:21:42] His air pistol, yeah. It was a great prop airgun. Apparently with just a
couple of squeezes on the plunger. Look you can kill somebody pretty easily.

Scott Monty: [01:21:53] It's like my kid's nerf gun.

Burt Wolder: [01:21:55] Yeah, it looks like us looks like a squirt gun.

Scott Monty: [01:21:58] Yeah. But it was a fun story. Again a good train mystery. For those of you
who like Murder on the Orient Express and the like.

Burt Wolder: [01:22:09] Well you've got Sebastian Moran you've got an air pistol and you also
had sort of a tip of the hat to Lady Frances Carfax in that somebody is concealed in a coffin.

Scott Monty: [01:22:18] Mm hmm.

Burt Wolder: [01:22:20] But there you are. And you've got a lovely little comic that by Dennis
Hoey of course, Gerald Hammer is in here as another little wonderful comic bit as somebody who's
absconded from a hotel with a teapot.

Scott Monty: [01:22:33] Oh Scotland Yard is on our case.

Scott Monty: [01:22:40] So at this point this is in 1946 Universal said to Rathbone. We have more
plans for the series. We'd like to shoot four more films throughout '46. So that that was kind of
upping the cadence that the Conan Doyle brothers expected. And again Rathbone was thinking
about the typecasting and at that point he just decided you know what I'm I'm out I can't do it
anymore. And that in that case it meant that there was only one more film that Rathbone and Bruce
and Roy William Neill would make together as Holmes and Watson and their director and that film
of course is.

Burt Wolder: [01:23:31] Dressed to Kill.

Scott Monty: [01:23:33] Originally entitled Prelude to Murder.

Burt Wolder: [01:23:37] And it's a it's a lovely picture because well a lot of things to enjoy here
it's got the device the music boxes. Yes. So that the secret message has been divided across a series
of musical boxes. You had that lovely little tune but you also have the beautiful Patricia Morison
who turns up in the role of Hilda Courtney. She is the Spider Woman or the Moriarty character in
this particular picture and she's the chief villain is here and she does a lovely job. She appears in
disguise and different character. She must have had a grand time doing.

Scott Monty: [01:24:13] Yeah yeah. And you know Patricia Morison as of this recording is still
with us. She's still alive.

Burt Wolder: [01:24:20] She she's a hundred 100 years old now.

Scott Monty: [01:24:24] Yeah. And can you believe it? I could not get her to come on the show.

Burt Wolder: [01:24:32] And I think she's skiing isn't she. She's just too busy.
Scott Monty: [01:24:36] I can imagine she's in demand. I mean how many centenarians are there at
this point. God bless a date with Willard Scott somewhere. Well this film of course was released in
the middle of actually the 7th of June 1946 so just 71 years ago this week.

[01:25:00] And that was it. But before we leave this particular film I do want to point out two
instances of you know more of the Buber's Britannicus from Watson and the first. I think it is
probably an unnecessary bit of sarcasm from Rathbones Holmes but it's also an unnecessary bit of
Captain Obvious from Nigel Bruce.

Movie Clip: [01:25:32] "I say, Holmes." "Mm?" "It's morning." "Allow me to congratulate you on
a brilliant bit of deduction.

[01:25:34] Just a little too harsh but then you know you can understand why a home would be
maybe at the end of his patience with Watson when he is greeted with this kind of activity:

Dr. Watson: [01:25:50] [WATSON MAKING DUCK NOISES]

Scott Monty: [01:26:14] I do have to fault Roy William Neill on one thing at that point and the
scene I would have made the girl bawl her eyes out. Having to deal with that.

Burt Wolder: [01:26:24] Oh but how lovely. Who knew. Nigel Bruce could do a duck?

Scott Monty: [01:26:29] Many people. It was - it was one of his favorite things to do on set screen.
But but that's really where we reached the end of the collaboration. Rathbone later in his
autobiography recalled that "Sir Arthur felt at one time that he had created a sort of Frankenstein
that he could not escape from. And so he decided to kill Mr. Sherlock Holmes with the Reichenbach
Falls and then be done with him. Public outrage at this callous murder of Mr. Holmes by Sir Arthur
was so great that Sir Arthur was literally forced to bring him back from the dead and continue the
adventures. I frankly admit that in 1946 I was placed in a somewhat similar predicament but I could
not kill Mr. Holmes, so I decided to run away from him. However to all intents and purposes I
might as well have just killed him. My friends excoriated me for my dastardly behavior and for a
while my longtime friendship with Nigel Bruce suffered severe and recurring shocks." And it is true
you know Bruce felt as if his friend abandoned him and kind of left him swinging in the breeze.
And you know as far as the universal contract went you know Bruce was looking forward to those
those three other films that would have kept him employed throughout the year.

Burt Wolder: [01:27:48] Yeah and the whole thing was was really rather pointless. Because seven
years later you know Rathbone found at his particular age and with the body of work as films
behind him that other roles were difficult although he did have I think at least one success in a
longish running stage play. But he was back in 1953 with his wife Ouidaplay about Sherlock
Holmes which was to open at the New Century Theater in New York with Thomas Gomez who we
saw as the villain Meade in that very first picture The Voice of Terror, the sabateur Meade. Thomas
Gomez played Moriarty and Rathbone dialed up Nigel Bruce in the hopes that he would accept the
role of Watson but sadly Nigel Bruce. Was not well and a few weeks before that play was to open
and it did not last very long Nigel Bruce passed away of a heart attack. He was only 58 years old.

Scott Monty: [01:28:49] And you know I want to touch on the irony of of Ouida Rathbone's play
"Sherlock Holmes" -- which by the way was the subject of a baker Street Journal Christmas annual.
If I am not mistaken. 2007, is that right? The 2007 Christmas Annual. It's not available for sale
anymore -- more you can probably find it on eBay or Abebooks or something like that. But Ouida is
the one who initially pressured Basil to drop out of the movie series and she wrote the play that he
could return to -- and she was the one who was constantly spending his money just as quickly as he
earned it. So it was an interesting relationship happening there. So yeah you've got unfortunately
this plane not working out. It ran for rehearsals in Boston and then closed after only three
performances in New York followed fairly quickly by Nigel Bruce's death.

Scott Monty: [01:30:05] But as the film relationship wrapped up in 1946 Rathbone also decided to
exit the radio program and the NBC found a new sponsor. It's a Petri wine was out. Now Kremel
hair tonic and Nigel Bruce was given top billing and then the actor Tom Conway was brought to the
scene. He actually arrived in Hollywood with his brother whom you might know one George
Sanders -- great film villain right there. But what was really interesting about the choice of Tom
Conway as Sherlock Holmes was he sounded almost exactly like Basil Rathbone It's uncanny.

Radio Clip: [01:30:55] [TOM CONWAY AS SHERLOCK HOLMES]

Scott Monty: [01:31:45] That's really amazingly close isn't it?

Burt Wolder: [01:31:48] Well it is very close that I think Tom Conway also picked up from his
brother George Saunders on The Saint on the radio, I think he popped in there. But it is very close
and a lot of what gives it that verisimilitude of Rathbone is of course you have Nigel Bruce so
you're you know you're really looking for Rathbone there. So I think that's remarkable.

Scott Monty: [01:32:11] Yes. Well the entire series was remarkable and it still holds a place dear in
many Sherlockian hearts and serves as again a place of entry for a number of people who discover
Sherlock Holmes. So the work was amazing at its for its time and still withstands the test of time.

Burt Wolder: [01:32:36] And we're lucky to have it. You know the universal films I didn't never
realize this were not lost, but in severely poor condition and were all restored some years ago by the
way the film is it's a U.C. Berkeley film -- film institute? Film institute.

Scott Monty: [01:32:56] That's wonderful.

Burt Wolder: [01:32:58] So we still have them.

Scott Monty: [01:32:59] We do. Thank goodness.

Narrator: [01:33:18] If you like a living link to the times and Basil Rathbone or Nigel Bruce
Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson look no further than The Baker Street Journal. Since 1946 the
final year of the collaboration between the two actors the BSJ has been packing its pages with news,
commentary and analysis about the original stories and every manifestation of the great detective -
films, television, books, magazines, the Internet, videogames and more. Four times a year plus a
bonus Christmas annual means that you never tire of playing the game. It's been more than 70 years
since the duo last graced the screen together and more than 70 years that this torrent of Sherlockian
scholarship has been flowing. And while one might think that it would slow to a trickle in 2017.
The fact is that the waters of creativity are roaring like a veritable Reichenbach Falls. Be sure that
you partake of this longstanding tradition as we honor Rathbone and Bruce. You too can honor their
memory and the memory of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson by going to BakerStreetJournal.com
and getting a subscription today.

Scott Monty: [01:34:44] Well that seems to do just about as much damage as we can with all of our
content here. We did not go over this at the beginning of the show and it's worth noting now. If you
would like to support our show. If what you've just heard is at all valuable to you. You know the
reason it took us 122 episodes to get to this point is that the clip gathering the research just you
know having the time to put all of this together and to do all of the work necessary behind the
scenes it takes some level of effort. And by the way we did wait until Episode 122. But if you
actually reverse those numbers that's 221. So it's entirely appropriate that we're here. Seems
backwards that it took us so long to get the Rathbone and yet 122 backwards is 221. But if you
appreciate what we've done here won't you consider supporting our show. We'll give you a couple
of different options are on ihearofsherlock.com that there are two buttons in the upper right hand
corner there. You can press either one of them and either become a recurring sponsor through
Patreon, which means that each time we publish an episode we we will send you an invoice as it
were. So you pay per episode. Or if you'd simply like to make a one time donation, PayPal works
just as well too. You can click on that button or you can just go to paypal.me/ihose and make a
donation that way. And of course we'd love to hear from you. Love to get your comments get your
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mail at comment @ ihearofsherlock.com. You can reach us on any of the social platforms, we're
ihearofsherlock in all of those. You can leave us a comment right on the show notes for this page
which are available and ihose.co/ihose122. And I think there is still one of those non- Alexander
Graham Bell-invented telephones involved too isn't there?

Burt Wolder: [01:37:02] Ohsure. Yes. Put your finger in that rotary dial and do 7 7 4 2 2 1 R E A
D. That's 7 7 4 2 2 1 7 3 2 3. We want to hear your voice. We know what we sound like. We want
to hear you.

Scott Monty: [01:37:17] There you go. Well thank you for staying with us for this extra long extra
special episode. Until next time here on I hear of Sherlock everywhere I'm Scott Monty.

Burt Wolder: [01:37:29] And I'm still Burt Wolder.

Clive Merrison And Andrew Sachs: [01:37:32] The game's afoot!

Jeremy Brett: [01:37:39] I'm afraid that with the pleasure business conversation I'm neglecting
business of importance which awaits me elsewhere.

Narrator: [01:37:49] Thank you for listening. Please be sure to join us again for the next episode of
I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere. The first podcast dedicated to Sherlock Holmes.

Jeremy Brett: [01:38:03] Goodbye and good luck. And believe to be, my dear fellow, very
sincerely yours, Sherlock Holmes.