Holmes And Hypnotism

 

THE WOMAN IN GREEN-1945-The head of the CID in London lectures his agents on their failure to find any clues in the seemingly random mur-ders of 3 women all missing a finger. After a fourth is killed, Inspector Gregson (Matthew Boulton) calls on Sherlock Holmes (Basil Rathbone). After another murder, rich Sir George Fenick (Paul Cavanagh) wakes up in a strange house with no memory of how he got there after having a nightcap with his younger girlfriend Lydia Marlowe (Hillary Brooke). Then Prof. Moriarty (Henry Daniel) shows up and in a roundabout way accuses Fenick of being the murderer. Later, Holmes is visited by George's daug-hter Maud (Eve Amber). She says she saw her dad bury a box that contains a finger. 

They visit Sir George and find him dead. Holmes suspects Moriarty, who was supposed to have been hanged in Montevideo. The professor visits Holmes and tells the detective to drop out. Later, there's an attempt on Holmes' life. The assassin appears to be hypnotized. After he's killed, Holmes & Dr. Watson (Nigel Bruce) visit The Mesmer Club and a dis-believing Watson is hypnotized. Then Holmes formally meets Lydia who says “hypnotism is like a religion with me”. She tries to hypnotize Holmes and make him commit suicide. Of course, Lydia is in league with Moriarty, along with her maid and a crazy doll lover. 

This is the 11^th of the 14 Sherlock Holmes adaptations starring Rathbone and Bruce, again produced and directed by Roy William Neil. It's based on the Conan Doyle story “The Adventure of The Empty House”. Both Brooke and Daniel were in their second outing in the series.

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Sherlock Is Back!

 

 (imdb)

SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE SECRET WEAPON1942-Sherlock Holmes (Basil Rathbone) smuggles bomb inventor Dr. Toben (William Post Jr.) out of Nazi occupied France. Once safe at 221 Baker Street, the ingrate sneaks out to see a girlfriend and give her a letter. On the way back, he's attacked. He survives and the next day there is a demonstration of his new aerial bomb. For some reason he doesn't want to divulge the secret and gives 4 parts to 4 different scientists (one is played by Henry Victor). Later Holmes deduces that Prof. Moriarty (Lionel Atwill) has kidnapped Toben. Holmes adopts several disguises in this modern WW 2 propaganda mystery and has a weird haircut. It marks the first appearance of Inspector Lestrade (Dennis Hoey) who isn't as pompous as in later films. 

Of course, Nigel Bruce is back as Dr. Watson as is Mary Gordon as Mrs. Hudson. There are unbilled appearances by Rudolph Anders, Whit Bissell, Veda Ann Borg, Paul Bryar, Harry Cording, James Craven, Paul Fix and Michael Mark. 

This is the first Holmes adventure directed by Roy William Neil, who'd go on to produce and direct the rest of the series.

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Early Talkie

 

 (imdb)

THE NINTH GUEST-1934-8 people are invited to a mysterious party given by someone known only as "The host". The group includes two political rivals who hate each other, a snooty society dame (Helen Flint) and a doctor (Samuel Hinds). The only levelheaded guest is an author (Donald Woods). "The host" talks to them via a special radio and says they all will die. They begin to be killed one by one with the killer being revealed in the finale.

 It's a pre-code talkie based on a play that resembles Agatha Christie's “Then There Were None” which was written later. Genevieve Tobin and Vince Barnett co-star. Unsung director Roy William Neill would go on to make THE BLACK ROOM (with Karloff), FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE WOLFMAN and the lion's share of the Univeral Sherlock Holmes series with Basil Rathbone.

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Holmes Is Back!

PURSUIT TO ALGIERS-1945-Sherlock Holmes (Basil Rathbone) and Dr. Watson (Nigel Bruce) are planning a vacation in Scotland. After some mumbo-jumbo about fish & chips, a committee wants Holmes to escort Prince Nicolas (Leslie Vincent), young heir to the throne of his native country Rovenia. The intrepid duo split up with the doctor taking a boat to the Mediterranean while Holmes takes a mysterious airline ride. For a short time Watson believes Holmes is dead but he shows up on board alive with Nicolas who then pretends to be Watson's nephew. A sinister trio, Gregor (Rex Evans), Mirko (Martin Kosleck) and Gubec (Wee Willie Davis) are after the prince. A woman named Shelia (Marjorie Riordan) carries the stolen jewels of a duchess. A twist ending reveals who the real future king is. Final scene seems edited.

 Once again this “modern day” Holmes mystery was produced and directed by Roy William Neill. PURSUIT makes mention of several “unrecorded” Holmes cases including “The Giant Rat of Sumatra”. It's also the only entry that has no scenes at the Baker Street flat so Mrs. Hudson doesn't appear. John Abbot has a small role though.

This was the 12th of 14 Holmes/Watson stories produced by Universal. TERROR BY NIGHT was next.

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The Big Showdown!

FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE WOLFMAN-1943-Two grave robbers attempt to rob the grave of the deceased Lawrence Talbot. When they open the grave they find Talbot (Lon Chaney Jr.) is alive and he grabs one of the robbers. Later Talbot is found on the streets of a town with a head wound. He's taken to a hospital run by Dr. Mannering (Patrick Knowles) but he's suspected of being an impostor when the police inspector (Dennis Hoey) discovers Lawrence Talbot died years ago. At night with the rise of the full moon, Larry becomes a werewolf and kills a policeman. Next day when he confesses to the crime, no one believes him. They think he's deluded. 

Later Larry escapes the hospital and finds the gypsy Maleva (Maria Ouspenskaya) also the mother of Bela, the wolfman who bite Larry originally. They go to Vasaria to find Dr. Frankenstein but he's dead. After the wolfman kills a woman, the town's people (including Dwight Frye) go after him/it. Seeking refugee in some old ruins he stumbles upon the frozen body of the infamous Frankenstein monster (Bela Lugosi). Larry thaws him out and the monster shows him where his creator kept his diary but alas it's not there. Desperate, Larry contacts Ilsa, The Baroness Frankenstein but she says she doesn't have the diary either. Never the less, the burgomaster (Lionel Atwill) invites the Baroness and Larry to “The Festival of the New Wine”. Larry freaks out when he hears a singer do a song about life being short. Dr. Mannering finds him and says he needs psychiatric care. Just then the monster invades the square but Larry helps him escape and they hide out at the ruined castle. 

Later Mannering, the baroness and Maleva go to the ruins and the baroness shows Larry where the diary is hidden. Unfortunately Mannering forgets all about helping Talbot and becomes obsessed with reviving the monster and wants to see it at “it's full power”. He botches things up completely when Ilsa tries to stop him. Talbot changes into the wolfman and the monster escapes and menaces Ilsa for a bit then the two monsters fight. During the tussle (in which Mannering and Ilsa escape) rotund bartender Vazec (Ray Evans) blows up the dam, flooding the castle and interrupting thefight. The end. Maleva is forgotten about.

The story behind FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE WOLFMAN is that originally Universal wanted Chaney to play both monster roles. When that was scrapped Lugosi was hired to play the monster. His portrayal is often criticized heavily but once again there's a more to it. In the original story the monster had the ability to talk. However when the movie was finished nobody liked the dialogue. Some said it was laughable. It was re-cut with all of the monster's speaking parts taken out. Also the monster was blind but in the re-editing this was also taken out. They didn't shoot any additional scenes to explain any of it which left Lugosi's monster kind of looking like an arm waving buffoon at times. Although Franky's evil grin as he's being revived is the highlight scene. There's also stories of several stuntmen subbing for Lugosi. One scene of the monster in ice is definitely Eddie Parker. 

Of course back in the day, the studio wanted Lugosi to play the monster in the original FRANKENSTEIN. He fought against it and Boris Karloff got the role.  

FMTW is a sequel to both TTHE GHOST OF FRANKENSTEIN and THE WOLFMAN. It was directed by Roy William Neil who was already into the work he would arguably best known for: the Universal Sherlock Holmes series starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce. Since it's edited down it's hard to judge. The direction and acting are good but there's really not that much of the monster and when he does finally clash with the wolfman it's a brief duel ended prematurely. Screenwriter Curt Siodmak has said that he originally came up with the title as a joke. 

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