Fateful journey
| Movie | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| German title | Fateful journey | ||
| Original title | Sherlock Holmes in Washington | ||
| Country of production | United States | ||
| original language | English | ||
| Publishing year | 1943 | ||
| length | 71 minutes | ||
| Rod | |||
| Director | Roy William Neill | ||
| script |
Bertram Millhauser Lynn Riggs |
||
| production | Roy William Neill | ||
| music | Frank Skinner | ||
| camera | Lester White | ||
| cut | Otto Ludwig | ||
| occupation | |||
| |||
| chronology | |||
| |||
Sherlock Holmes is an American crime film from the year 1943 . It is the fifth production in the Universal Pictures film series with Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes and Nigel Bruce as Dr. Watson .
action
Sir Henry Marchmont is a British diplomat traveling from London to New York City on a transatlantic flight. However, a group of German Nazi spies led by William Easter pursues him. The spies initially believe that Sir Henry has secret government documents with him, but this only acted as a false lead. The real courier is another passenger, John Grayson. He realizes that his cover against the Nazi spies has been blown and manages to put a book of matches in the handbag of train passenger Nancy Partridge - then Grayson is kidnapped by Easter and his group.
Mr. Ahrens from the Home Office informs the detective Sherlock Holmes and his friend Dr. Watson that Grayson is really the secret service agent Alfred Pettibone. Holmes is now supposed to get the missing documents back. The detective quickly finds out that Grayson photographed the documents and captured the photos on microfilm. This microfilm is housed in a book of matches. In Washington, Holmes and Watson meet Ambassador Bart Lang. He introduces the two of them to Washington Police Detective Lieutenant Grogan, who is handling the Grayson kidnapping case.
Grayson's body is placed in Holmes' hotel room. By deduction, Holmes comes to the conclusion that the spies did not find the documents. Further research brings Holmes on the trail of Nancy Partridge. Easter also finds out that Nancy has the matchbook and gets himself and his men invitations to Nancy's engagement party. The spies kidnap Nancy and her fiancé, Marine Lieutenant Peter Merriam. They put Nancy in a closet and release Peter again.
After examining Grayson's corpse, Holmes recognizes traces found that his murderers had to work in an antique shop. Holmes and Watson encounter the antique dealer Richard Stanley and find the hiding place for the spies there. Nancy has since been taken to hiding and is being interrogated by Stanley. As an eccentric art collector, Holmes enters Stanley's office. He recognizes the former German secret agent Heinrich Hinkel in Stanley. Stanley also recognizes Holmes, but does not know that he lights Holmes' cigarette with a match from the booklet that houses the microfilm. Stanley's men take Holmes prisoner. Before the spies can kill Holmes and Nancy, Watson arrives with Peter and the police.
Stanley escapes through a secret passage. He goes in search of Senator Babcock. He knows from Holmes that Babcock received a stamped envelope from Grayson. He thinks the envelope contains the microfilm. But Holmes set a trap for Stanley, who is arrested in Babcock's office. Holmes finds the microfilm in the matchbook. Holmes reminds Stanley of his statement that whoever has the documents does not even know he has them. And Stanley had had the matchbook with him since Nancy was kidnapped.
The ending was cut in the German version, in the original it says as Watson and Holmes drive past the Capitol : "We are not given to see the secrets of the future, but in the days to come the British and American people will for their own safety and for the best of all march together in dignity and justice and in peace "(quoted from Winston Churchill ).
Reviews
"An adventure from the entertaining Universal series, which relies on the astounding talent for combination of the intelligent detective, with the film plummeting in the last third."
background
The film premiered in Sweden on April 19, 1943. It wasn't until April 30 that it was released in US cinemas. In Germany it first appeared in cinemas on March 6, 1959 in a cut version. In this version from 1959, the German spies became employees of a pharmaceutical company, and the secret service documents became documents of this company. The reconstructed version was broadcast on October 2, 1983 as a TV premiere on German television.
It was the third Holmes adventure with Basil Rathbone for production company Universal Pictures , the first not based directly on a story by Arthur Conan Doyle .
Not only do John Archer and Marjorie Lord play lovers in the film, but they have been married in real life since 1941. One of her two children is the actress Anne Archer . George Zucco and Henry Daniell can be seen as opponents of the detective in this film. Zucco played the villain Professor Moriarty in the second film in the series ( The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes , 1939), who was then to be played by Daniell in The Woman in Green in 1945 .
German synchronization
The GDR dubbed version was created in 1969 on German television broadcasting and was first broadcast on August 28, 1969. The main roles were spoken by Walter Niklaus (Sherlock Holmes) and Alfred Bohl (Dr. Watson).
See also
Web links
- Sherlock Holmes in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Fatal Journey in the Lexicon of International Films , accessed on December 10, 2011.