Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror

"But Holmes, that's impossible."

"Anything is possible until proven otherwise."

At the start of WWII, British Intelligence is plagued by a German saboteur.  The saboteur mocks them through a radio program called the "Voice of Terror."  The Inner Council of British Intelligence reluctantly calls Sherlock Holmes (Rathbone) and Dr. Watson (Bruce) to help solve the case.

That evening one of Holmes operatives, Gavin (Robert Barron) dies while giving them a cryptic clue.  They turn to Gavin's wife, Kitty (Ankers) and her contacts in the criminal underworld to get information.  As the threats escalate, can Holmes find the traitor in time?


This is the third Sherlock Holmes film to star Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce.  This was the first Holmes film to transport the story from it's traditional time period to the 1940s.  At the start of the film there is a title card that explains that the Holmes story is ageless and explains that the story will be set in modern times (for when the film was made).

The story is based on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's short story "His Last Bow," which was originally published in 1917.  That story is written in the third person and takes place at the beginning of World War I.  This film takes the story and transports it to World War II.  The character names are different and the story is told in a different way... but the over-arching story is the same.  The book and film end with the same exchange between Holmes and Watson, where Holmes compares the weather to the impending war.

Rathbone and Bruce have great chemistry.  They are joined by "scream queen" Evelyn Ankers as Kitty.  Ankers gets to make a rousing speech and let loose an iconic scream.  Henry Daniell regularly played a villain, so I expected him to do something devious here.  Daniell also appeared in the Sherlock Holmes film in The Woman in Green.

It is an enjoyable film spy film, but not a great Holmes film.

Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror (1942) 65 minutes
Director: John Rawlins
Starring: Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes
Nigel Bruce as Dr. Watson
Evelyn Ankers as Kitty
Reginald Denny as Sir Evan Barham
Thomas Gomez as R.F. Meade
Henry Daniell as Sir Anthony Lloyd
Montagu Love as General Jerome Lawrod
Olaf Hytten as Fabian Prentiss
Leyland Hodgsonas Captain Roland Shore
Hillary Brooke as Jill Grandis