"Dressed to Kill" was the last of 14 films starring Basil Rathbone as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's master detective, Sherlock Holmes, co-starring Nigel Bruce as Holmes' able, faithful assistant, Dr. John Watson.
Holmes & Watson must match wits with a femme fatale and her hired henchmen, who are killing the owners of some music boxes, whose creator is in prison. In terms of plot, it is similar to "The Lone Ranger & the Lost City of Gold", which was released 12 years later, and reviewed here recently. "Dressed" also has one of those rare features of a Holmes film, as far as I know, and that is Holmes in a death trap of a sort.
Robert Downey, Jr. & Jude Law return as Holmes & Watson this winter, but time will tell if they will actually measure up to the classics of yore.
Rating: A.
3 comments:
I've seen this film and it's great from beginning to end.
I first fell in love with the Basil Rathbone/Nigel Bruce versions of Sherlock Holmes/Watson when I was a kid; my dad was a fan of their adventures and we watched them together on cable. WGN had "Holmes/Chan Theatre" on weekends and we'd watch both detectives' films! In fact we still do. Got them all on DVD!
My only nitpick was the portrayal of Dr. Watson as a sort of doddering old man. He certainly wasn't like that in the books although this was corrected in subsequent adaptations.
We've also seen the new film with Robert Downey Jr. and it's also very enjoyable! We're definitely looking forward to the sequel.
Comparing Downey Jr./Law Holmes & Watson with Rathbone/Bruce is like comparing apples and oranges. Two completely different genres. For me, personally, althouth I did like the Rathbone version of Holmes, Downey Jr.'s take on it, in my opinion, brings a whole new dimension of physicality that Rathbone lacked.
Crhyme: I have yet to see the first Robert Downey Holmes (that's going to be taken care of before December, I assure you), but Rathbone demonstrated some athleticism of his own in "Dressed"'s escape scene.
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