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Pursuit to Algiers (1945)



Pursuit to Algiers (1945)



7/10



Starring
Basil Rathbone
Nigel Bruce


Directed by Roy William Neill

Pursuit to Algiers is the 12th Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce Sherlock film, and it’s based on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s characters. The movie is noted to have taken some characters and elements from Conan Doyle’s The Adventure of the Red Circle.

The movie’s plot is quite ingenious, as it takes you by surprise in the way things unfold. Sherlock proves to be a mastermind genius, from the way he disguises the King to how he gets himself on the boat after sending Dr. Watson ahead.

Most of the movie is shot in a boat setting, and it even ends on the boat, which allows for some nice cinematography. The plot shows a little of what many people think Sherlock is—a guy who’s just too smart for the rest of us. Before this was The Woman in Green (1945), also directed by Roy William Neill, who actually did a better job here than he did in The Woman in Green.

The screenplay was done by Leonard Lee, who did a great job ensuring that every moment you spend watching this movie builds anticipation. You’re constantly curious to see how Holmes is going to pull it off, and the final twist is just the icing on the cake of this masterpiece.

The movie’s plot starts with our duo planning a vacation to take a break from the unending cases they seem to be swamped with. But a series of fortunate events begins to happen on their way home. Sherlock deduces from these events that he’s being called for a meeting.

After solving the events to figure out the address (which was basic elementary, if I do say so myself) and the time of the meeting, he attends and is given a task, which he accepts.

The task is given to him by the prime minister of the fictional country of Rovinia, who begs Holmes to escort Prince Nikolas back to his homeland. It turns out that Nikolas’s father has been assassinated, and Nikolas is next in line to be king. However, since he left the country at birth to be raised in England, no one but the prime minister and a few others know what he looks like. The assassins who killed his father will stop at nothing to kill Prince Nikolas.

The movie is a nice watch—one of those films you see and then gather your friends around to watch with you, telling them there’s something at the end they’ll never guess. It’s a great addition to anyone’s movie collection. The ending joke, where Sherlock tells Watson that he should never take up a career as an actor because he’s bad at it, is a fun touch. Sherlock adds that this is why he sometimes has to keep things from Watson.


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