Silver Blaze,
or Murder at the Baskervilles, stars Arthur Wontner, who plays Sherlock
Holmes in this 1937 adaptation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Silver Blaze.
Arthur Wontner is flanked by Ian Fleming, who plays Dr. Watson. The movie has a
very bad score—the music was more annoying than appealing—and the acting by the
extras is all out of place, making it harder to appreciate this movie.
Arthur Wontner’s
portrayal of the famous detective can be seen as dull in this movie, and Watson
is ever so silent, with Holmes doing too much detecting and talking, which
makes it look a little too unrealistic. The movie has a weak story, and the
directing is poor, as you can spot many flaws in the tale. The story doesn’t
carry you along as it should.
The movie starts
by introducing the antagonist and Holmes’ arch-enemy, Professor Moriarty, as he
plans another dark scheme. Sherlock Holmes (Arthur Wontner), on the other hand,
receives an invite from an old friend to come spend the holidays with him. The
invite is from Sir Henry Baskerville, whom Holmes helped 20 years earlier in
getting rid of the hound that haunted the Baskervilles.
Holmes
reluctantly agrees to go after Dr. Watson (Ian Fleming) convinces him that he
needs a break from the endless cases they’ve been handling. While staying with
the Baskervilles (Henry and his daughter, who is there with her fiancé), the
two (Holmes and Watson) find themselves in the middle of a double murder
mystery and the theft of a prized horse, Silver Blaze.
Now, Holmes and
Watson have to put their holiday on hold because they need to solve this
mystery, find the missing horse before the big race, and bring Professor
Moriarty and the criminals behind it all to justice.
Silver Blaze was
made and released in 1937, and the movie was re-released in America in 1941
as Murder at the Baskervilles, with the producers hoping to ride on the
success of Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce’s The Hound of the Baskervilles (1939).
Since this movie is set 20 years after the events of The Hound, it’s made
to look like a sequel to the Rathbone/Bruce Hound of the Baskervilles.
Well, as old as
it is, you’ll have to excuse the poor video quality, but the story itself is
dull. If you don’t fall asleep watching this, you still won’t be recommending
this flick to anyone.
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