Storyline
Moriarty is sentenced to death, and Sherlock Holmes prepares to retire to the country and marry his girl. But Moriarty has sworn that Holmes, Lt. Col. Gore-King of Scotland Yard, and his trial judge shall all be hanged too. When Moriarty escapes and proceeds to put his threat into operation, Holmes has to postpone his retirement.
Director
Writers
Top Cast
Clive Brook
Sherlock Holmes
Miriam Jordan
Alice Faulkner
Ernest Torrence
Professor James Moriarty
Herbert Mundin
George
Reginald Owen
Dr. Watson
Alan Mowbray
Colonel Gore-King
C. Montague Shaw
Judge
Ivan F. Simpson
Faulkner
Roy D'Arcy
Manuel Lopez (uncredited)
John George
Bird Shop Thug (uncredited)
Brandon Hurst
Secretary to Erskine (uncredited)
Howard Leeds
Little Billy
Featured Reviews
C
CinemaSerf
June 13, 2022
6 / 10
What's more interesting about this early "Sherlock Holmes" outing is the approach Clive Brook takes to the character. About to marry his fiancée "Alice" (Miriam Jordan) he is called out of retirement after the evil "Moriarty" (Ernest Torrance) escapes from the gallows and vows revenge on him and his Scotland Yard associate "Col. Gore King" (Alan Mowbray). This is very much a solo effort. Reginald Owen is "Dr. Watson", but unlike in almost every other iteration of this fictional sleuth, he plays little more than a bit part as "Holmes" engages in a life or death struggle with his foe. Howard Leeds is, frankly, quite annoying as his more useful bell-boy helper "Billy" but there is quite a fun exchange with Herbert Mundin and Frank Atkinson after "Moriarty" starts to implement his plan to import Chicago-style racketeering to a London where the police were armed with little more than whistles and truncheons. The story is too far-fetched, for me. I found Brooks a little too sterile (despite his brief foray into aged drag) and the writing is all just a bit flat, but it's an interesting take to the character than wasn't replicated ever again.
