Sherlock Holmes – Jagd auf Spieldosen (1946)

Sherlock Holmes – Jagd auf Spieldosen: Directed by Roy William Neill. With Basil Rathbone, Nigel Bruce, Patricia Morison, Edmund Breon. Sherlock Holmes sets out to discover why a trio of murderous villains, including a dangerously attractive female, are desperate to obtain three unassuming and inexpensive little music boxes.

“The last Rathbone Holmes (14/14) is again a slightly weaker affair than most of the preceding entries, another variant of The Pearl of Death this time involving music boxes. Music boxes whose tunes play out the location of the stolen and hidden Bank of England £5 plates no less. Holmes proves he has an inbuilt police whistle and a photographic(?) memory for music, whilst Watson says that he likes brass bands but is tone deaf. The woman here, although a thoroughly bad hat is not The Woman, the one and only Irene Adler who had bested Holmes in 1891, but for most of the film she has the upper hand.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eBy now the steam had left Rathbone, and although Bruce wanted to carry on and Universal held the copyright until 1949 the series had reached its natural conclusion. Director Roy William Neill had less than a year left to live too. Some lovely bits: Holmes consoling Mrs Hudson, distraught at letting 2 people into 221b who turned it over; Holmesu0026#39; biscuit jar was seen to good advantage. And yes, the bullet holes in the wall from Faces Death were still there at the end! No matter how bad, mawkish or daft this marvellous series got Iu0026#39;ve always loved every entry. Watching a clean Definitive DVD of this with a lump in my throat I think of Brian Wilsonu0026#39;s line u0026quot;Itu0026#39;s so sad to watch a sweet thing dieu0026quot;, without even the dignity of end credits (theyu0026#39;re lost).u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAll things must pass.”