Die Geheimwaffe (1942)

Die Geheimwaffe: Directed by Roy William Neill. With Basil Rathbone, Nigel Bruce, Lionel Atwill, Kaaren Verne. Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson must protect a Swiss inventor of an advanced bomb sight from falling into German hands.

“In the Universal series of modern Sherlock Holmes stories with Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce, SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE SECRET WEOPON is not one of the top films – although it is entertaining. I think the problem with it is that much of the filmu0026#39;s u0026quot;duelingu0026quot; between Holmes and his nemesis Moriarty (here played by Lionel Atwill) seems to delay the actual point of the Professoru0026#39;s work.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eMoriarty appears in three of the Holmes films with Rathbone. In THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES he was played by George Zucco, who gave real relish to the love of villainy for its own sake to the role. For my money Zuccou0026#39;s performance as the Professor was the best of the three (there is even a brief moment of comedy in his performance, when heu0026#39;s disguised as the u0026quot;Sergeant of Policeu0026quot; towards the end – like heu0026#39;s preparing to sing u0026quot;A Policemanu0026#39;s Lotu0026quot; from Gilbert u0026amp; Sullivan). Next comes Mr. Atwillu0026#39;s performance here – more of that later. Finally there is Henry Daniellu0026#39;s intellectual Moriarty in SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE LADY IN GREEN. Itu0026#39;s a typically cool, classy performance by Mr. Daniell, but his confrontations with Holmes seem to be a tedious bore to him. They keep him from completing the main plan. In the stories that the Professor pops up in, he really senses Holmes is a nemesis who will remain a danger as long as he is alive. Yet, because of the intellectual tennis match between him and Rathbone, Rathbone (in his autobiography) actually felt Daniell was the best of the film Moriartys.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eIf Zucco captured the love of evil in the Professor, and Daniell seemed to demonstrate the tired Oxford Don (in the stories the Professor is a well regarded mathematician, whose volume on the binomial theorem had a u0026quot;European vogueu0026quot;, and who wrote an intriguing book, THE DYNAMICS OF THE ASTEROID), Atwill demonstrates the Professor as pragmatic businessman. First of all, heu0026#39;s sold his services (apparently) to Nazi Germany. This is never gone into, but one presumes (as this is before the Nazis began to really collapse) he figures they will win the war. Secondly, he is not a fool. When Dr. Tobel (William Post Jr.) has shown he is a state of near physical collapse due to the torturing of Moriartyu0026#39;s gang, the Professor decides to kidnap one of the other scientists who are assisting Tobel, because heu0026#39;s as good a scientist as Tobel and would be able to put together the bomb site. I somehow canu0026#39;t quite see Zucco making such a sensible decision on the spot, and if Daniell had to make it, he would seem annoyed that there is yet another delay to his plans.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eBy the way, one trick used in all the Holmes series regarding the Professor is how to rid the film of him. If you read the Holmes stories, Moriarty appears as the villain three times: in THE MEMOIRS OF SHERLOCK HOLMESu0026#39; last story (u0026quot;THE ADVENTURE OF THE FINAL PROBLEMu0026quot;), in THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMESu0026#39; first story (u0026quot;THE ADVENTURE OF THE EMPTY HOUSEu0026quot;) and the last of the four novels/novellas (THE VALLEY OF FEAR). Itu0026#39;s amazing how much mileage the Professor got out of so few appearances (he is mentioned in two or three other stories as well – in passing). But because of his fate at the Reichenbach Falls in u0026quot;THE FINAL PROBLEMu0026quot; and u0026quot;THE EMPTY HOUSEu0026quot;, we always see him fall to his death. Zucco falls off the White Tower on Tower Hill. Daniell (with more imagination) tries to flee Gregson and the police, but is shot as he jumps, and wounded fails to hold on to the wall of an adjacent building. Atwill (here it is not seen, but heard) seems to fall down a trap door heu0026#39;s planted in an escape tunnel). It is really tedious after awhile to see the Professor always fall in these films. One turns to the Gene Wilder comedy (admittedly a comedy) SHERLOCK HOLMESu0026#39; SMARTER BROTHER, wherein Leo McKern is a wonderfully wacky and villainous Moriarty (complete, finally, with an Irish accent), who is not killed at the end, but just left mulling – in a rowboat – over how his careful schemes did not work out. I rather liked that better.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe use of the u0026quot;Dancing Menu0026quot; code here, like the use of the u0026quot;Devilu0026#39;s Foot Rootu0026quot; in DRESSED TO KILL, snags a part of a mystery from a short story. u0026quot;THE ADVENTURE OF THE DANCING MENu0026quot; appeared in THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES, and deals with a client of Holmes whose wife has been getting weird, blood-curdling messages in this code. Charles Higham, in his biography THE ADVENTURES OF CONAN DOYLE suggests Sir Arthur may have picked up the code from a magazine game in the 1870s, but we really donu0026#39;t know. The code is basically one of letter substitutions for the figures of the dancing men. The story in the short story is dramatic, but deals with a triangle. The only innovation in the film is that Tobel makes a slight change that confuses both Holmes and Moriarty. u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe film will entertain, but I still think THE HOUSE OF FEAR, THE SCARLET CLAW, and SHERLOCK HOLMES FACES DEATH are better films.”