The Art of Sherlock Holmes: Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror Part 1

It is, of course, a shame that Universal Studios chose to haul Holmes and Watson out of their proper milieu (as depicted in the two Fox films) and drop them into WWII. On the other hand, given conditions in wartime Hollywood, that strategy may have been the only thing that allowed this film (and the eleven to follow) to be made.

The film acknowledges its departure from tradition with a nice scene in which Holmes picks up his deerstalker. At Watson’s urging, he puts on a fedora instead, and off they go.

The story for this one borrows bits from “His Last Bow” (German spy Von Bork is now a Nazi spy) and brings in the “Voice of Terror,” inspired by real life Nazi propaganda broadcasts (which I remember mainly from an issue of Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos: “Lord Haw-Haw’s Last Laugh”).