The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1939)
Country of Origin: USA
Year of Production: 1939
Running Times: 81m 37s (UK - video)/85m
Length:
Format: 35mm
Colour Format: black and white
Ratio: 1.37:1
Sound: mono
DIRECTION
Directed by: Alfred Werker
CREW
PRODUCTION
Copyright: MCMXXXIX by Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation
Production Company: Twentieth Century-Fox presents
Released through Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation
Associate Producer: Gene Markey
In Charge of Production: Darryl F. Zanuck
SCRIPT
Screen Play by: Edwin Blum and William Drake
Based on the play "Sherlock Holmes" by
William Gillette with the permission of the executors of the late
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
DIRECTION
Assistant Director: William Eckhardt [uncredited]
2nd Assistant Director: Virgil Hart [uncredited]
PHOTOGRAPHY
Director of Photography: Leon Shamroy
EDITING AND POST PRODUCTION
Film Editor: Robert Bischoff
MUSIC
Music: Robert Russell Bennett, David Buttolph, Cyril J. Mockridge,
David Raksin, Walter Scharf [all uncredited]
Musical Direction: Cyril J. Mockridge
SOUND
Sound: W.D. Flick, Roger Heman
Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording
COSTUMES AND MAKE-UP
Costumes: Gwen Wakeling
DESIGN AND SET CONSTRUCTION
Art Direction: Richard Day, Hans Peters
Set Decorations: Thomas Little
CAST
with
Basil Rathbone
(Sherlock Holmes)
Nigel Bruce (Doctor Watson)
Ida Lupino (Ann Brandon)
Alan Marshal (Jerrold Hunter)
and
Terry Kilburn (Billy)
George Zucco
(Professor Moriarty/Sgt Bullfinch)
Henry Stephenson (Sir Ronald Ramsgate)
E.E. Clive (Inspector Bristol)
Arthur Hohl (Bassick)
May Beatty (Mrs Jameson)
Peter Willes (Lloyd Brandon)
Mary Gordon (Mrs Hudson)
Holmes Herbert (Justice)
George Regas (Mateo)
Mary Forbes (Lady Conyngham)
Frank Dawson (Dawes)
William Austin (stranger)
Anthony Kemble-Cooper (Tony Conygham)
UNCREDITED CAST
Frank Baker (Tompkins)
Frank Benson (cockney)
Harry Cording (Cragin)
Robert Cory (sentry)
David Dunbar, Herbert Evans (Scotland Yard men)
Neil Fitzgerald (clerk of the court)
Denis Green (Sergeant of the Guard)
Gordon Hart (guard)
Ivo Henderson (bobby)
Keith Hitchcock (constable)
Leyland Hodgson (bobby)
Brandon Hurst (footman)
Boyd Irwin (bobby)
Charles Irwin (marine sergeant)
Leonard Mudie (Barrows)
Robert Nobel (foreman of the jury)
C. Montague Shaw (Captain Mannering)
Ivan F. Simpson (Gates)
Bob Stevenson (cabby)
Eric Wilton (butler)
Hillary Brooke
PLOT SUMMARY
The nefarious Professor Moriarty is back in London and
has an audacious plan to steal the crown jewels from the Tower of
London - and to do so under the very nose of his arch-enemy Sherlock
Holmes. He hatches a complex scheme involving a gaucho flautist and
the attempted murder of a young woman to lure Holmes into his trap...
AVAILABILITY
UK
Theatrical Distributor: Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation
Video Distributor: Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment (7776)
USA
Theatrical Distributor: Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation
Video Distributor: Fox Home Entertainment
CENSORSHIP HISTORY
Finland
Rating: K-16
UK
Rating: PG (1990)
USA
MPAA: 5486
TIMELINE
1939
June
5: USA - production begins
July
31: USA - retakes begin shooting
September
1: USA - copyright granted (no. LP9334)
1940
September
1: USA - theatrical release
March
10: Finland - theatrical release
1977
December
2: UK - television broadcast (on BBC1)
1985
September
9: UK - television broadcast (on BBC2)
1990
July
18: UK - rated PG by the BBFC (for video release)
November
29: UK - video release (Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment (7776))
1993
March
10: USA - video release (Fox Home Entertainment)
2001
May
21: UK - video deleted (Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment (7776))
November
9: UK - television broadcast (on Carlton Cinema)
11: UK - television broadcast (on Carlton Cinema)
POSTER TAGS
The Struggle of Super-Minds in the Crime of the Century!
ALTERNATIVE TITLES
Abenteuer des Sherlock Holmes, Die -
German title
Avventure di Sherlock Holmes, Le - Italian title
Sherlock Holmes - UK title
LINKS
SEQUEL TO
The
Hound of the Baskervilles (1939)
SEQUELS
Sherlock
Holmes and the Voice of Terror(1942)
Sherlock
Holmes and the Secret Weapon (1942)
Sherlock
Holmes in Washington (1943)
Sherlock
Holmes Faces Death (1943)
Spider
Woman (1944)
The
Scarlet Claw (1944)
The
Pearl of Death (1944)
The
House of Fear (1945)
Pursuit
to Algiers (1945)
The
Woman in Green
(1945)
Terror
by Night (1946)
Dressed
to Kill (1946)
SEE ALSO
Sherlock Holmes (1916)
Sherlock Holmes (1922)
Sherlock Holmes (1932)
Sherlock Holmes (1981)
REFERENCES
PERIODICALS
Classic Images no.287 (May 1999) pp.27-28 (USA)
illustrated article (The Twentieth Century-Fox Sherlock Holmes Films by William M. Apple)
Kinematograph Weekly no.1705 (21 December 1939) (UK)
review
Monthly Film Bulletin vol.7 no.73 (31 January 1940) p.7
credits, review (by D.E.B.)
Today's Cinema vol.53 no.4354 (20 December 1939) (UK)
review
Variety 6 September 1939 p.14 (USA)
review
NEWSPAPERS
New York Times 2 September 1939 p.20 (USA)
review
BOOKS
Horror and Science Fiction Films III pp.3-4
credits
Reference Guide to Fantastic Films p.4
credits
Science Fiction, Horror and Fantasy Film and Television Credits II p.734
credits
Science Fiction, Horror and Fantasy Film and Television Credits Supplement I p.310
credits
Time Out Guide to Thrillers p.9
credits, review (by Geoff Andrews)
OTHER SOURCES
screen
credits
KEYWORDS
detectives,
disguises, Scotland
Yard, sequels, Sherlock
Holmes, the Tower
of London
