Dressed to Kill (1946)

Review - Prelude to Murder a/k/a Dressed to Kill Splendid film, meeting all the requirements in a Holmes mystery, noir prevalent, deductions continue through the story, each providing additional information until the very end with a resolved case. The villainous played by Patricia Morison was perfect in the role, beautiful woman, excellent actress, all contributing to the story. There was sufficient detail provided with each scene to watch Holmes carry out his meticulous search for all relative clues of the crimes committed. The opening at Dartmoor Prison sets the stage, explained later with John Davidson informing his confederates of the plates' location for fear of someone discovering the location prematurely. Stinky killed, Thompson run over by a cab, Kilgour's daughter robbed, and the attempt on Holmes' life were plenty of reasons to catch these thieves and murderers. Obviously the criminals would stop at nothing to get their hands on the stolen currency plates, well played during the movie. Holmes having Joe Cisto identify the song, Watson referring to his days learning the piano by assigning numbers and Watson quoting Samuel Johnson all lead to Holmes conquering the criminals and seeing the stolen plates are returned to The Bank of England.

Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson has almost met their match with Mrs. Hilda Courtney (Patricia Morison) they seem to keep in step with her instead of one step ahead of her... she's an alluring and very cleaver foe. A beautiful woman, three cheap music boxes & counterfeiting - it's up to Holmes and Watson to figure out how they fit together before it's too late.It's amazing that Sherlock Holmes was not flat out shot by his enemy in this one - I don't know why they just "left him hanging" but it made for a great scene. Not to mention Dr. Watson... it's good he wasn't overtaken by the poisonous gas! -- Yes this movie has a quite a few exciting scenes, I very much enjoyed it.8.5/10

This last 'Sherlock Holmes' adaptation starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce once again entertains us with a clever, intricate story: a set of three music boxes, all made by the same man in Dartmoor Prison, curiously becomes of great - and lethal - interest for certain people for a very certain reason that's hidden somewhere in them - or in their music... The boxes have been sold at an auction, though, and so a hunt for each one of them begins - and in order to obtain them, they murder the first one of the buyers, who happened to be an old schoolmate of Dr. Watson...Now, of course, they've got Sherlock Holmes on their track, who very soon deduces that these boxes must be hiding a VERY expensive secret - and a very delicate one for the government...Quite a nice 'finish' for the Fox/Universal Sherlock Holmes series, with the protagonists in great shape - and, since the movie was made in the middle of the Film Noir wave, it also contains a feature that Holmes would meet for the first and last time: a REALLY deadly femme fatale - and one who can almost compare her wits with his! Good, solid crime entertainment, with many twists and surprises, and certainly not a moment of boredom...

This movie is rather an anomaly. Made after WWII in 1946, but when was the action set? The transport is of the 1930's, especially the "General" London omnibus. As I said in the Goofs section, one of the scenes depicts a "General" omnibus carrying passengers on a normal route, but the "London General Omnibus Company" went out of service in 1933. Yet the ladies fashions depicted in the movie are of the 1940's. As another viewer remarked (also in the "Goofs" section)..."Watson refers to the events in his story 'A Scandal in Bohemia' taking place two years earlier. In the story Bohemia was a independent kingdom, but in 1943 it was obviously part of Hitler's Third Reich." ...but of course the original story by Conan Doyle was written and set before WWI.So exactly in which period was this movie intended to be set? Although there is no mention of either WWI or WWII, I suspect it's supposed to be set in the 1930's, and before Holmes' wartime (WWII) exploits. But who knows? The movie is nowhere near as good as others in this Rathbone/Bruce series of movies. However it has its amusing moments, but the only one to come out of it with any real credit is Patricia Morison, and there's very little else to shout about.