The 6th film starring Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes with Nigel Bruce starring as Dr Watson, this film sees our hero’s boarding a train. They are employed by the son of Lady Margaret Carstairs, played by Mary Forbes to protect the Star of Rhodesia, a giant Diamond. While on the train the son of Lady Carstairs is a murdered and the Jewel is stolen. A plot is uncovered and Sherlock Holmes wins the day as he usually does in these films.
This is a short film at 60 minutes and in black and white and is the first Basil Rathbone portrayal of Sherlock Holmes I have had the opportunity to see. I liked Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes, he is debonair and gives the look of having the intelligence to be able to answer the questions raised by the mystery in front of him. I did feel though in this film he seemed a bit distracted and was perhaps phoning it in a bit. My real problem is Nigel Bruce as Dr Watson, I have read some of the stories and seen both Jude Law Performances and he was far to blustering and unbelieving for me and just a bit too stupid. I always thought of Dr Watson as the reasoning intelligent man who while not able to think like Holmes can bring his own logic to the cases.
Overall this was worth watching, it is interesting but for the modern audience the other films and portrayals are much better in my opinion. Therefore I give this 6 out of 10 and only really worth seeing if you have a love of Sherlock Holmes.
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