Der Mann, der Sherlock Holmes war

What a fabulous movie this is. The absence of anti-English propoganda is no doubt due to the fact that the two countries were not yet at war. Some might point a finger at the catchy number of Hans Sommer 'Yes, gentlemen, the world belongs to us' but that is open to interpretation and is ironically prophetic only in retrospect. This film apparently landed UFA in all sorts of trouble with the executors of the Conan Doyle Estate but the court eventually found in UFA's favour after years of legal wrangling.

Hans Albers as Morris Flynn and Heinz Ruemann as Macky McPherson bounce off each other wonderfully and they are ably supported by Marieluise Claudius who died tragically at the age of 29 and Hansi Knoteck who went on until the age of 98. Fascinating also is Hilde Weissner whose film appearances were rare, playing a crook. The final courtroom scene is magnfiicent, climaxing in the identity of the 'laughing man' being revealed.

The careers of both Albers and Ruemann continued unabated after the war and Ruemann's popularity survived his perceived chumminess with Hitler.

Karl Hartl who had worked twice before with Albers on more weighty material never allows the tempo to slacken and delivers a gloriously entertaining film. Zehn von Zehn!