The Speckled Band

The Speckled Band (1931)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

After the mysterious death of her sister, Helen Stonor (Angela Baddeley) asks Sherlock Holmes (Raymond Massey) and Dr. Watson (Athole Stewart) to investigate her stepfather (Lyn Harding) who at times can have a mean streak and might have a reason for the sisters to be dead.

Sir Author Conan Doyle always stated that "The Adventure of the Speckled Band" was his favorite Holmes story and it's easy to see why, although it's pretty hard to judge this film. I say that because it was originally at least 66-minutes and possibly 90-minutes but the only thing that survives is a print running 49-minutes. Obviously that's a lot of footage to be missing and it's clear as you watch the film because there are some rough edits at times. With so much footage missing it's hard to fully judge the movie but there's still a fairly complete story here to follow.

I think one of the most interesting aspects was the casting of Massey as Holmes. The actor was still very much unknown when he took on the role but would eventually gain fame playing Abraham Lincoln. In this film, I found him to be a pretty entertaining Holmes and especially with some of the wit and humor that he displayed. He certainly had the look for the character and it's really too bad that he's not on screen more. Stewart, perhaps the only bald Watson, is decent in his role but doesn't stand out too much. Baddeley is charming in her role as the stressed sister but it's Harding who steals the film and not in a good way. His over-dramatic, theatrics like performance is so over-the-top that you can't help but laugh at times. Let's just say he leave to doubt at what type of person the character is.

Again, with so much missing it's hard to judge the film. There's a subplot involving gypsies that might have played out more in the longer version and I'm also curious if Holmes had a bigger role. The film was obviously shot on a small budget and it shows at times but there's still a mildly entertaining movie here. Fans of Holmes will certainly want to check it out.