IMDb RATING
6.7/10
4.2K
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Holmes is recruited to escort the heir to a European throne safely back to his homeland after his father's assassination.Holmes is recruited to escort the heir to a European throne safely back to his homeland after his father's assassination.Holmes is recruited to escort the heir to a European throne safely back to his homeland after his father's assassination.
William 'Wee Willie' Davis
- Gubec
- (as Wee Willie Davis)
Frederick Worlock
- Prime Minister
- (as Frederic Worlock)
Wilson Benge
- Clergyman
- (uncredited)
Sven Hugo Borg
- Johansson
- (uncredited)
Ernst Brengt
- Ship Passenger
- (uncredited)
James Carlisle
- Aide
- (uncredited)
Ashley Cowan
- Steward
- (uncredited)
James Craven
- Anton Petzval
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe film contains a couple of clever in-jokes for Holmes aficionados in the form of references to famous unrecorded cases for the Great Detective: at one point Watson begins to recite the tale of The Giant Rat of Sumatra (mentioned in Conan Doyle's "The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire"); whilst the action takes place aboard the S.S. Friesland (from Conan Doyle's "The Adventure of the Norwood Builder", and alluded to as "a Dutch-American liner" in his Professor Challenger book "The Lost World", though here it has links to Malmö in Sweden). The film also borrows some characters and events from "The Adventure of the Red Circle."
- GoofsDr Watson discovers an automatic pistol --- i.e., one with a slide-in ammo-clip instead of a rotating cylinder --- in a lady passenger's handbag. He consistently refers to the handgun as a revolver. An ex-Army officer like Watson, no matter how daft, would never make such an "obvious" mistake.
- Quotes
Sherlock Holmes: Possibly, poison is a woman's weapon.
- ConnectionsEdited into Who Dunit Theater: Sherlock Holmes and Pursuit to Algiers (2021)
Featured review
Stolen emeralds, an endangered prince, a fog-bound steamship, a plane crash, a revolver hidden in a purse. Through a clever series of encounters, which Sherlock Holmes deciphers with his usual sharp intellect, Holmes and his dear friend, Doctor Watson, are directed to a specific address at a specific time in a foggy London back alley; there, Holmes is engaged by a group of foreign gentlemen to escort an important personage from England back to his home country. While Holmes and Watson do not battle spies in "Pursuit to Algiers," the sleuths do return to matters of foreign intrigue. Leonard Lee wrote the first of two Holmes screenplays for this, the tenth in Universal's Sherlock Holmes series. Lee's screenplay is light on suspense, and, despite the assured direction of veteran Holmes' director Roy William Neill, the film can only be rated better than average among the Rathbone-Bruce movies.
Despite some sinister fog-shrouded scenes in London's back streets, cinematographer Paul Ivano shoots most of the film aboard the S.S. Friesland, a steamer bound for Algiers. While interior shots are crisp black-and-white images, the deck scenes are murky and layered with obviously fake fog. Although the producer-director and the two above-the-title stars are back, not only the writer and cinematographer, but most of the supporting cast are fresh faces in the series. Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce are in good form, and Watson is given a bit more to do than usual, including a song entitled "The Bonnie Banks o'Loch Lomond" that spotlights Nigel Bruce's own fine voice; the retelling over dinner of a Holmes adventure, "The Giant Rat of Sumatra;" and a few solo errands of responsibility at Holmes's direction. None of the supporting players stand out, although lovely Marjorie Riordon as a young singer from Brooklyn has a nice voice, and the cold sexually ambiguous Martin Kosleck is appropriately sinister as the knife thrower.
Perhaps after ten episodes the Universal Holmes series had become routine and perfunctory to the participants. The proceedings play out almost entirely aboard a ship, and the plot lacks a single diabolical villain of the caliber of Professor Moriarty or Adrea Spedding, the Spider Woman. However, most Holmes fans should be pleased, and even the sharpest viewers may not guess Holmes's final revelation. While not the best of the series, "Pursuit to Algiers" is good fun and definitely entertaining.
Despite some sinister fog-shrouded scenes in London's back streets, cinematographer Paul Ivano shoots most of the film aboard the S.S. Friesland, a steamer bound for Algiers. While interior shots are crisp black-and-white images, the deck scenes are murky and layered with obviously fake fog. Although the producer-director and the two above-the-title stars are back, not only the writer and cinematographer, but most of the supporting cast are fresh faces in the series. Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce are in good form, and Watson is given a bit more to do than usual, including a song entitled "The Bonnie Banks o'Loch Lomond" that spotlights Nigel Bruce's own fine voice; the retelling over dinner of a Holmes adventure, "The Giant Rat of Sumatra;" and a few solo errands of responsibility at Holmes's direction. None of the supporting players stand out, although lovely Marjorie Riordon as a young singer from Brooklyn has a nice voice, and the cold sexually ambiguous Martin Kosleck is appropriately sinister as the knife thrower.
Perhaps after ten episodes the Universal Holmes series had become routine and perfunctory to the participants. The proceedings play out almost entirely aboard a ship, and the plot lacks a single diabolical villain of the caliber of Professor Moriarty or Adrea Spedding, the Spider Woman. However, most Holmes fans should be pleased, and even the sharpest viewers may not guess Holmes's final revelation. While not the best of the series, "Pursuit to Algiers" is good fun and definitely entertaining.
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- Release date
- Country of origin
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- Also known as
- Sherlock Holmes in Pursuit to Algiers
- Filming locations
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime1 hour 5 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1
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