The Woman in Green

Sherlock Holmes (Basil Rathbone) and Dr. Watson (Nigel Bruce) step in to help Scotland Yard when a series of murders hits London. They're all women and their right forefingers are missing! It seems an evil, beautiful woman named Lydia (Hillary Brooke) and Prof. Moriarty (Henry Daniell) have something to do with it...

Very good entry in the series. It's well-done with some very inventive direction (for this series) from Roy William Neill--especially during the hypnotism scenes. Rathbone is good as always; Brooke is very beautiful and just great and Daniell seems rather subdued. Bruce once again plays Watson as a buffoon--but I blame the screenwriters more than him. And we don't have the annoying Inspector Lestrade in this one.

Worth catching.

So why would a serial killer sever a finger from each of his victims. It's a real puzzler that Holmes must solve before the bodies pile higher. Solid entry in the Holmes series that holds interest throughout. Note how well mounted Holmes' room is at 21 B Baker St. It's full of the kind of interesting clutter expected of an eccentric like the great detective. In fact, the whole 70 minutes is an aesthetic pleasure to look at, helped along by producer-director Roy William Neill's imaginative camera angles. Note too the suggestive dialogue in the opening lounge scene, unusual for a popular programmer of the time. And what a great pair of cold-hearted schemers Hillary Brooke and Henry Daniell make in their duel of wits with Holmes. Still and all, I thought the screenplay went too far in poking fun at Nigel Bruce's Dr. Watson. The series always played him for comic relief, but here he's made to look especially foolish in the hypnotism sequence. He is, after all, a doctor of medicine, an accomplished professional. Too bad Neill died not long after this production. For I suspect it was his guiding hand that maintained the general superiority of these little features to many others of the time.

There is a vile murderer lose in London, not since the terror of Jack The Ripper has London been subjected to such gruesome doings. The killers trademark is that he severs the forefingers of his victims, the police are baffled. Enter Holmes and Watson, called into action once again, but even the intrepid Holmes is baffled. There is more to the case than meets the eye, and could there be on old adversary behind the murders?.

The Woman in Green is the eleventh of the fourteen Sherlock Holmes film's starring Basil Rathbone as Holmes and Nigel Bruce as Dr. Watson, and the eighth of the eleven directed by Roy William Neill. Partly based around Arthur Conan Doyle's-The Adventure of the Empty House, The Woman In Green {ambigious title in context of the films content} continues the dark path trodden in the previous film, House of Fear (1945). As Holmes ruefully observes another female victim on the slab in the mortuary he muses "fiend that did this," and then promises to crack the case. It's Holmes obsession with the case, and the macabre nature of the story that carries the audience thru it's very chatty first half. That the darkness lifts at the midpoint is no bad thing due to the introduction of a rather well known foe from Holmes' past. However one has to wonder, as good as the "twist" is, if the film would have been better off staying in darker territory? You see the second half eases in tone as Watson slips into, what is admittedly always great fun, comedy mode and the babe of the piece {a smashing Hillary Brooke} becomes focal along with he who shall not be named. It works of course, this is Holmes trying to crack a devilish case, one that will encompass a new form of trickery in the pantheon of villainy. And then there is some fabulous shots used by Neill, one particular sequence involving swirling water and a white flower is very memorable. While the ending, in true Holmes, Watson and villain style, does its job all told. It's just one can't help feeling that this should have been far better than it eventually turned out to be. Still a fine series entry mind, and arguably the last time a Rathbone film had that delicious dark undercurrent to it. 7/10

"The Woman in Green" is one of the numerous Sherlock Holmes movies with Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce appearing as Holmes and Watson. While routine in some respects, this one features a series of bizarre crimes and some worthy adversaries for the great detective.

Holmes must solve a series of murders that each involve the same set of weird details, but that seem unrelated in other respects. The plot this time is somewhat different from most Holmes stories, in that the audience knows the identity of the villains early in the film, but it takes a while before we know why or exactly how they committed the murders. After Holmes figures it all out, he must still try to catch the criminals, and there is an interesting final sequence in which Holmes himself is in great danger.

Rathbone and Bruce always make a good team even with the most routine stories, and this one is bizarre enough to hold attention in its own right. It also features a good pair of adversaries for Holmes. Professor Moriarty is in this one, portrayed by Henry Daniell. The notorious Moriarty is very difficult to do justice to on film, but Daniell works very well, with his icy personality and suave demeanor. Hillary Brooke is also pretty good as his attractive and dangerous accomplice.

Though not one of the greatest Holmes films, "The Woman in Green" has most of the features that Holmes fans look for, and it should not disappoint them.

I'm a big fan of the Basil Rathbone/Sherlock Holmes series. This review is of the restored black and white 35 mm version issued in 2003. Having watched all of the Holmes films on TV or videotape, with bad prints and lousy sound, this restored version is the one to see. The restoration is perfect and shows the visual beauty of the film which is without question.

Basil Rathbone immortalized Sherlock Holmes in 14 films. The Woman in Green was the 11th in the series. There is a hint of tiredness in Rathbone's portrayal in this one. The story is interesting and involves severed fingers, the sinister Professor Moriarty and the mysterious Woman in Green. Henry Daniell is a good Professor Moriarty and Hillary Brooke as The Woman in Green is mysterious and seductive. As always, Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce as bumbling Dr.Watson are fun to watch.

At 68 minutes the film is short. As with all Holmes films, we wish for more. By all means see it.