Noirvember is coming to a close. It was a weird one over here, with half of the films I featured on the blog barely being qualifying as actual noirs (and the most iconic film this year was definitely not a noir). And today, the finale, is probably the least noir-y of them all and just one look at the title, even for those who have not seen the film could tell you all you have to know.
We’re ending Noirvember with a Sherlock Holmes story.
Yes.
(On the brighter side, I won NaNoWriMo! My first one!)
But let’s get back to the movies…
Sherlock Holmes and John Watson in this adaptation are played by Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce. This duo made fourteen films as the characters (this is the third one).
It’s set during… World War II. In the beginning Holmes and Watson are referred to as „ageless” which is the excuse for setting the story decades after the canon. And I don’t mind. After all, he closest thing to „my” Sherlock is the BBC Benedict Cumberbatch one.
The titular „voice of terror” is the voice coming on the radio waves from Germany, voice of the nazis threatening Great Britain. They claim to have a secret operation going on in Britain. And Holmes is hired to help stop them.
There is a female character, played by Evelyn Ankers, an inspiring woman giving speeches about the importance of fighting for their country. She is the widow of a man killed during the operation. After meeting Holmes and Watson she becomes part of the fight herself and ends up being pretty much the hero of the story.
This story did not need to feature Sherlock Holmes but I guess the story itself was not enough to stand on its own.
There is something incredibly sad about the juxtaposition of England during wartime, the raided, wounded country with one of the land’s most legendary characters. Despite the flaws of the film the final shot of Holmes and Watson standing among the ruins feels really profound.
Swingin' at the Seance 