The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

Second in the Rathbone/Bruce series, after which it shifted from Fox to Universal, modern dress, and wartime uplift. The deer-stalkered one is here up against arch-enemy Moriarty, who has fiendish plans to commit that most heinous of all crimes: the theft of the Crown Jewels. Lightly likeable and beautifully mounted, the film succeeds thanks to some witty dialogue (Holmes to Moriarty: 'You've a magnificent brain. I'd like to present it pickled in alcohol to the London Medical Society'), and to nicely nuanced performances from Rathbone, Bruce and (as Moriarty) Zucco.