Sherlock Holmes: Basil Rathbone
John Watson: Nigel Bruce
Year: 1944
Case: elements borrowed from: The Devil’s Foot, The Sign of Four, The Final Problem, The Empty House, and The Speckled Band
Wartime England is abuzz with a wave of recent suicides, each seemingly untied to the last, except that the men are all gamblers. Sherlock Holmes investigates, only to discover that the suicides are in fact murders being orchestrated by a fiendishly clever woman. Borrowing elements from several of Doyle’s stories, The Spider Woman makes for a very interesting, and often amusing, tale. It’s quite a bit of fun to watch, and easily my favourite Rathbone film to date.
Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes
Rathbone is quite amusing in this film, for it is obvious that he is playing up Holmes’ whimsical sense of humour. Despite the light-hearted feel to this movie, he still gives his all, and comes across as the very picture of Sherlock Holmes.
Nigel Bruce as John Watson
Surprisingly, Bruce is somewhat coherent in this film. In fact, there are at least twelve separate occasions where he is actually understandable. While still a dumbed-down version of Watson, it is pleasing to note that Bruce’s idiocy is not nearly as obvious in this film as it has been in past films.
Delightful Elements
I should first confess that this is the film which converted me. Prior to watching Sherlock Holmes and the Spider Woman, I had seen three Rathbone films (Adventures, Woman in Green, Hound) and was convinced that I would never be a Rathbone/Bruce fan. That has changed, and this is largely due to the slashiness of this film. We are going to focus largely on that, as it is by far the most delightful element in the film.
The story begins with Holmes and Watson on vacation in Scotland. There is some incredibly touching dialogue here, and we feel an immediate connection between the two men. Rathbone plays up the implied intimacy here, and we are treated to Holmes gazing at Watson with such affection that one becomes instantly convinced that the pair are far more than mere friends.
This theme continues with Holmes’ (faked) death. Here we are treated to a Watson in mourning, and while Bruce does muddle some of his lines, he is still convincing as the broken-hearted, utterly despairing partner. Bruce takes this a step further, giving us an overly protective Watson who is more than willing to defend his Holmes. In what is easily one the best scenes in the film, Watson decks a man for insulting Holmes’ detective skills.
It is, of course, later revealed that the man Watson punched is, in fact, Sherlock Holmes in disguise. This unveiling is quite dramatic, despite borrowing heavily from The Empty House; although, it is in some respects an improvement on Canon, for here Watson does not immediately forgive Holmes for his deceit. This allows Holmes the opportunity to show remorse for his actions.
The slashiness which is inherent in this film continues, and it is interesting to note that each of the secondary characters we meet automatically associates Holmes with Watson and Watson with Holmes. It is quite evident that the world considers them a couple.
Then, of course, there is Basil Rathbone’s performance. He plays up the gay in this film; sneaking in as many glances, and leers, and touches, and smirks as he can. In fact, whenever Holmes and Watson are onscreen together, Holmes finds some excuse to flirt with Watson. Clearly this is Rathbone’s doing, and for that he has instantly become one of my favourite actors.
It does not end there, however, for there are a dozen or so additional scenes in which Holmes and Watson appear utterly devoted and in love with one another. The devil’s foot scene is particularly touching, for we see here Holmes attempting to rescue Watson, despite the danger to himself. Later, we see the pair sitting side by side on the train; so close they almost touch. The ending is quite amusing, too, for Holmes and Watson, having solved the case, walk off together into the sunset.
None of this, of course, can touch Watson’s they use to call my twinkle-toes comment.
The slash, of course, is not the only reason I adored this film. Other delightful elements include:
The interweaving of Canon into an original script is brilliantly done. In fact, it’s quite amusing to see how many references you can pick out. It becomes a game of sorts, and is actually more challenging than one would imagine. The story elements are very subtly done, and at times leave the viewer with only the vaguest sensation of deja-vu.
Watson playing a musical instrument made me gleeful, as it is utterly fascinating to consider the possibility that Holmes was not the only one with musical talent.
Finally, I am head over heels in love with The Spider Woman. That the villain, an evil mastermind, should be a woman, and that she should, on countless occasions, prove to be far cleverer than Sherlock Holmes is utterly amazing.
Despite my absolute enjoyment of the film, I do have several quibbles.
Quibbles
The introduction of Spider Woman’s nephew was annoying to say the least. In fact, the child rather freaked me out. I certainly could have done without his inclusion, and I’m still not certain why he felt the need to hop around the set and cat imaginary bugs.
The era change was still jarring, though not as bad as the WWII propaganda films, so I didn’t find myself too bothered by the inclusion of cars.
Finally, this is the second Sherlock Holmes film I have seen which included a sideshow and sideshow freaks. I do not recall any of canon taking place in a sideshow (aside, of course, from the brief reference to one in SIGN) and so it makes little sense that this backdrop would becomes popular in the film adaptations. It’s possible, I suppose, that at this point in history they were all the rage, but for myself, I found them outdated and oddly misplaced.
Aside from a handful of annoyances, overall The Spider Woman was absolutely delightful. It earns four out of five pipes, and each of those pipes is well deserved. Bravo Rathbone, for finally converting me into a fan.