Main Cast: Basil Rathbone, Nigel Bruce, Patricia Morison, Harry Cording, Frederic Worlock
Release Year: 1946
Country: US
Run Time: 72 minutes
MPAA Rating: NR
Plot
Based on the prolific Sir Arthur Conan Doyle mysteries, Sherlock Holmes is on the job again. This time the inmate of a British prison has incorporated stolen Bank of England engraving plates into a series of music boxes he has made and multiple criminals are out to find them. Holmes must be first. It's a weak, thin plot for the final of the Holmes/Watson series but it is still a joy to see Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce working off one another. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide
Review
The final entry in the Basil Rathbone/Nigel Bruce Sherlock Holmes series Dressed to Kill is not one of the best entries, but it's enjoyable nonetheless. An air of déjà vu hangs over Dressed as if we've all seen this before -- which we certainly have. That's a danger with any long-running series, and here it seems as if the writers and director Roy William Neill were simply connecting the dots and coloring by numbers rather than trying to create something special and sparkling. This is especially true with the cavalier manner Holmes displays in regard to the safety of the music box in his possession and in the way in which the detective is so easily tricked; either of these machinations could have been exploited as an opportunity to comment upon the character's egotism, but this opportunity was missed. At least the cast is not to blame, with Rathbone and Bruce turning in their customarily winning performances and a delicious wicked turn from Patricia Morison helping to enliven things. They help make up for most of the film's shortcomings. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
Martin Obzina - Art Director, Jack Otterson - Art Director, Vera West - Costume Designer, Melville Shyer - First Assistant Director, Roy William Neill - Director, Saul A. Goodkind - Editor, Howard Benedict - Executive Producer, Milton Rosen - Composer (Music Score), Hans Salter - Composer (Music Score), Milton Rosen - Musical Direction/Supervision, Jack Brooks - Songwriter, Jack Pierce - Makeup, Maury Gertsman - Cinematographer, Roy William Neill - Producer, Russell A. Gausman - Set Designer, Edward Ray Robinson - Set Designer, Glenn E. Anderson - Sound/Sound Designer, Bernard B. Brown - Sound/Sound Designer, Frank Gruber - Screenwriter, Leonard Lee - Screenwriter, Arthur Conan Doyle - Short Story Author
Three cheap musical boxes (each one playing a subtly different version of "The Swagman"), manufactured in Dartmoor Prison, are sold at a local auction house. However, a criminal gang is determined to steal and recover all three, even if it means committing murder. Sherlock Holmes tries to recover the music boxes and crack the secret code contained in the tune before the gang can get what they want.
