Sherlock Holmes (Basil Rathbone) is back! By his side, the redoubtable Watson (Nigel Bruce)!

Despite the (once again) short runtime, I really liked this one. It got the series back on track to solving mysteries and while the War was still going on I liked the fact that it decided to be more escapism than about Holmes involvement in the good fight.

Using elements from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Final Problem, The Sign of Four, and The Adventure of the Dying Detective, the story is tightly woven and engaging. But definitely could have been longer.

Holmes and Watson are on a fishing vacation in Scotland. In England, a series of mysterious deaths, dubbed the pyjama suicides are plaguing London. In order to give himself a bit more freedom to investigate them – he’s convinced they’re murders – Holmes without telling Watson, fakes his own death.

While Watson and Lestrade (Dennis Hoey) are lamenting the death of the famed detective, he returns in disguise and concocts a plan to find the true villain. He believes it is a woman, stalking wealthy young men, and murdering them for their cash.

A female Moriarty he claims.

In disguise, once again, he meets Adrea Spedding (Gale Sondergaard). And the pair match wits, well aware of one another’s true identity as they play their game.

It’s fun and entertaining. Sure, Holmes’ disguise is a little problematic but overall, the film works wonderfully, and is the strongest entry when compared to a couple of the previous titles.

The character banter we’ve come to expect between Holmes and Watson is fun, and as mentioned before, suggests a real chemistry between the men.

Yes, everything is still shot on sets in Hollywood, but this time out, it works very nicely. Neill, who has helmed four of the seven films so far has his craft down. He cranks these things out! And while I wish there was more time for the characters to breathe, and that the script was a little longer, it’s still a very fun ride.

I also like the fact, that, for the most part, Spedding is very much Holmes’ equal. Which is saying something for a film from the 40s. A longer script, with more character bits, and deductions on both sides could have really upped the game between the two.

The climax is fun, set at a carnival, but my favorite things are seeing Holmes and Watson just chatting and interacting. There’s a reason this iteration of the character has endeared itself to so many film lovers around the world.

Let’s see what happens with the famed duo next time in The Scarlet Claw!