This is it, the final Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson adventure to feature Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce in the iconic roles.

While it is another original story, it does lift elements from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s stories A Scandal in Bohemia, and The Adventure of the Six Napoleons. The mystery centers around a trio of music boxes. This sounds a little familiar, even within context of the film series.

The boxes contain secrets to hidden riches, and it’s no surprise that there are criminals hunting them down. And of course, there is murder!

Enter Holmes and Watson. And while not as short as some of the other tales, this one is still over very quickly, running only seventy-one minutes.

The things that work in this film are the things that have worked all along. The casting of Rathbone and Bruce keeps people coming back, they are so solid together, delivering banter and quips, and just having a sense of fun about themselves.

The pair find themselves squaring off against Hilda Courtney (Patricia Morison) and Colonel Cavanaugh (Frederick Worlock). The race is on to grab the three boxes, and I love the idea that the musical tune of the boxes is a vital clue to everything’s meaning. There are variations in the tones of the music in the boxes, and when combined…

That’s fun!

Sadly, the film also makes the mistake of including a bit of a musical number while Holmes and Watson visit a pub in search of a lead.

Hilda proves quite a match for the pair, and seems to be able to get the upper hand on them a few times through the course of the film. But, of course, by tale’s end, Holmes will have trapped Hilda and her allies, and justice will be served.

I was hoping for something a little stronger to go out on, but overall, the film, and the story, such as they are entertain. They’re short, have a solid pair of leads, and have a brushing familiarity with the source material.

And Rathbone and Bruce are just enjoyable to watch. This whole series could have been so much better if they had expanded the stories, and the character beats just a little more. Let everything breathe a bit.

Still, it’s a solid enough series, even the clunkers aren’t terrible. They’re all just too short.

Course, now I have a craving to keep exploring Sherlock Holmes films. We’ll see if that lasts.

Thank you Mr. Rathbone, and Mr. Bruce!