Movie Time: The Women In Green

Last week, I posted about a murder mystery movie where the case was solved by sheep.

Which is admittedly a bit atypical for the whole murder mystery movie motif.

Today we tackle another murder mystery movie with a more traditional protagonist.

Perhaps the greatest detective of all time.

Elementary, my dear blog reader, it's... Movie Time! 

Today we pick up one of a series films featuring Sherlock Holmes starring Basil Rathbone as the great detective.

While others have portrayed Holmes in film and television such as Jeremy Brett, Benedict Cumberbatch and Robert Downey Jr., many still consider Basil Rathbone as the ultimate archetype of Baker Street sleuth on film.

Today's post is about the 11th of the 14 Sherlock Holmes films made by Basil Rathbone with Nigel Bruce as Dr. Watson. 

From 1945, it's The Woman in Green.

London is in the grip of terror! 

Murder, it is! Murder most foul! 

Several young women have been murdered. And adding a gruesome detail to the most heinous killings is mutilation. Each young lady has her forefinger severed.  

Scotland Yard is baffled by these killing spree and turn to Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. 

Right off the bat, Holmes... has no idea what the hell is going on. Hey, he might be a genius but give the guy a minute to sort things out, eh? 

Meanwhile and elsewhere, wealthy widower Sir George Fenwick has a romantic evening with glamorous young Lydia Marlowe.

The movie is in black and white so we need to assume she's wearing green.  

The evening takes the pair to her apartment for some wink! wink! nudge! nudge! where they share a drink and odd, he feels a bit... woozy?

Ten hours later, George Fenwick wakes up in a seedy room in a decrepit flop house.  Outside a newsboy is hawking his papers with the tawdry news of another mutilation murder.

George is already a bit freaked out about how he came to be in this awful place and wondering what the hell happened in his missing 10 hours.

His mental state is not helped at all by a woman's forefinger he finds in his jacket pocket.   

Meanwhile, at 221B Baker Street, Holmes and Watson are still pondering the murky mystery of the serial killings when a new client comes calling, Maude Fenwick, George's daughter.  She found the severed finger that George tried to hide and now Maude is worried about what the hell is going on her with her dad and wants Sherlock Holmes to look into it.

This investigation takes a dark and sinister turns when George Fenwick is found dead in his home.

Murdered!

Sherlock Holmes deduces his old nemesis Professor Moriarity is  behind all this.

I'm not sure exactly how Holmes makes this leap and even Watson calls him on it.  "It can't always be Moriarity!" 

Look, Watson, there's a formula here and everbody has to follow it! 

Evil shit happens.
Enter He-Man!
Who's responsible for the evil shit?
Skeletor! 

Evil shit happens.
Enter the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles!
Who's responsible for the evil shit?
Thrasher! 

Evil shit happens.
Enter G.I. Joe!
Who's responsible for the evil shit?
Cobra Commander! 

Evil shit happens.
Enter Perry the Platypus!
Who's responsible for the evil shit?
Dr. Dufenschmirtz! 

Everyone understands the deal, eh, Dr. Watson?

Evil shit happens.
Enter Sherlock Holmes!
Who's responsible for the evil shit?
Moriarty! 

Let's move on, shall we?  

YES, it is indeed Moriarty and after a few scenes of investigating and general poking at things with a stick, Holmes figures out what the big deal is.

• Lydia Marlowe seduces then hypnotizes a wealthy prominent man.
• Moriarty's men find some hapless female victim to murder then cut off her finger. 
• The wealthy prominent man comes out of his hypnotic stupor with a severed finger in his pocket.
• Moriarty shows up to blackmail the wealthy prominent man.

That's a lot of trouble to go through! Whatever happened to good old fashioned bank robbery, for crying out loud! 

Hey, that's quite a good yarn that Holmes has cooked up. But how to prove it?

Sherlock Holmes will allow himself to be seduced and hypnotized by Lydia Marlowe. 

Sherlock Holmes seduced? By a woman?!? I say, how will that ever work since Holmes is gay and in a committed relationship with Watson and remember this is a movie from 1945 and I'm just fucking with you.  

Surely a mind as strong and agile as that of Sherlock Holmes, the great detective could never be hypnotized, right? 

Lydia (who I presume is wearing green or the movie's title makes no sense) does indeed successfully work her wiles and Holmes succumbs to hypnotism. 

And Moriarty shows up to end his hated nemesis once and for all! 

Long story made short: All is not what it seems and Moriarty will get what's coming to him, the scheming scoundrel.  

When the movie first started, I assumed the film was set in the Victorian era of the original stories by  Arthur Conan Doyle. But from his apartment at 221B Baker Street, Holmes looks out the window and sees automobiles from the 1940's.

Fun Fact: the Sherlock Holmes movie series starring Basil Rathbone did begin with mysteries set in Victorian England. After about 3 of those movies, the setting changed to 20th century England with some cases set around fighting Nazi spies and other World War II stuff.  

The Woman In Green follows premises originated in Doyle's stories  "The Final Problem" and "The Adventure of the Empty House".

The Woman In Green is a rather perfunctionary entry, checking off the boxes one needs to check off in a Sherlock Holmes mystery.  A lot of this is saved by the blustering Nigel Bruce as the frequently incredulous Dr. Watson and the sharp edged performance of Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes. I can see why Rathbone's interpretation of Holmes stood the test of time as the peak iconic version of Doyle's great detective.

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We're back tomorrow with Star Trekking and the latest entry in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.