Dressed to Kill (1946)

☆ ☆ ☆

Dressed to Kill (1946) – R. W. Neill

The last film in the long-running Sherlock Holmes series starring Basil Rathbone-Nigel Bruce, the best and most classic Holmes films.  Of course, Bruce plays Watson as something of a buffoon, but he is always lovable, even if his actions threaten the success of the case.  Here, he lets the villain steal the last of three music boxes that together provide the code that reveals the whereabouts of the hidden Bank of England plates.  But Holmes always forgives him, tut tutting fondly, although this usually happens after he has managed to solve the case anyway.  Dressed to Kill is likely not based on any actual story by Arthur Conan Doyle and it is transposed to “modern day” England rather than the literary Holmes’ time but it still captures the flair and air of mystery that the stories held (and still hold), even if it isn’t every really possible to solve the case yourself (and here there is really no mystery but rather some suspense instead).  The nostalgia that comes with these films is always a salve for the weary brain.