Plot Summary - Silent drama starring John Barrymore (print from the collection of the George Eastman House). In England, on a country lane, we meet the future detective Sherlock Holmes (Barrymore) who is writing his observations in a little book (which includes his list called "my limitations": chemistry - profound; politics - rotten; boxing - splendid, etc. - hehe). Holmes encounters an attractive young lady, Alice (Carol Dempster), and becomes lovestruck - she is to figure into his story years later. As for now, Holmes is brought in by his pal Dr. Watson (who says Holmes is "a marvel at digging out things") to help at Cambridge, where young Prince Alexis has been accused by Scotland Yard of stealing "the Athletic Funds" - though the Prince proclaims his innocence. Holmes arrives and easily finds the real criminal, who ends up being a pawn of one powerful-minded, but evil and cold-blooded old cretin named Moriarty who lurks in the mysterious London quarter of Limehouse. Tragedy suddenly forces the Prince to return to his country as Crown Prince and give up his fiance, who, by an odd coincidence, is the sister of Holmes' memorable "Alice". Well - after meeting up with Moriarty, Holmes decides to make it his life's work to rid the world of that menace. Years pass and Holmes now resides at 221 Baker Street where he helps solve mysteries. His newest case involves his nemesis Moriarty, who is after some letters he wants to use to blackmail Prince Alexis. And who should have the letters but one Alice (Holmes still can't forget her) - he's on the case and still smitten!!
Review - Well, this is an okay film - I found John Barrymore to do a decent job as Sherlock Holmes, and liked the London setting which included snippets of real city footage from the era. I did find the film a bit too "talkie" and kind of muddled at times (particularly the end part), perhaps too many characters, too many inter-titles? The film features a lot of familiar faces from the silent/pre-code film era including Roland Young as Watson, Hedda Hopper, Louis Wolheim, and William Powell. The DVD I saw was from Kino and features a reasonable looking black and white print - pretty good contrast, some washing out in places (barely), a little bit of speckling in places. The score is nicely done organ music by composer Ben Model. Okay - the poor description of this film, totally inaccurate, on the Netflix envelope just makes me laugh - ridiculous! Where do they get these - inaccurate SO often. Rating - 6.5 to 7/10 stars
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