Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		3.0
Audio		2.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		3.0

Sherlock Holmes' Fatal Hour Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman December 13, 2021

Note: This film is available on Blu-ray as part of The Sherlock Holmes Vault Collection.

Several online sites offer the presumed fact that the character of Sherlock Holmes is perhaps the most portrayed personage in the entire annals of film and, later, television. The sheer number of Holmes adaptations for either the large or small screens is so overwhelming in fact that some fans may have a challenge in choosing their favorite. Some may go with more venerable classic interpretations like those from Basil Rathbone (Sherlock Holmes: The Complete Collection) or even Jeremy Brett (Sherlock Holmes: The Complete Granada Television Series), while others may prefer more modern performances from the likes of Benedict Cumberbatch (Sherlock: The Complete Series) or Jonny Lee Miller (Elementary). The Basil Rathbone - Nigel Bruce Holmes films are an interesting assortment, for a couple of reasons. As fans no doubt know, the first two films in the series, The Hound of the Baskervilles and The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, were set in Victorian England, while all the subsequent entries in the franchise were "updated" to an explicit World War II setting mimicking their production era and no doubt tied to a perceived need for cinematic heroes to vanquish various enemies. That aspect clearly presages some of the latter day revisions to the character as seen in both the Cumberbatch and Miller television series, but as will be mentioned in a moment, is not the first such instance of that particular strategy. But as a film franchise regardless of any time shift, the Rathbone - Bruce films are often the first to come to mind, at least in terms of Holmes films from that general period. In that regard, three British productions aggregated in this collection might reasonably be deemed to be one of the major groups of Holmes films to come in the sound era at least prior to the now legendary teaming of Rathbone and Bruce, with Arthur Wontner starring as the venerable sleuth and Ian Fleming (not that one) as Dr. Watson. The Wontner - Fleming films in this set were produced in 1931, 1935 and 1937, while the fourth film in the set, A Study in Scarlet, features Reginald Owen and came out in 1933. The Wontner films in particular but also the Reginald Owen film presage the World War II era Rathbone films by at least somewhat contemporizing events.

Sherlock Holmes' Fatal Hour was released originally in the United Kingdom as The Sleeping Cardinal, a title which refers to one of the outright strangest "disguises" ever undertaken by that master of alter egos, Professor Moriarty (Norman McKinnel): a painting. The film opens with Dr. Watson (Ian Fleming) partaking in a high stakes bridge game being run by low level diplomat Ronald Adair (Leslie Perrins), and it doesn't take the ministrations of Adair's sister Kathleen (Jane Welsh) for Watson to realize that Adair may be indulging in a bit of cheating. Watson agrees to get his good friend Sherlock Holmes (Arthur Wontner) to look into things, but in the meantime Adair receives an urgent message which ultimately leads him to a shadowy room with a painting on the wall, a painting which mysteriously lights up and then begins talking to Adair, telling Adair that his cheating ways are known and will be revealed if Adair doesn't agree to help on some as yet unexplained plan.

Suffice it to say that Adair doesn't make it to the second act, though there is a presumption that he may have committed suicide under the pressure of a threatened exposure. Holmes knows better of course, and is convinced his old nemesis Moriarty is behind everything. This is a pretty talky enterprise, especially in the early going, though the opening vignette documenting a kinda sorta robbery that takes place in almost complete darkness gets things off to a visually interesting (if murky) start. But what was obviously a fairly low budget keeps this enterprise resolutely set bound, with the first half hour or so especially exposition laden, and without some of the spark that could inhabit even the expository aspects of the best Rathbone films. But Wontner makes for an appealing Holmes nonetheless. He's less mercurial than Rathbone, but he has a quirkiness to his portrayal, one that is perhaps a bit more "seasoned" than some of the other actors who have taken on this iconic challenge. If there's ultimately not a lot of mystery in this film, there's an appealing sense of Conan Doyle's original formulation (the screenplay weaves together elements from two Conan Doyle tales, The Adventure of the Empty House and The Final Problem).

Sherlock Holmes' Fatal Hour Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Sherlock Holmes' Fatal Hour is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of The Film Detective with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.34:1. Unfortunately The Film Detective doesn't offer any really substantial technical information, though if I'm understanding the weirdly redacted Sam Sherman audio interview, it sounds like no 35mm elements of any of these films exist, and so expectations should be tempered in terms of whatever source element was utilized is able to offer. This is actually one of the better looking films in the set, but that's a relative statement. The entire presentation struck me as at least somewhat too dark, leading to regularly crushed blacks and a lack of detail in many scenes (including the intentionally shadowy opening vignette). Despite the overall darkness, variances can lead to clear milkiness washing over the blacks momentarily, only to recede again. There's manifest damage on display, including some missing frames, warping and the typical smaller signs of age related wear and tear like nicks and scratches. This presentation has one of the more organic looking grain fields in the set, though as can be seen in the screenshots accompanying this review, it can be very gritty looking a lot of the time.

Sherlock Holmes' Fatal Hour Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Sherlock Holmes' Fatal Hour features Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono audio. Regular readers of my reviews will know I'm not a fan of Blu-ray discs with only lossy audio options, but in this case, one has to reasonably wonder how much a lossless track could have added to things. This film was produced at the relative dawn of the sound age, and it has an undeniably narrow, boxy and even almost hollow sound at times. There's evident hiss and background noise, along with the occasional pop and crackle. Dialogue is reasonably easy to understand despite some of the recurrent issues, and the good news is there are optional English and Spanish subtitles to help listeners elide any potential challenges.

Sherlock Holmes' Fatal Hour Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Commentary with Author Jennifer Churchill is my first experience with this particular commentator, who identifies herself as a children's author and then mentions how "family friendly" this film is, to which some curmudgeons might respond with tongue firmly in cheek, "Yeah, kids, come see Sherlock Holmes figure out if the blackmailed card shark committed suicide or was murdered! Fun stuff!" This is accessible under the Setup Menu.


• Sherlock Holmes and the Blue Carbuncle (HD; 39:47) is a recreation of a radio broadcast by a group called Redfield Arts Studio. This plays to a static image of a radio which includes text giving some background and a cast list.


• The Adventures of Sam Sherman Part One (HD; 7:40) is the first of a three part audio interview with the venerable Sherman, who recounts growing up seeing some of these films on New York City television as a child. He gives quite a bit of background information over the course of the three parts, including some hypothesizing about why Silver Blaze is missing underscore, but in what might be termed "The Case of the Missing Denouement", he seems to be setting up some kind of revelation about missing 35mm elements for these films at the end of this first part, something that is never followed up on. This plays to scenes from the films.


• A Black Sherlock Holmes (HD; 14:38) is a cut version of a 1918 silent which is very badly damaged (see below). Ironically the playing time for this is a bit longer than the uncut version courtesy of some introductory text and the strategy of using still frames to replace damaged sections.


• A Black Sherlock Holmes (HD; 13:24) offers the uncut version of the short, which has some of the worst damage I've personally seen, including whole sections of the film obliterated by emulsion degradation.


• Sherlock Holmes Baffled (HD; 00:38) is the famous first appearance of Holmes on celluloid.

Also each of the four films comes with a reproduction lobby card and an insert booklet with an essay.

Sherlock Holmes' Fatal Hour Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

This first Wontner entry definitely picks up steam as it goes along, but some elements, like the completely daffy conceit of having Moriarty talk to a character through a painting, are just plain weird. Wontner doesn't quite have the spry archness of Rathbone, but he's an appealing presence. Technical merits are definitely improvable (though I'm assuming the sources here were in ragged shape to begin with), but the supplemental package is very enjoyable, for those who are considering making a purchase.