🎻 **Sherlock Holmes: Dressed to Kill (1946)** is a classic mystery film that wraps espionage, murder, and musical clues into one taut 72-minute thriller. It’s the final installment in the beloved series starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce as Holmes and Watson, respectively.
### 🕵️ Plot Overview
The intrigue begins with three seemingly ordinary music boxes crafted by a prisoner at Dartmoor. Each box plays a slightly different version of the tune “The Swagman,” but hidden within the melodies lies a coded message revealing the location of stolen Bank of England printing plates. When the boxes are sold at auction, a ruthless gang—led by the cunning Mrs. Hilda Courtney—begins eliminating anyone who stands in their way.
Holmes and Watson are drawn into the case after their friend, Julian Emery, is murdered for one of the boxes. As the duo races to recover all three, they uncover disguises, deception, and a trail of clues that only Holmes’s razor-sharp intellect can decode.
### 🎬 Key Details
- **Director**: Roy William Neill
- **Genre**: Mystery / Crime
- **Decade**: 1940s
- **Runtime**: ~72 minutes
- **Studio**: Universal Pictures
- **Based on**: Elements from *The Adventure of the Six Napoleons* and *A Scandal in Bohemia* by Arthur Conan Doyle
### 👥 Cast Highlights
| Actor | Role |
|--------------------|-------------------------------|
| Basil Rathbone | Sherlock Holmes |
| Nigel Bruce | Dr. John H. Watson |
| Patricia Morison | Mrs. Hilda Courtney (villain) |
| Edmund Breon | Julian "Stinky" Emery |
| Frederick Worlock | Colonel Cavanaugh |
| Carl Harbord | Inspector Hopkins |
| Holmes Herbert | Ebenezer Crabtree |
| Mary Gordon | Mrs. Hudson |
| Ian Wolfe | Commissioner of Scotland Yard |
This film is a fan favorite for its clever use of music as a cipher, its brisk pacing, and the chemistry between Rathbone and Bruce. If you're into vintage mysteries with a cerebral twist, this one's a gem.
