The Woman in Green 1945

      This movie is based on a novel written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.  Holmes and Watson investigate a series of bizarre and apparently unconnected murders. There is also the death of a possible suspect?  The trail leads to a society of hypnotists and a mysterious and glamorous woman. The fiendish Dr. James Moriarty reported as hanged in Montevideo is suspected of being involved? 

     Although "The Woman in Green" is credited as an original story, the dialogue is lifted from Arthur Conan Doyle’s "The Final Problem.”  The situation involving a sniper firing at a silhouette of Holmes is taken from the story in this series titled "The Empty House.”  When Dr. Watson is walking with the street peddler, you can see a boom reflected in the shop window?  It moves with the characters as they walk along the street?  When Holmes is walking along the terrace wall, his arms are by his sides.  In the next shot, Dr. Watson enters immediately and Holmes is standing still with his hands in his pockets?

68 min, Drama directed by Roy William Neill and written by Bertram Milhauser, Arthur Conan Doyle with Basil Rathbone, Nigel Bruce, Hiliary Brooke, Henry Daniell, Paul Cavanagh, Mathew Boulton, Eve Amber Frederick Worlock, Coulter Irwin, Sally Shepherd, Mary Gordon.

Note:  Imdb 6.7* out of 10* with 5,608 reviews, Rotten Tomatoes 100% with 8 critic reviews 58% with 1,000+ audience scores, Amazon 4.1* out of 5* with 302 ratings, Letterboxd 3.1* out fo 5*, French films.org 3* Roy William Neill.

Special Note:  Although he is not seen, the only reference to Mycroft Holmes in the Basil Rathbone/Nigel Bruce series is made in this film.  The Breen Office ordered two cuts from the original script.  First, the victims were supposed to be young girls.  That was ordered to be changed to young women although Dr. Simnell's bizarre doll fetish may be a leftover from the initial concept.  In addition, during the scene in the Mesmer Club, Watson was supposed to take off his pants and not just roll up his pant leg.  This was the first film in Universal's Sherlock Holmes series in which the main credit for Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce did not list the characters they played.  All previous films contained "as Sherlock Holmes" and "as Doctor Watson" with their main credit.  Henry Daniell, who plays Prof. Moriarty in this film had an earlier villainous role as William Easter in the film Sherlock Holmes in Washington (1943).  He was also an ally of Holmes and Anthony Lloyd in Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror (1942).