Good concept, poorly executed.

disgusting, overrated, pointless

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

It's a shame that to make Basil Rathbone's Holmes seem brilliant they had to make Nigel Bruce's Watson the dimmest bulb that ever attempted to shine light and even Holmes has some really dimwitted ideas--storing the music box at 221B Baker Street and going to confront criminals alone when having an accomplice would have been no more difficult. The way the plot was written it seemed necessary, but it seems sloppy writing to have a genius think like an idiot.

Director: ROY WILLIAM NEILL. Screenplay: Leonard Lee. Adapted by Frank Gruber from the 1904 short story "The Adventure of the Six Napoleons" by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Photography: Maury Gertsman. Film editor: Saul A. Goodkind. Art directors: Jack Otterson and Martin Obzina. Set decorators: Russell A. Gausman and Edward R. Robinson. Matte artist: Russell Lawson. Costumes designed by Vera West. Make-up: Jack P. Pierce. Hair styles: Carmen Dirigo. Music composed by Hans J. Salter, directed by Milton Rosen. Song, "You Never Know Just Who You're Going To Meet" (Jewkes) by Jack Brooks. Dialogue director: Raymond Kessler. Assistant director: Melville Shyer. Sound recording: Bernard B. Brown (supervisor), Glenn E. Anderson (technician). Sound re-recording and effects mixer: Ronald K. Pierce. Western Electric Sound Recording. Producer: Roy William Neill. Executive producer: Howard Benedict.Copyright 13 May 1946 by Universal Pictures Co., Inc. New York opening at the Rialto: 24 May 1946. U.S. release: 7 June. U.K. release (as Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Code): 28 August 1946. Australian release: 22 August 1946. 6,460 feet. 71 minutes.SYNOPSIS: Why are thieves so anxious to steal three seemingly valueless music boxes that they fail to stop short of murder?NOTES: Twelfth and last of the Rathbone-Bruce Sherlock Holmes series for Universal.COMMENT: Much under-rated swansong, this entry is in fact one of the three best in the Universal "B" series, ranking just after The Scarlet Claw and Terror by Night. True, the climax is a trifle tame, though the setting is great, but to say (as some commentators have) that production values look thin and that Rathbone's performance seems tired and dispirited, contradicts the facts. The perfect Holmes, Basil Rathbone, still scores 100%. A spiritless portrayal? Not on your life! True, Nigel Bruce can be faulted. His performance rates lower than usual, mainly because of a mistakenly "comic" episode in which he attempts to imitate a duck! The other support players, however, I would describe as nothing short of superlative. There's even a scene in which the talented Patricia Morison outsmarts Holmes — and us too! And who could forget such charismatic portraits as Holmes Herbert's venal, "tinkle-tinkle" auctioneer, Edmund Breon's lecherous "Stinky", and Delos Jewkes' swaggering Cockney and his lilting song. For my money, the Jewkes sequence deserves a nomination as one if the best in the series.And one other important item I'd like to add: Atmosphere! Thanks to driving direction, effectively noirish cinematography and some really striking sets, this splendidly bizarre "Dressed to Kill" makes for a fine finish to the best "B" series ever made!

As this Sherlock Holmes mystery opens we see a prisoner in Dartmoor prison who is making music boxes; we then see the boxes being sold at a London auction house. Shortly after the sale a man turns up saying he intended to buy the boxes for 'sentimental reasons' and a five pound bride gets him the addresses of two of the buyers. The identity of the third isn't known but she is a regular buyer so the man says he will return at the next sale to see her. Shortly afterwards a friend of Doctor Watson mentions a strange robbery; a thief ambushed him and stole a plain music box from his collection of more valuable ones. The stolen box resembles the one he'd just bought at the auction. Holmes hears the tune once and memorises it. Not long afterwards he is murdered and the box stolen. Holmes visits the auction house and learns about the maker of the boxes… a man who stole printing plates for Bank of England five pound notes. The boxes must have something to do with the plates but what is a mystery. The race is on to get the three boxes and crack the code.This was a rather fun Sherlock Holmes mystery, the last to star Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce as Holmes and Watson. The is no real question as to who the villains are but what is so special about the music boxes isn't immediately obvious as is just how the information is hidden in each of them. Patricia Morison steals the show somewhat as femme fatale Mrs. Hilda Courtney; an intelligent antagonist who manages to get the better of Holmes. Rathbone is solid as Holmes and Bruce is entertaining as Watson, even if his character is a bit dim for a qualified doctor. There are plenty of good aspects to the mystery but also an ending that involves quite a coincidence. Overall an enjoyable story that was well worth watching if you are a Holmes fan or just like a decent mystery.

Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Code isn't quite among the best of the series like Hound of the Baskervilles, Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Scarlet Claw but it is better than Pursuit to Algiers(my personal least favourite of the series) and Voice of Terror. Neither of them are bad films though, even the weakest have entertainment value, but none are masterpieces nor did they try to be so. The story takes a little too much time to get going, things get more interesting once Holmes arrives on the scene, the film does end rather abruptly and agreed Holmes does make a few dumb and uncharacteristic mistakes here(like with the poorly guarded box). Basil Rathbone is excellent as Holmes as always, distinguished, cunning and authoritative. Nigel Bruce gives his all to Watson, while at times too much of a bumbling idiot he brings some joviality to the proceedings. Patricia Morrison is an elegant and calculating female nemesis too, and the supporting roles are well-taken. Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Code is solidly made and directed, they don't try to be too fancy but neither do they take a cheap route and they do give off a good atmosphere. The music score is appropriately eerie and doesn't overbear the mystery at all, the dialogue is snappy and amusing with a few suspenseful elements and once it gets going the story- with a good if daft idea- is fun with some nice twists and turns. The climax may be somewhat too easy but it's also very exciting, while the Holmes comforting Mrs Hudson and Watson imitating a duck scenes are nice too. All in all, not a high note end to the entertaining Rathbone-Holmes films series but hardly a sour note either. 7/10 Bethany Cox