Dressed to Kill

1946 Directed by Roy William Neill

Queen . . . of a Crime Cult !

A convicted thief in Dartmoor prison hides the location of the stolen Bank of England printing plates inside three music boxes. When the innocent purchasers of the boxes start to be murdered, Holmes and Watson investigate.

Basil Rathbone Nigel Bruce Patricia Morison Frederick Worlock Harry Cording Carl Harbord Holmes Herbert Edmund Breon Patricia Cameron Mary Gordon Ian Wolfe Leyland Hodgson Marjorie Bennett William H. O'Brien Frank Baker Sally Shepherd

Alternative Titles

Sherlock Holmes et la clé, Sherlock Holmes Dressed to Kill, Sherlock Holmes in Dressed to Kill, Sherlock Holmes i fara, Sherlock Holmes en Vestida para un asesinato, Vestida para un asesinato, Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Code

mystery crime

72 mins More details at IMDb TMDb Report this film

Popular reviews

Review by eely ★★★½

watson making duck noises while that little girl sobbed uncontrollably is me around children
Review by Fint ★★★½ 2

Dressed to Kill was always destined to be the last of the Rathbone/Bruces. Basil had decided to destring his violin and hang up his pipe as Sherlock Holmes on screen and on radio, but his decision became definitive after Roy William Neill, the producer and director of the bulk of their outings at Universal, died at the end of 1946.
They went out on a medium high - not a glorious peak but a hill with a good view. The perplexing plot is very effective, even as it recycles elements from Conan Doyle that had already been used during the series, there is a delightfully scheming villainess in Patricia Morison and the script is intelligent and playful.
Most importantly of…
Review by Joe ★★★★½ 1

Retreating more and more to comfort food these days, so I thought it might be fun to watch my favorite detective movie series of them all … IN REVERSE ORDER! This allows me to start with one of my very favorites, mostly due to Patricia Morison as "consummate actress" Hilda Courtney, one of the series' best villains.
The deathtrap in this one makes no sense. The villains are presumably suffocating Holmes with poison gas in order to make it look like an accident, but if so why on Earth would they hang him from a support beam by a pair of handcuffs? I had a chuckle imagining what the police would have made of that scene had the murder attempt actually been successful.
Review by Silversaxophone ★★★½ 3

Watson attempts, unsuccessfully, to calm a frightened child by quacking like a duck, but he's actually sharper than usual, providing two essential clues which help Holmes solve the case. Fittingly, the puzzle involves Dr Johnson, another prominent literary figure with a loyal biographer. Watson's newly published story in The Strand Magazine, 'A Scandal in Bohemia', is also a significant story element. The last Rathbone & Bruce Holmes adventure is a congenial, lightly scholarly affair concerning nerdy collectors and an intricate puzzle which is satisfying on a cerebral level, which is not always the case with these films. Patricia Morison (who is apparently still with us, 100 years young and living in LA) is second only to The Spider Woman as the most dangerous femme fatale in the series, and she's a knockout. While not as atmospheric as the great middle run of the series, this is a felicitous capper to the definitive Holmes & Watson on film.
Review by Henry AM ★★★½ 13

In my opinion this is a certified fact: Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce are the greatest onscreen Holmes and Watson. In my mind thats indisputable. I've grown up loving these two as the characters, and they are now synonymous with the Conan Doyle text for me although I have a lot of time for Moffat's poorly capped off but still great version, and enjoy the Ritchies. But my god! Rathbone is pitch-perfect as Sherlock, very in line with character from the books, and you can't help but grin when he's in his shrewd and calculating "elementary my dear Watson" phase. As for Nigel Bruce, his Watson is just priceless in all these films, genuinely hilarious (I love his constant tutting).…
Review by Flickers in Time ★★★½

The finale in the series of Rathbone/Bruce Sherlock Holmes films is a tribute to the Conan Doyle story A Scandal in Bohemia. A mistress of disguises leads a gang that will stop at nothing to retrieve three music boxes. These will give the crooks virtually a license to print money. As always, Sherlock Holmes is just a little too smart for her.
Given the quality of the average B movie of the period, these films are small masterpieces and remarkable for their consistency.
Review by Minion Max ★★★

Much better than the previous Basil Rathbone Holmes I saw, The Woman in Green. It had less room for fumbling, actually utilizing the books this time in loosely adapting The Six Napoleons with a clever touch of A Scandal in Bohemia. I suppose music boxes were viewed as easier to market to US audiences than Napoleon busts? It isn't my ideal interpretation of the character, making him far too congenial to truly embody Sherlock Holmes, however I understand more how Rathbone held that title before Jeremy Brett entered the scene.
Review by TajLV ★★★½

Part of my Double Feature Challenge (2)
Following "Terror by Night" released earlier in the year, this is the fourteenth and last film in which Basil Rathbone played the private detective Sherlock Holmes with Nigel Bruce as his sidekick Dr. John H. Watson. This crime mystery directed by Roy William Neill was based upon the stories of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, although not taken directly from any one of them. The original screenplay was provided by writers Frank Gruber and Leonard Lee.
The film opens at Dartmoor Prison, where a convicted thief (Cyril Delevanti) has crafted three identical wooden music boxes. They are to be sold at auction by Ebenezer Crabtree (Holmes Herbert), the owner of a curios shop under…
Review by Andrew ★★★★½

This is my second film that I've seen with Basil Rathbone playing the legendary detective Sherlock Holmes. Dressed To Kill is a solid entry in the Rathbone series of films. Unlike most modern adaptations of the famous sleuth, this one follows Holmes trying to recover stolen objects, and isn't solely focused on the murders. In fact, in this film the murders aren't as important as recovering three musical boxes.
The story of this film follows a trio of thieves, Hilda Courtney (Patricia Morison), Colonel Cavanaugh (Frederick Worlock), and Hamid (Harry Cording, as they pursue three identical musical boxes. Hot on their tail, Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson are trying to figure out why these musical boxes are so important.…
Review by Jaume Vaquer ★★★

Voy a echar de menos ir mirando estas películas, cortitas, muy entretenidas, todo muy correcto pese a sus evidentes carencias de presupuesto.
Esta no es una mala despedida. Volvemos a ver el estudio de Holmes y Watson en Baker Street (donde aún se puede ver la V de Victoria hecha a disparos de un film anterior), su patrona... Sólo falta Lestrade.
Y un misterio clásico, con descubrimientos progresivos, sin tiempos muertos y con sus elementos de comedia a cargo de Watson.
A ver qué miro ahora que pueda sustituir a Rathbone y Bruce...
Review by ryan ★★★

Watson attempts to comfort a distraught child by impersonating a duck.
Review by PUNQ ★★★

The last classic era Sherlock Holmes. The fourteenth one in the movies series starring Basil Rathbone & Nigel Bruce. And it ends on a fine note where Sherlock gets to trade wits with a criminal of the female variety just as smart as him. Very playful. Not the most stylish of the Holmes, but effective nonetheless. I'm going to miss this series a lot. It was one of the main allures of me starting this project of going through classic cinema.

Recent reviews

Review by Matt Irsik ★★★½

One of the better Sherlock Holmes cases and featuring Basil Rathbone as the detective. Part of a series, which despite the age of the films, is still pretty good. At a little over one hour each, they get to the heart of the story quickly and things are always wrapped up nicely with little confusion. I would rate all of the films in this series more highly if they didn't treat Dr. Watson as some kind of bumbling fool.
Review by Matthew D'Souza ★★★★★

The greatest Sherlock Holmes film.
Basil Rathbone reprises his role as the world's detective for the last time. Rathbone concludes his 14 film run with a clever calmness and shrew intellect. Rathbone's Holmes is witty, deductive, and charming to the last. I wish there were even more of these films, but all good things must come to an end.
Nigel Bruce plays Dr. Watson with an oblivious stupor as usual. His constant ramblings and stuffy musings entertain like no other. Bruce was born to play Watson. I adore this portrayal as it is always fun.
Notably, Dressed to Kill includes an appearance of Holmes' foil and femme fatale, Irene Adler, on the big screen. Adler is portrayed by actress Patricia…
Review by Isaiah ★★★½

Meh. Not the best.
Review by ryan luis rodriguez

w/ RiffTrax Presents!
Review by Martin Kelly ★★★

Patricia Morison plays a worthy adversary in the cat & mouse game that forms the basis of this very pleasant, final entry in the Rathbone/Bruce series. Gets extra points for making mention of 'A Scandal in Bohemia'...
Review by Fint ★★★½ 2

Dressed to Kill was always destined to be the last of the Rathbone/Bruces. Basil had decided to destring his violin and hang up his pipe as Sherlock Holmes on screen and on radio, but his decision became definitive after Roy William Neill, the producer and director of the bulk of their outings at Universal, died at the end of 1946.
They went out on a medium high - not a glorious peak but a hill with a good view. The perplexing plot is very effective, even as it recycles elements from Conan Doyle that had already been used during the series, there is a delightfully scheming villainess in Patricia Morison and the script is intelligent and playful.
Most importantly of…
Review by Beautifulkiller ★★★½ 2

Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce played Holmes and Watson for the last time on film in "Dressed to Kill," a 1946 film loosely adapted from one of Conan Doyle's stories, but done in modern dress. That was originally to enable the series to be produced as propaganda films during the war.
This one features the mysterious thefts of plain, cheap music boxes from their owners, one of whom is a friend of Watson's and is murdered. It's up to Holmes to put together why the boxes are so valuable.
The beautiful Patricia Morison, who starred on Broadway in the original "Kiss Me Kate" a couple of years later, and went on to be a replacement Anna in the original "King…
Review by Jason Frantz ★★★

Not a bad one to end on at all. Stinky is an interesting looking fella.
Review by Sayantan Mitra ★★

Quite lame. Even Dr. Watson almost solved everything.
Review by Joel Edmiston ★★★

If Basil Rathbone is my most watched actor this year, I'll be so fuckin mad.
Review by KarhuAnderson ★★½

Nigel Bruce is the worst Watson.
Review by ninedin ★★★½

One of my favourite Holmes movies from the Rathbone era, with a fine role of Patricia Morison as not-quite-Irene Adler.