"Clue...you know wots 'clue' is, doncha?" says hardened criminal Jonathan Small to his dim but strong accomplice. Small doesn't want any left behind during his quest for revenge and riches.
"Yeah...somethin' you sticks paper together with."
Years earlier Small had cut a deal with two British Army officers in an Andaman Islands prison. He'd share a treasure map with the two officers that marked the location of a rajah's ransom worth of sparklers and pearls in exchange for a four-way split and freedom for himself and his accomplice. He even marked the map with four crosses, the sign of four, to seal the deal. He was briskly betrayed. The officers took the map, found the jewels...and then one of the officers killed the other to keep everything for himself. And now that officer, rich and aged, dies of fright in his London mansion when he learns there has been an escape from a prison in the Andaman islands...two men, and one is named Small. But before he died and in an act of conscience he instructed his two sons to deliver to a Miss Mary Morstan, the daughter of the man he killed so long ago, the priceless pearl necklace that was in the treasure chest. With Small on the track to find the treasure and wreak his revenge, it's not long before Miss Morstan is pleading for help in the sitting room of The Great Detective himself. It is apparent that the case is intriguing, just as it's apparent that The Great Detective's good friend, Dr. John Watson, is smitten with Miss Morstan.
"I don't want to interrupt the violent flutterings of your heart," says Sherlock Holmes (Arthur Wontner) to Watson (Ian Hunter), "but perhaps you'd be interested to know that never in my career have I encountered a more intricate case." Or, perhaps, a more diabolical one. Jonathan Small is a one-legged brute who can kill with his wooden foot. He's an escaped prisoner, a murderer, shrewd and violent, skilled with a tattoo needle and sometimes called "the Professor." His associate, the convict Small took with him when Small escaped, is a dim- bulbed hulk, tattooed from neck to ankle and now called The Human Picture Gallery, who deals with problems by beating them or dragging a straight razor across the throat. And if you're frightened of nasty death by alkaloid poison smeared on the tip of a blowgun dart, try to avoid Tonga, a small Andaman native who is as adept at puffing out oblivion as he is keeping his boa constrictor warm. Holmes prevails, of course, but not before we've spent time in a dangerous sideshow, witnessed the kidnapping of Mary Morstan, and experienced a violent and deadly fight in a great, dark warehouse on the banks of the Thames. In this fight, fists, poison darts and lethal legs all come into play.
The movie is well paced, well acted and with a clever script. The use of overhead shots at dramatic moments is effective. So is the use of clever humor. The plot even bears some resemblance to the original story as it was written by Watson in 1890, using the name of his literary agent, Conan Doyle. In those days being seen as a popular author could damage a respectable medical doctor's reputation. Doyle understood this and was agreeable to the subterfuge when Watson suggested it. To this day, unfortunately, many people still believe that Doyle was the true author of the Holmes stories.
Arthur Wontner starred as Sherlock Holmes in five movies made between 1931 and 1937. He was in his late fifties at the time but is lean and commanding, with a great Holmes profile. Wontner was a good actor and holds his own in the company Brett, Rathbone and the others. It's also satisfying to see that Ian Hunter plays Watson as a reasonably intelligent man and a good friend, not simply a buffoon or foil for Holmes.
"Yeah...somethin' you sticks paper together with."
Years earlier Small had cut a deal with two British Army officers in an Andaman Islands prison. He'd share a treasure map with the two officers that marked the location of a rajah's ransom worth of sparklers and pearls in exchange for a four-way split and freedom for himself and his accomplice. He even marked the map with four crosses, the sign of four, to seal the deal. He was briskly betrayed. The officers took the map, found the jewels...and then one of the officers killed the other to keep everything for himself. And now that officer, rich and aged, dies of fright in his London mansion when he learns there has been an escape from a prison in the Andaman islands...two men, and one is named Small. But before he died and in an act of conscience he instructed his two sons to deliver to a Miss Mary Morstan, the daughter of the man he killed so long ago, the priceless pearl necklace that was in the treasure chest. With Small on the track to find the treasure and wreak his revenge, it's not long before Miss Morstan is pleading for help in the sitting room of The Great Detective himself. It is apparent that the case is intriguing, just as it's apparent that The Great Detective's good friend, Dr. John Watson, is smitten with Miss Morstan.
"I don't want to interrupt the violent flutterings of your heart," says Sherlock Holmes (Arthur Wontner) to Watson (Ian Hunter), "but perhaps you'd be interested to know that never in my career have I encountered a more intricate case." Or, perhaps, a more diabolical one. Jonathan Small is a one-legged brute who can kill with his wooden foot. He's an escaped prisoner, a murderer, shrewd and violent, skilled with a tattoo needle and sometimes called "the Professor." His associate, the convict Small took with him when Small escaped, is a dim- bulbed hulk, tattooed from neck to ankle and now called The Human Picture Gallery, who deals with problems by beating them or dragging a straight razor across the throat. And if you're frightened of nasty death by alkaloid poison smeared on the tip of a blowgun dart, try to avoid Tonga, a small Andaman native who is as adept at puffing out oblivion as he is keeping his boa constrictor warm. Holmes prevails, of course, but not before we've spent time in a dangerous sideshow, witnessed the kidnapping of Mary Morstan, and experienced a violent and deadly fight in a great, dark warehouse on the banks of the Thames. In this fight, fists, poison darts and lethal legs all come into play.
The movie is well paced, well acted and with a clever script. The use of overhead shots at dramatic moments is effective. So is the use of clever humor. The plot even bears some resemblance to the original story as it was written by Watson in 1890, using the name of his literary agent, Conan Doyle. In those days being seen as a popular author could damage a respectable medical doctor's reputation. Doyle understood this and was agreeable to the subterfuge when Watson suggested it. To this day, unfortunately, many people still believe that Doyle was the true author of the Holmes stories.
Arthur Wontner starred as Sherlock Holmes in five movies made between 1931 and 1937. He was in his late fifties at the time but is lean and commanding, with a great Holmes profile. Wontner was a good actor and holds his own in the company Brett, Rathbone and the others. It's also satisfying to see that Ian Hunter plays Watson as a reasonably intelligent man and a good friend, not simply a buffoon or foil for Holmes.