Sherlock Holmes (a.k.a. Conan Doyle's Master Detective Sherlock Holmes) is a 1932 American Pre-Code film starring Clive Brook as the eponymous London detective. The movie is based on the successful stage play Sherlock Holmes by William Gillette, in turn based on the stories by Arthur Conan Doyle, and is directed by William K. Howard for the Fox Film Corporation.
Moriarty is sentenced to death, and Sherlock Holmes prepares to retire to the country and marry his fiancee Alice. But Moriarty has sworn that Holmes, Lt-Col Gore-King of Scotland Yard, and the Crown Prosecutor shall all be hanged too. When Moriarty escapes and proceeds to put his threat into operation, Holmes has to postpone his retirement.
Tropes:
- Badass Boast: Moriarty makes one the dock just before the judge pronounces his death sentence; proclaiming that Crown Prosecutor Erskine, Col. Gore-King of Scotland Yard, and Sherlock Holmes will all die before he does.Moriarty: The rope that will hang me has not yet been made.
- Beastly Bloodsports: In one of many Out Of Character Moments, Holmes and his fiancee Alice ride to the hounds on her father's estate.
- Bound and Gagged: Moriarty kidnaps Alice and Billy and keeps them bound and gagged in the cellar of the pet store as insurance.
- Canon Foreigner: Holmes certainly never had a fiancée in the original stories, and it is unlikely that Lady Alice will be turning up in any future adaptations.
- Carnival of Killers: Moriarty imports a cadre of ruthless foreign killers from New York, Paris, Berlin and Madrid to help him eliminate Holmes and take over the London underworld.
- The Convenient Store Next Door: Moriarty buys the pet store that backs in to Faulkner's Bank and has his gang tunnel through from the basement into the vault.
- Detectives Follow Footprints: On Holmes' instruction, Billy uses a powder that brings up the footprints on Erskine's carpet. The footprints lead to a blank wall and then away again. The footprints are deeper going to the wall than away from it, indicating the killer carried Erskine's body to a secret compartment behind the wall and left it there.
- Disguised in Drag: Holmes goes to visit Alice's father disguised as his 'Aunt Matilda'. The disguise is good enough to fool Moriarty who opens the door for 'her' as 'she' leaves the room.
- Dressing as the Enemy: Holmes knocks out Hans and takes his overalls, gloves and welder's mask to infiltrate Moriarty's gang as they tunnel into the bank.
- Faking the Dead: Holmes deduces Moriarty's scheme to frame him for Gore-King's murder, and conspires with Gore-King to fake the latter's death.
- Feather Boa Constrictor: A scantily-clad woman with a boa constrictor wrapped around her neck is one of the performers at the carnival where Moriarty has his hideout.
- Frame-Up: Moriarty frames Holmes for the murder of Gore-King.
- Hypochondria: Alice's father is a hypochondriac and spends much of his time onscreen bemoaning his various supposed ailments.
- I Have Your Wife: Moriarty kidnaps Alice and holds her hostage to compel Faulkner into giving him the details of the safety deposit boxes and not reporting the robbery from the bank until after he and his gang are well away.
- In Case You Forgot Who Wrote It: The film's alternative title is Conan Doyle's Master Detective Sherlock Holmes.
- "Inescapable" Prison Easily Escaped: After being sentenced to hang, Moriarty escapes from his cell on death row and out of the prison.
- Mugged for Disguise: Holmes knocks out Hans and takes his welder's outfit—including full face mask—and uses to infiltrate Moriarty's gang.
- Protection Racket: New York gangster Homer Jones introduces an American-style protection racket—including bombings and drive-by shootings—to London. This provides enough chaos and keeps the police distracted so Moriarty can implement his master plan.
- Those Two Guys: The publican and his customer who do not interact with the main plot at all, and only seem to have been in included to provide Comic Relief (and pad the running time).
