best movie i've ever seen.

A lot of fun.

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

DRESSED TO KILL (Universal, 1946), produced and directed by Roy William Neil, comes to a close with the studio's twelfth and final "Sherlock Holmes" installment (1942-46) starring Basil Rathbone (Sherlock Holmes) and Nigel Bruce (Doctor Watson). Acquiring a title already used for the 1941 "Michael Shayne" entry for 20th Century-Fox starring Lloyd Nolan, this DRESSED TO KILL, not an unofficial remake, is nothing more than an adaptation from an untitled story by its creator, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, this time involving inexpensive music boxes.Opening with an overview of what an off-screen narrator describes as, "Dartmoor Prison, isolated from the outside world by walls of granite," introduces one of two prisoners (later revealed as John Davidson, played by Cyril Delevanti), working on music boxes that gets shipped out monthly to the Gaylord Auction Room. Its auctioneer, Mr. Crabtree (Holmes Herbert), sells three identical music boxes to three individual buyers, Julian Emery (Edmund Breon), Evelyn Clifford (Patricia Cameron), proprietress of the Clifford Toy Store; and William Kilgour for his little girl (Topsy Glyn). An hour after the auction closes, Colonel Cavanaugh (Frederick Worlock), arriving too late for purchase the boxes in question, acquires the names and addresses of its buyers. Julian Emery (Edmund Breon), a collector, affectionately called "Stinky" by his former school chum, Doctor Watson (Nigel Bruce), interests his friend and colleague, Sherlock Holmes (Basil Rathbone) after being told by Emery of how his apartment was burglarized with only a music box stolen in the middle of the night. Later, Emery is found stabbed to death followed by Kilgour's daughter found bound and gagged inside a closet of her home by Holmes. With Holmes now on the case, assisted by Inspector Hopkins (Carl Harbord - filling in for Dennis Hoey as Inspector Lestrade), the ace detective realizes these are not just ordinary music boxes for that the tunes are identical, yet different. Narrowing down Hilda Courtney (Patricia Morison) to be the ring leader responsible for the murder of Sergeant Thompson (Tom P. DIllon) of Scotland Yard for tailing her, it's now up to Holmes to decoding the music box and motive behind all this.With Patricia Morison as the co-starring villainous, DRESSED TO KILL might have been a great opportunity for a return guest appearance of Gale Sondergaard matching wits with Sherlock Holmes as she did in THE SPIDER WOMAN (Universal, 1943). There's even a song ditty, "You Never Know Who You're Going to Meet" which clues in on Holmes getting to meet with another deadly female, Hilda Courtney, her associates, Colonel Cavanaugh (Worlock) and dagger throwing chauffeur, Hymie (Harry Cording). As in most, but not all Holmes escapades, Holmes faces a near death experience. In this instance, Holmes with mouth taped, gets lifted onto a suspended hook above, hanging by his handcuffed wrists, left inside by villains in a locked parking garage with the turned-on motor from an automobile exhausting poisonous fumes. Had this been a weekly chaptered serial, this particular scene would most definitely close with the title card, "To be continued next week." For this 72 minute feature, everything is presented in one seating for its viewers munching on popcorn or treating themselves with a basket of fish and chips.Though not quite a high note conclusion, at least the series itself didn't resume long enough to produce some really inferior products. For DRESSED TO KILL, it did indicate Watson to be Arthur Conan Doyle or being the writer of exploits to past Holmes cases submitted to Strand Magazine. It is also Watson who unwittingly helps Holmes with his case through some meaningless suggestions/ self verbal thoughts that prove valuable. Of the supporting players, including Ian Wolfe as The Commissioner, only series regular, Mary Gordon as Mrs. Hudson, appears very briefly. As much as Holmes happens to be the master of many disguises, only Patricia Morison shows how she's really dressed to kill (figuratively speaking) for one memorable scene. Whether intentional or not, regardless of how popular, everything must come to an end, including a film series such as this classic partnership of Holmes and Watson. Yet, for this final theatrical episode, it might have been quite elementary having Holmes announcing his retirement from crime solving for its fadeout. Though Holmes' retirement never take place on screen, Rathbone's retirement from the role actually did, but didn't end all possibilities for future Holmes theatrical mysteries in later years enacted by other notable British actors as Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee. Having fallen to public domain, DRESSED TO KILL, available on video cassette and later DVD from various distributors, in black and white or colorized formats, as well as presented on numerous public television and/or cable channels, especially on Turner Classic Movies (TCM premiere: March 8, 2004), is a satisfactory conclusion to a popular series that shows there's no place like Holmes. (**1/2)

Roy William Neil directed, and Basil Rathbone & Nigel Bruce star as Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson, all for the last time, as this proved to be the end of the series. Plot involves a crook in prison who had stolen unrecovered money plates of England and hidden them in three music boxes, which were sold at auction, prompting the murders of two of the buyers, as someone desperately wants possession of all three for nefarious reasons. Patricia Morison costars as a ruthless female criminal who is dressed to kill... Not bad finale has an interesting plot and good cast, though some clichéd silliness as well. Still, this was a reasonable send-off overall.

Dressed to kill is the final and fourteenth film in the Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce Sherlock Holmes film series. The movie is based on the Characters of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and although the plot is an original screenplay the movie features references to Conan Doyle's "A Scandal in Bohemia".The movie plot is quite interesting, as everything is based on a few musical notes that are out of place in a song, the music itself is a message, what the message is or what it is meant for is what our duo has to figure out.The plot is about three cheap musical boxes (each one playing a subtly different version of "The Swagman" and only one keen in hearing and with musical background can pick it up), the musical boxes were manufactured in Dartmoor Prison by one of its inmates and they were sold at a local auction house. The criminal gang meant to get the boxes, got to the auction a little late and all the boxes were sold to different owners, but the gang were however bent to recover the boxes by any means necessary, even if it means committing murder.Sherlock Holmes is called on board when a murder occurs and a musical box seems to be the target, so he has to try and recover the last of the musical box and crack the secret code contained in the tune before the gang can.Food for thought, in the movies Dr. Watson is portrayed to be much older than Holmes, and he does look it, as Nigel looks like he is 10 years Rathbone senior, but in real life Rathbone is 3 years older than Bruce, Bruce just looks older. Much talk had been around about the portrayal of Watson in this series, as he is portrayed as a bumbling fellow, who is just around and really doesn't add to Sherlock's detecting ability. While in the book and in subsequent remakes of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's characters, Watson is portrayed as an upright fellow, who is a necessary addition to Holmes detective ability.Dressed to kill is a good movie to see, as it shows our protagonist in a light of being one step ahead of the rest, we see him pick pocket with ease and escape death with the ingenuity of a fox. The movie is a nice ending to a beautiful pair and a wonderful film series.www.lagsreviews.com

As much as I enjoyed this final adventure for Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce as the world's greatest detective and his sidekick, I have to acknowledge the film's myriad of flaws: a champion of the truth like Holmes would want it that way.After so many fine adventures, it is a shame that the series ends with such a comparatively weak affair, the rather unexceptional story revolving around three musical boxes that hold the secret of the whereabouts of a set of stolen Bank of England printing plates. When these boxes are sold to three different customers at an auction, villainess Hilda Courtney (Patricia Morison) and her cronies turn to murder to get their hands on them. As Holmes and Watson get closer and closer to solving the mystery, the problems, plot holes and contrivances mount up: Watson is depicted as more of a fool than usual, the killers are extremely inept, and Sherlock cracks the case more by chance than by pure detection (irritatingly, his most important breakthroughs are wild assumptions based on casual remarks made by his portly pal).Of course, Rathbone and Bruce are as likable as ever as the iconic crime-fighting duo, and it's down to their marvellous chemistry and charisma that Dressed to Kill still manages to be reasonably diverting despite the movie's many imperfections.5.5 out of 10, rounded up to 6 for IMDb.