Movie Review: Prelude to Murder (1946)
Synopsis: Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson join a murder investigation when one of Watson's friends is murdered soon after purchasing one of three identical music boxes from an auction. Holmes correctly assumes the people who purchased the other two boxes are also in danger and works to find out who is seeking the boxes and why before there are more murders.
The film also goes by the title Dressed to Kill.
Who's in it? The movie stars Basil Rathbone, Nigel Bruce, Patricia Morison, Frederick Worlock and Carl Harbord.
Review: It had been a long while since I last watched a Rathbone/Bruce Sherlock Holmes movie and when I came across Prelude to Murder on Amazon Prime, I decided to give it a try. While not one of my favorite Sherlock Holmes mysteries, it was still an OK choice.
I've said this before, but Rathbone remains my favorite Sherlock Holmes, despite all the others who have played the character. He plays the role with just the right amount of seriousness and arrogance, and Bruce's Watson rounds out the pairing perfectly. This movie did nothing to change my opinion about that.
The movie's main villain, Hilda Courtney (Morison), is one of my favorites from this series. She's cunning but, unlike other villains, has a moral compass. Her partners in crime had no issue killing for the boxes but Courtney herself seemed content to obtain them with little or no bodily harm to the victims. This made her a bit more unpredictable as a result because it was unclear how much of a line she was willing to cross and, if it wasn't enough of one, if one of her partners would do it for her.
I was a bit disappointed by the mystery itself because it was a little too easy for Holmes to solve. He was tipped off on the music boxes pretty much from the start and from there it wasn't much work to find out who made them and the possible motive for the crimes. Holmes even figured out why three music boxes were needed without breaking a sweat.
Obviously, with a runtime that wasn't much more than an hour, it wasn't as though they could make the mystery too elaborate. I just wish they didn't spell it out for the world's greatest detective and gave him some work to do. As I've said about other mysteries, if you make it too easy to solve, then there's no reason to believe anyone couldn't have done it.
Final Opinion: It's an entertaining movie, helped a lot by its stars and the supporting cast. As I said, it wasn't my favorite Holmes film, but I didn't hate it and would still recommend it.
My Grade: B
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Here are some reviews of other Sherlock Holmes movies:
Movie Review: The Hound of the Baskervilles (1959)
Movie Review: The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (1970)
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