This blog was begun Sunday night, March 8th :
I'm a little punchy from the time change and getting up early for church, so if I fall asleep please forgive me. I was able to watch a movie, though, and at home of all places. I had no pressing errands, and because the TCM schedule for the evening did not look promising, I went back to The Tiny during my afternoon break and watched "Dressed To Kill"(1946), starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce. It's a Sherlock Holmes flick, as you can probably tell by their names. I found it in a search for Roy William Neil, who directed last week's superb Universal Noir "Black Angel". In my database search, I discovered that Neil was at the helm of several Holmes pictures. Having only seen one or two of them years ago, likely on late night tv with commercials, I decided it was time to give them a proper screening, beginning with this picture. Initially i was planning to watch it here at Pearl's, but because of the lack of an HDMI cable (mentioned in my last blog), I had to improvise. Normally I do not watch motion pictures in the afternoon, with the exception of an occasional trip to the theater, but today seemed a good opportunity to do so. Mainly, I needed a movie to write about. "Dressed" felt like a good choice, running 75 minutes which would leave me enough time for a CSUN walk.
The plot had to do with the search by Holmes and Watson for three small musical boxes, which were manufactured by a certain convict at a local prison. The man works in the prison's shop, where various items from birdhouses to pipe racks are crafted and sold in the outside world, to raise money for the prison administration. The musical boxes constructed by this inmate are plain and spare, and were sold at an auction house for rock bottom prices. All three of the boxes were purchased by collectors, each of whom regarded them as curiosities, compared to the elaborate and grandly detailed boxes in their collections. Strangely though, the boxes are being stolen. This comes to the the attention of Holmes through Dr. Watson, whose friend "Old Stinky" purchased one of the boxes. During a break-in at his home, Stinky was conked on the head by the robber, who for some reason made off with only the plain musical box while leaving behind dozens that were far more valuable.
At first, Holmes dismisses the case as insignificant, telling Old Stinky to file a police report (and I was surprised to discover that Sherlock was not himself a policeman. I always thought he was a detective with Scotland Yard). But when a second box is stolen with a similar m.o., Holmes snaps to attention. He's immediately on the case, directing Watson to question the auctioneer about the boxes. Why would anyone want to steal such ordinary looking trinkets?
In short order, Holmes is made aware of the origin of manufacture. He calls Scotland Yard for information on the specific prisoner who constructed the boxes. He's doing time for stealing the engraving plates for the Brrritttish (pronun) pound, which amounts to a counterfeiting charge. The plates were never found; he his them before he was arrested. Aha! Elementary, my dear Watson : The prisoner is using the musical boxes to send a message to someone in his circle, possibly about the location of the engraving plates!
Holmes locates the purchaser of the third box before it can be stolen. He has it x-rayed, but can discover no hidden message inside? Hmmmm......by what mechanism could the boxes convey their clues?
Watson : "I say, Holmes, could it be that he's using the music itself to send the message"?
Holmes : "That's it! Watson, old boy, I owe you a pint. Let's go down to O'Shaughnessy's, I want to talk to the piano player".
They head down to the pub, and Sherlock has the pianist transcribe the notes of the tune from the third box. I shant tell you what this leads him to deduce, but I will say it will lead him to an encounter with the stunning Patricia Morison (Tarzan and The Huntress, Song of the Thin Man), who was seen bidding at the auction where the boxes were sold.
Morison will prove to be a clever adversary for the Master Detective, formidable too, with a pair of thugs to do her bidding. As a side note, it should be mentioned that Miss Morison, who passed away in 2018, lived to be 103! She is great in this movie and has a look that's unforgettable.
I enjoyed "Dressed To Kill" very much, and should also mention an interesting tidbit. I was tired while watching, because of the time change as noted and just because of my hours and having gotten up early for church. Sometimes, if I am sleepy when watching a movie, I will nod off for five or ten seconds. Nothing more, just a few winks here and there. But when it happens, I always rewind to see what I've missed, and as I say, it's never more than 10 seconds.
But this time, with Sherlock Holmes, I didn't have to do that. Though I did nod off a few times, I could still hear the dialogue, and because Holmes is so articulate, and because he describes everything to exacting detail, I always knew what was transpiring and consequently never had to rewind, lol. So that's another great thing about Sherlock, he always keeps you up to speed.
BTW : Basil Rathbone is Sherlock Holmes, ditto Nigel Bruce as Dr. Watson. I've ordered some more of their films from the Libe (and I'm on the lookout for more Patricia Morison as well). Two Big Thumbs Up for "Dressed To Kill", a cracker of a crime flick old boy. ////
That's all for the time being. It's now Monday afternoon. On my break I'm gonna head over to Target. They have HDMI cables in stock, or so it says on their website. Hopefully I can find the right one for my player. I took Pearl for a nice walk up around Cantara Street School, so I've got two miles in already. After Target I'll do the rest on my own, either at CSUN or maybe Aliso if I have time.
Have an awesome day and I'll see you tonight at the Usual Time.
Tons of love! xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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