“The cut-throats of the world menace us all. You can help stop this savagery.”
During WW II Sherlock Holmes (Basil Rathbone) is called into the "Inner Council" of British Intelligence by Sir Evan Barham (Reginald Denny). Nazi saboteurs have been operating in Great Britain. In radio broadcasts someone who calls himself “The Voice of Terror” has been announcing their destructive intentions as they are happening. They ask Holmes if he can help in finding the saboteurs and put and end to the terror and destruction. Not everyone on the council is happy about bringing Holmes into the situation.
One of Holmes’ operatives, Gavin (Robert Barron) staggers into Holmes’ lodgings at 221B Baker Street and falls dead. His last word was Christopher. Holmes and Watson go to a pub in the Limehouse district of London. They enlist the help of Gavin’s girlfriend Kitty (Evelyn Ankers).
Holmes deduces that the broadcasts are from a pre-recorded phonograph record. The record is made in England but played in Germany. A tip from Kitty sends Holmes and Watson to the old Christopher Docks. Sir Anthony Lloyd (Henry Daniell) of the council follows them. They are captured by some Nazi spies. Their leader is a man name Meade (Thomas Gómez). They manage to escape but Meade gets away. Kitty follows Meade. Pretending to be a thief she is taken in and sheltered by Meade. He brags to her of his plans. Plans to take over the world.
“Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror” was released in 1942 and was directed by John Rawlins. It is the third of the 14 Rathbone/Bruce collaborations and is the first to be produced by Universal Studios. In 1942 Universal Pictures closed a $300,000 deal with the estate of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to make this series of Sherlock Holmes features. The option would last for 7 years and provide access to 21 of the original short stories. Ultimately 12 films would be made, all starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce, reprising the roles they had already played on screen and on radio but this time they would be set in contemporary times. The first that pitted the celebrated Victorian heroes against the Nazis.
During the timeline of Doyle’s stories Holmes lives in London at 221B Baker Street. At that time there was no 221 Baker Street. The street numbers only went up to number 85. In 1930 some streets were changed and Baker Street was extended. Baker Street was by that time a real address. When the building was demolished a new building was erected. It housed the Abbey Road Building Society from 1932 to 2002. Abbey commissioned a statue to celebrate Holmes and hired someone to handle the mail that arrived for Sherlock Holmes.
In March of 1990 221B Baker Street was assigned to the Sherlock Holmes Museum by the Westminster City Council. It created some controversy. It meant the street numbers were out of sequence on the street. Then there was the question of who would answer the mail addressed to Mr. Holmes. In 2005 Abbey National left their headquarters in Baker Street. At that point the museum was given the right to receive Sherlock Holmes’ mail.
On October 24, 1902 Arthur Conan Doyle, because of his services to the Crown, was Knighted Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.