“Well Watson. We’re off to Washington at once.”
On a train headed for Washington DC John Grayson (Gerald Hamer) is kidnapped and then murdered. Turns out he is a British secret agent named Alfred Pettibone. He was carrying a vital secret document and was on his way to deliver it in the US. The British believe that a German spy ring is responsible for Pettibone’s disappearance. The British government turns to Sherlock Holmes (Basil Rathbone) for help.
Holmes deduces that Pettibone converted the document to microfilm. Holmes and Doctor Watson (Nigel Bruce) head for Washington DC. Since other passengers on the train have been accosted in one way or another, Holmes is certain that the spies haven’t gotten hold of the document yet. Holmes finds out that a room at a hotel had been reserved for him but not by the US government. He decides to go to the hotel to see what happens. A trunk is delivered to his room. Inside the trunk is the body of Alfred Pettibone. Holmes thinks that the spies are trying to throw him off the track.
Before he died, Pettibone managed to surreptitiously pass the microfilm to someone on the train. Pettibone had hidden it inside an American match book. He used it to light the cigarette of Nancy Partridge (Marjorie Lord), a Washington debutante and bride to be. He then dropped it into her purse unnoticed. Nancy is unaware that she holds the film. At a party for her and her fiancé, Lt. Pete Merriam (John Archer), the matches get passed from hand to hand and end up back in the hands of Nancy. Nancy is then kidnapped by Richard Stanley (George Zucco) AKA Heinrich Hinkel, the head of the spy ring.
Holmes inspects the trunk Pettibone was stuffed into for clues. He finds several that lead him to believe an Antiques shop is a cover for the spies. He tracks down the ring at the shop. Pretending to be a customer he breaks a vase in order to have an audience with the owner of the shop. The owner is none other than the Stanley, or Hinkel. Hinkel is aware of who Holmes is and captures him at gun point. Holmes and Nancy are now at the mercy of Hinkel.
“Sherlock Holmes in Washington” was released in 1943 and was directed by Roy William Neill. It is the fifth of the fourteen Rathbone/Bruce collaborations of the Sherlock Holmes movies. It’s also the third that prominently features Nazi’s in some form. It is also an original story and has nothing to do with any of the Doyle stories.
The dubbed German version released in 1959 removed all Nazi references from the dialogue. The story of this edited version is about gangsters trying to get hold of a secret medicine formula that could be dangerous if in the wrong hands.
The "V for victory" match books were for war bonds and were not fictional. John Archer and Marjorie Lord, who play an engaged couple in this film, were actually married when it was made.
This one is the least liked of the series due to the attempted comic relief provided by Watson’s reaction to American culture and the obvious process screen images of Holmes and Watson in front of stock images of various American monuments. Even so it’s still an enjoyable movie. The best part was watching that match book bounce around from person to person.