There is a break-in at the Bank of England. A security guard is killed, but nothing is taken. What they did find is a piece of brown wrapping paper. Sherlock Holmes determines that someone struggled with the watchman, broke into the vault and left the paper. The question is why? Holmes further deduces that the man responsible for the break-in is Professor Moriarty. Inspector Lestrade (Philip Hewland) questions the existence of Moriarty.
Ronald “Ronny” Adair (Leslie Perrins) is playing bridge with Colonel Henslowe (Norman McKinnel), Thomas Fisher (William Fazan), and Tony Rutherford (Sydney King). Ronny always wins. His sister Kathleen (Jane Welsh) is beginning to suspect that Ronny is cheating. She asks family friend, Doctor Watson (Ian Fleming), to speak to Sherlock Holmes (Arthur Wontner) about her brother.
Before Holmes can speak to him Ronny is kidnapped and brought blindfolded to a room. Inside the room Ronny hears a voice coming from behind a portrait of a sleeping cardinal. The voice knows that Ronnie is a diplomatic attaché and is scheduled to go to Paris. He also knows that Ronnie has diplomatic immunity, and his luggage is never searched. He tells Ronnie that he will receive a suitcase that he is to take with him to Paris. He tells Ronnie that he knows he has been cheating at cards and blackmails him.
Later Ronnie is found dead. He was shot in the head, but he is in a locked room and no gun is present. Holmes determines that he was murdered by someone sitting in a tree outside the window. By now he has also figured out that during the break in at the bank 75,000 pounds was taken and replaced with counterfeit money. The money was to be given to Ronnie to take to Paris. Ronnie decided not to do it and was killed. He also believes that Moriarty is behind everything, but he needs a plan to catch the arch criminal.
“The Sleeping Cardinal” AKA “Sherlock Holmes’ Fatal Hour” was released in 1931 and was directed by Leslie S. Hiscott. It is a British mystery film and one of five Sherlock Holmes movies that starred Arthur Wontner as the detective created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The movie is not based on any Doyle story but does take elements from “The Empty House” and “The Final Problem”. The Arthur Wontner series of films were released between 1931 and 1937.
At one time the film was believed to be lost until a copy was found in the U.S. Another film in the series, “The Missing Rembrandt” 1932 is still a lost film. The other films in the series are “The Sign of Four” 1932, “The Triumph of Sherlock Holmes” 1935 and “The Silver Blaze" AKA "Murder at the Baskervilles” 1937.
Warner Brothers, who produced the British film, didn’t expect the film to do well so it sold the rights to First Division Pictures. First Division renamed the film “Sherlock Holmes’ Fatal Hour” and released it in the U.S. The film was a hit and earned the New York critics’ cinema prize for best mystery drama. They were extremely pleased with Wontner’s interpretation of the detective. They referred to him as the definitive Sherlock Holmes.
Ian Fleming, the actor not the writer, was an Australian actor. His real name was Ian Macfarlane. Fleming played Dr. Watson in four of the five Sherlock Holmes movies that starred Wontner as Holmes.