Dressed to Kill (1946)

Bad guy in prison knows the location of stolen loot and the cops are desperate to find out where. Cohorts on the outside need to buy junky music boxes because reasons. Watson’s buddy runs afoul of the bad guys, and Holmes is on the case.

It was nice to see old friend Ian Wolf again. This is our fifteenth film together and forth in the Holmes series. So, why Dressed to Kill? Maybe because the lady-baddy was a fancy dresser, but I suspect it’s because movies need titles. I understand the story (as is The Pearl of Death) is loosely based on Sir Doyle’s “The Adventure of the Six Napoleons” and not the 1980 Angie Dickinson/Michael Caine vehicle. There was also a silent film and a mostly forgotten noir-adjacent film from 1941 by that title.

Not exactly a mystery. We know who the bad guys are and what they are trying to accomplish. It’s just the nature and location of the loot, and what the music boxes have to do with anything, that we are to learn. And that’s just fine. Consistent in tone and complexity, these films are just fun to watch. Were I to complain, though, it would be where our heroes get into trouble by being absurdly dumb. I get it, if Holmes were always two steps ahead, there would be no danger or drama. But they aren’t supposed to be dumb, either. Holmes, anyhow.

This is my penultimate Holmes film and the last chronologically. I don’t know if I will miss them once I’m done and I doubt I will ever revisit them, but for now I am enjoying them. The last one will require a trip to the library. AMRU 3.5.