Synopsis: Wartime London is transfixed by mysterious radio broadcasts from “The Voice of Terror”, a German propagandist who taunts the British about their losses and promises that the Nazi war machine cannot be defeated. He seemingly directs German operatives inside Britain to attack strategic points — airplane factories and the like — and every time he promises that such a target will be destroyed, it immediately is.
Unable to stop the Voice of Terror, and fearful of the effect it is having on British morale, Sir Evan Barham (Reginald Denny) calls upon Sherlock Holmes (Basil Rathbone) and his associate Dr. Watson (Nigel Bruce) to consult on the case. Barham’s War Office colleagues, including the frosty Anthony Lloyd (Henry Daniell) are dubious that a private detective can be of any use in the matter, but they reluctantly agree to give Holmes a free hand.
Back at Baker Street, Holmes listens to a live radio broadcast of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, then listens to a broadcast of a recording of the same piece by the same orchestra. By using an oscilloscope he is able to detect a difference in the waveform between the live and recorded broadcasts.
From this he concludes that the Voice of Terror’s broadcasts are actually recordings made in England and smuggled back to Germany, their broadcasts timed to coincide with planned attacks.
That same night, Gavin, one of Holmes’ underworld operatives, shows up unexpectedly at his door, dying of a knife wound in the back. His last word is “Christopher”, which Holmes realizes must be a clue to unraveling the whole matter. He and Watson visit a dive bar in a bad part of town and meet with Gavin’s girlfriend Kitty (Evelyn Ankers) who is devastated to hear of his death. Holmes convinces her that her underworld connections can help solve the case and find Gavin’s killer. She gives a rousing speech to the barflies in the tavern and they agree to help find the meaning of Christopher.
Discovering that “Christopher” refers to the name of a dock on the Thames, Holmes and Watson go late at night to see for themselves, but discover that someone is following them. It turns out to be the supercilious Lloyd, who claims that he simply wants to help them in their investigation….
Comments: William Joyce was the New York-born child of an Irish immigrant family that had returned to Ireland when he was still a boy. He was educated in England and took a definite wrong turn in his life, joining the British Union of Fascists in 1932. When the war began in 1939, he fled to Germany and began a series of propaganda broadcasts for the Nazis in which he adopted a posh accent and exhorted the British people to surrender, highlighting many British military defeats along the way. Dubbed “Lord Haw-Haw” by the British press, his exhortations found a large audience, partly because he offered more detail about military defeats than the British government did. The identity of “Lord Haw-Haw” was a mystery for a time, though Joyce did eventually sign off the broadcasts using his own name. His career ended in 1945 just after the war did; he was captured, tried for treason and hanged.
Lord Haw-Haw’s radio antics were clearly the starting point for Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror, the first of Universal’s Sherlock Holmes films, and the first Holmes film to take place in a “modern” setting.
Like all the wartime Holmes films, this one is is intended to serve as propaganda as well as entertainment, with comic-book-level complexity. Unlike the Holmes of the short stories (who was a loner, a drug addict and kind of a weirdo) here he is reintroduced as a man of sterling character whose only interest is defending England. The “Inner Council” that has brought Holmes in to consult is shown to be competent and serious-minded –a sharp contrast to the dim-witted Scotland Yard detectives in the classic stories.
The “Voice of Terror” in this film is a man with a noticeable German accent (voiced by Edgar Barrier), and a spy believed to be operating in England. Holmes and Watson navigate the streets of the city after dark, looking for clues to his identity, and it’s pretty entertaining stuff. As a plus, we don’t have to endure Basil Rathbone in less-than-convincing disguises, or Watson’s tiresome comic relief. The movie is paced pretty quickly and we really don’t have time for either.
Aside from some errors in geography, the film does a pretty good job making Universal’s studio sets fill in for London, with a number of good British actors filling out the supporting roles, including the outstanding Reginald Denny and Henry Daniell. The one weak link is the American Evelyn Ankers, who does a less-than-convincing working class British accent, and her patriotic speech to the tavern ruffians is a bit hard to take (as I suspect it was even in 1942).
Holmes gets a patriotic speech in as well during the final moments of the film, which became a familiar feature of the wartime Holmes adventures.
The Mummy’s Hand
Synopsis: Archeologist Steve Banning (Dick Foran) and his sidekick / comic relief Babe Jenson (Wallace Ford) are down on their luck in Cairo. Unable to secure funding for their expeditions, they are preparing to return to America by steamship. But by chance Banning finds a broken pot at a bazaar that seems to indicate the location of the tomb of ancient Egyptian princess Ananka — a remarkable find, should it prove to be true.
Taking it to the Cairo Museum, Banning’s discovery is verified as authentic by museum curator Dr. Petrie (Charles Trowbridge). Unexpectedly, though, the influential Professor Andoheb (George Zucco) declares that the pot is a fake. Professor Andoheb knows perfectly well the pot is authentic. But he’s pulling double duty — not only is he the recognized expert on Egyptian artifacts, he is also the high priest of a secret order, chosen to guard the sanctity of Princess Ananka’s tomb.Banning and Jenson are discouraged, but by chance they meet an American stage magician (Cecil Kelloway) who agrees to bankroll their dig. What’s more, the magician has a beautiful daughter (Peggy Moran) who insists on coming along on the expedition.
Using the map on the pot as a guide, the expedition unearths a tomb – but it is not Princess Ananka’s tomb. Rather, it’s the tomb of Kharis. Unlike most mummies, Kharis has a job — he is Princess Ananka’s last line of defense. And it isn’t long before Andoheb shows up at the site, to bring the mummy to life with a potion of tana leaves, and instruct it to kill all those who would dare defile the tomb of the princess….
Comments: Unlike its contemporaries Dracula and Frankenstein, The Mummy (1932) had no direct sequels. Rather, eight years passed before the release of The Mummy’s Hand, a movie which might best be described — in modern studio parlance– as a “reboot” or “reimagining” of the original.
None of the characters from the first film appear or are referenced in this one. Even though footage from the first film is used, and a forbidden-love subplot is borrowed, Kharis, not Im-Ho-Tep, is the titular mummy; Princess Ananka stands in for Ankes-en-Amon; the Scroll of Thoth disappears, replaced by the device of the tana leaves; and instead of the somber Whemple family, we have two archeologists so light-hearted that one can imagine them being played by Bing Crosby and Bob Hope. (Well, I did imagine it; and spent the first third of the movie wondering if they were about to break into song or do their grating patty-cake routine with Andoheb’s goons.)
Perhaps the most radical change is the concept of the mummy itself. Ardeth Bey was shown to be physically frail, incapable of doing much of anything as a mummy, even an ambulatory one. Passing himself off as a modern Egyptian, his main weapon was hypnotic control. In The Mummy’s Hand, Kharis is more like a traditional zombie: largely unaware of its surroundings and incapable of reason. It is almost entirely under Andoheb’s control, a slave to the tana leaf potion which is always placed, like so many dog treats, in the tents of the men it is ordered to kill.
The Mummy’s Hand is clearly a lesser movie than its predecessor, but in spite of some glaring plot holes (why would the ancient Egyptians festoon pots and medallions with a map to a forbidden tomb?) it is still quite lively and entertaining.
Dick Foran is a passable though undistinguished lead, and Wallace Ford (whom you may remember from the goony Night of Terror) wears out his welcome rather quickly. Peggy Moran is supposed to be the love interest here, but she spends most of the time looking sour, marking time until she needs to be rescued in the third act.
All three characters are rather unceremoniously disposed of in The Mummy’s Tomb, but that still lies in the future. For now, we can admire the work of Cecil Kelloway, who plays the Great Solvani with infectious enthusiasm; and that old smoothie George Zucco, whom you may remember as the love-sick professor from The Mad Ghoul. And Tom Tyler does as well as one can expect wrapped in bandages, with his eyes blacked out frame-by-frame in each of his mummy close-ups.
Ladies, perhaps you’ve dated better-looking guys. I admit he needs to work on his personal hygiene. But he’s from a good family and he’s very loyal.
The Horror Incorporated Project 
