Sherlock Holmes "The Sign of Four"

The best of Arthur Wontner's Sherlock Holmes films, much of the credit for The Sign of Four is due to Graham Cutts' strong direction and some imaginative cinematography by William Luff and Alan Smith making much atmospheric use of overhead tracking shots. Ian Hunter's Watson is something of a liability, though: closer to Doyle's original vision of the character, he overdoes the interest in the opposite sex something rotten, turning into a virtual walking erection every time the leading lady appears, lasciviously rubbing his hands when he sits near her like a drooling melodrama villain. Amazingly, this technique actually works, as the foolish girl ends up marrying him. Perhaps she didn't get out much. Maybe I should try out the Watson technique myself...One curious note is the villain's decision to disguise his henchman Roy Emerton by covering him in tattoos - not much use when he wears a suit for the rest of the film. Sadly the public domain DVD takes a bit of effort: although decent prints do exist on UK TV, every expense has been spared for this Region 1 NTSC DVD release, so don't be surprised if you have to rewind to catch the odd line of dialogue thanks to a noisy soundtrack.

The story was typical Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, was his second Holmes story, and first appeared in Feb 1890.This was not the earliest filming of The Sign of Four; there have been at least thirteen! The first was a silent film made in 1913 starring Harry Benham as Holmes; the second in 1923 with Eille Norwood as Holms and Arthur Cullin as Watson. This film was the third movie and the first with sound. It was made in 1932 and starred Arthur Wontner as Holmes, Ian Hunting as Watson, and Isla Bevan as the client. As may be expected, the acting was more like a stage production than a movie, but was well done for the time period. The filming and sound were probably four stars in their day, but today seems a bit archaic; especially considering the technological improvements used in Gone with the Wind released only seven years later.For more details on the film and story, refer to Wikipedia under the following searches - The Sign of the Four, Arthur Wontner, and Sherlock Holmes.All this aside, if you enjoy Sherlock Holmes, you will enjoy this film and probably rate it four stars.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's excellent story.

I'm a Sherlock fan...so I enjoyed acting and story. If you don't like (or as the case with my husband), can't stand grainy old movies then do not watch this. Remember this is a CLASSIC film.

An enjoyable adventure with Sherlock Holmes into the world of old film footage in black and white. . It's amazing that this footage survived but it never fails to entertain and the popularity of Sherlock Holmes and Watson are a delight. Film has come a long ways and I highly recommend this one for a trip into the past.

this movie is very old but I enjoyed it greatly it is black and white which is right considering the age of the movie I really enjoyed it just what I thought it would be

Researching this on the IMDB shows this to be a 1932 version directed by Graham Cutts and starring Arthur Wontner and Ian Hunter as Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. The Amazon description says Ian Richardson and David Healy, who were in a 1983 TV movie version entitled "Sign of Four".

Grainy in full screen, but comedy abounds between Watson and Holmes and the police inspector. If you like old movies you'll enjoy. I Loved it.