The Man Who Was Sherlock Holmes (1937)

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

From the beginning to the end, this is an absolutely enjoyable film. Not only thrilling and offering more than one good mystery to solve, and full of surprises from the first sequences to the very end, but also played by both Albers and Rühman with a good-humored touch that suits them perfectly and adds to this new look upon Holmes and Watson. Albers had been a comedian before his detective role in Der Greifer (1930) brought him movie fame, and was also a good singer with an easy style; and Rühman was known for these kind of roles and was an established comedian. Yet this is not strictly a comedy, but a merry detective mystery story.The story begins at night, when two men with a strange resemblance to Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson stop a train and board it in a hurry. Word quickly spreads amongst the staff and passengers, to a couple of crook´s despair. Their two compartment neighbours, orphaned sisters in their way to receive an inheritance, are to be met again by our not so disinterested heroes, adding a romantinc touch. And if Marieluise Claudius and Hansi Knoteck appear at first as simple charming young girls, their importance in the development of the events to come is more than it seems. When our heroes reach Brussels they soon get involved in trying to solve the robbery of the valuable Mauritius stamps at the World Exhibition. So don´t miss a detail and enjoy what´s coming.Only a couple of weak points : even if the Sidney Paget drawings decorating the opening credits become amazingly tuned into Albers´ image in the train magazine, Holmes is lean and angled, by no means that rugby-built type of man; and Watson is not at all a secondary reticent man but a true companion that has his own mind and intelligence, something that at least can be occasionally noticed in this film (so Rühman was luckier than Nigel Bruce). But that, of course, is part of the originality of this story. Conan Doyle, on his side, had nothing to do with the gaudy tipsy innkeeper type, being a serious-looking Scottish who instilled his characters with intelligence and subtle irony. Lacking this introverted sharpness both Arthur Wontner and Jeremy Brett amply displayed, Albers has his own strong personality that brings the character into his own without loosing his principles, nor the ones of his role for that matter. This is a film made in pre-war Germany, when things were getting difficult for a man (Albers) líving with the daughter of a Jewish actor and playwright and Rühman about to divorce his Jewish wife. It is a goal of the entire film crew that this is not noticed at all, offering us a highly entertaining, witty and impeccably timed story that has retained its qualities through the years.

Two men, when mistaken to be Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, quickly accept the benefits of the mistaken identity, only to later be saddled with some of the responsibilities as well. Watched on DVD in German with English subtitles.This film was enjoyable on many different levels...As a comedy, the humor is subdued, but well done.As a mystery, I was kept guessing as to character motivations as well as the story's final outcome, until the very end.As an adventure, there is a nice build up to a climactic scene where the main characters are facing certain doom at the hands of villains. And as Nazi propaganda, it is so subtle and well done that neither of the other reviewers to date have recognized it. (One said there is no propaganda and the other says the British are portrayed as criminals, which I suppose is technically correct, if you can see propaganda in having English criminals in a story set largely in England.) The propaganda comes from the perspective of Germans being the master race, superior to all others. The only character in the film specifically identified as German is the young boy who has walked from Berlin to attend the exposition where valuable stamps are on display. German superiority is shown as the young boy walks across Europe unassisted, recognizes the stamps as forgeries (a fact missed by the experts from other countries), and is the one who validates the real stamps when they are recovered in the end. The British are not only too dumb to recognize the forgeries, but too foolish to even know that there is no Sherlock Holmes in real life,... that Holmes and Watson are fictional characters. (This fact gets brought out in the end.)Germans watching this film in 1937 got a subtle reinforcement of their superiority over all others, without interfering with a good story.I recommend catching this film if you get the chance. From any of the perspectives above, you get a well done film.

Yes there was propaganda but it was light. It was anti British,although subtle.In spite of that it was very funny and Entertaining. What was the propaganda?Two crooks were playing Sherlock and Watson disguised as humor. The idea was to portray the British as a bunch of crooks. I saw that in my naked eyes.Now there was another Nazi made Sherlock Holmes .There might have been different type of propaganda very lightly too. Hans Alber was a very good as the crook,Morris Flint, more American than British, who takes on the role of Sherlock just to get a free ride on the train.Heinz Ruhmann , who plays,Macky McPherson, what a name, as the assistant crook. This character is more worried about being caught as Morris goes deeper in risk.Because of the clothe that Morris steals, every one in the train believes he and Macky are Sherlock and Watson.They both check on passengers pass port , so they can stay on the train. Two women they check Mary Berry, played by Marie Luise Claudius, and Jane Berry , played by Hansi Knotic. They had entertaining a bunch of crooks who ran out of the train when they discover Sherlock and Watson was on the train.Morris and Macky take advantage of this faking when they use it to get a room in the expensive hotel.There are other crooks at the hotel.A vamp,Madam Ganymar played by Hilde Weissner and partner Fred, played by Angelo Fararri. They are waiting on some stuff. That stuff end up at the hotel room of Morris and Mackpherson. They both take advantage of it but they get suspicious of the money. But the police call on them ,thinking they had caught them, but as the two detectives. Somebody has stolen a valuable stamp. A young stamp collector has walked all the way from a Heimat village to see the stamps. Fred and Ganymar discovered that the two aren't Sherlock or Watson and took their stuff. When both crooks go back to the Hotel, they are confront by Fred and Ganymar. If they don't give the other crooks the money , they will reveal the other persons secret to the police. The two Berry Sisters are at their Uncles castle, He died and they inherited it but the Butler and the lawyer does not know where the money island are afraid to let the two sisters know. This leads to Morris and Mcpherson to the castle to find the stamp. They discover that the girls uncle was a counterfeiter . They both have trouble telling these women that their uncle was crooked. The head of the police are mad because they had duped the police that two crooks had played Holmes and Watson. So they go to the castle to have them arrested, They by pass them. The two sisters go back to the city. Both Morris and McPherson defeat the crooks and are found not guilty.They get together with the sisters. Now the propaganda was light. That is Goebbels took advantage of the plot to demote British. Available at amazon.com an German war films

Hans Albers & Heinz Rühmann are at their very best in this hugely entertaining film. Albers & Rühmann pretend to be the famous duo Holmes & Dr. Watson and the police, the gangsters and the girls believe them beyond any doubt. The direction is so smooth and has the best of comic timing as any Lubitsch film might have. Even today, the film has not lost it's tempo, witt and adventures style. Whoever thinks, German film makers only made propaganda pictures during the dictatorship, are dead wrong. Try to get a VHS copy, sit back and be drawn into the hillarious adventures of THE MAN WHO WAS SHERLOCK HOLMES.