Such a frustrating disappointment

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

Holmes is very much in his guise as World War II spy agent, which sees him and Watson attempt to keep alive Doctor Tobel, an engineer who's developed a new and vital weapon.Created for the audience of the time, the characters seem a little removed from Conan Doyle's creations. In deed the only scraps visible are a reference to the dancing men and an appearance from his Nemesis Professor Moriarty. It has a cheaper feel to it somehow, very much the b movie it was made as.Not a huge deal of character work for Rathbone or Bruce to work with, but they're fun enough. Lionel Atwill's Moriarty I hate to say for me doesn't work at all, not a fan of the character he brought. It's clunky somehow, the camera work seems a bit slow and clunky.It's not hugely engaging by any means, but it's a watch for Sherlock fans, 7/10

This one is really fun - very interesting movie. Sherlock as has gotten Dr. Franz Tobel out of Switzerland and must keep him safe - for Tobel has a secret weapon against the Nazis. Moriarty has sided with the Nazis and wants to get his hands on the Tobel's weapon to sell to the Nazis for profit and status. It is up to Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson to keep Tobel & his secret weapon safe from Moriarty and the Nazis.The mystery takes a few twists and turns that are unexpected. Great fun to watch Basil Rathbone in the many disguises of Sherlock Holmes and to see Lionel Atwill in a wickedly diabolical role once again.This one is definitely worth watching - it's just over an hour long and a fun hour it is.8.5/10

This Holmes' film and the story it is supposedly based on, "The Adventure of the Dancing Men", bear little resemblance to one another. The latter takes place in Victorian England. A country squire calls upon Holmes because some hieroglyphics in the form of little dancing men has his wife terribly upset. When Holmes deciphers the code he realizes the squire and his wife are in terrible danger and rushes to warn them only to find he has arrived too late. It is among the most imaginative and entertaining of all of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's short stories about the famous detective.In the film version we are transported about fifty years into the future with World War II still in progress. A Swiss scientist has invented a bomb-sight which would spell disaster for the allies should it fall into enemy hands. Sherlock Holmes is called in to help get the scientist and his invention out of Switzerland and into Britain where it is hoped this important weapon will be handed over to British authorities. Instead, the scientist has other plans and divides his bomb-sight into four parts and gives one each to four people he has chosen. However, he takes the trouble to write down a message of little dancing men with instructions that it be given to Holmes should he turn up missing. When that becomes the case, Holmes finds himself face to face with his greatest adversary, Professor Moriarty, who has turned against king and country for the ample reward he will gain for delivery of the bomb-sight.There are a number of plot holes, one of them being the speed at which Holmes is able to decipher the message of the dancing men without the aid of a key. In the original story it takes hours of study for him to do so. Here he does it instantaneously just glancing at the text, a virtual impossibility. However, this occurs to keep up the pace of the film, which never lags. All the Sherlock Holmes Universal pictures are great fun, even the lesser entries such as this one. We see Holmes in disguise no less than three times, the most interesting one being the course brutal seaman designed for the purpose of being taken to the crime boss, who, as played by Lionel Atwill, always seems to be a step or two behind the resourceful detective. Holmes, however, must rely on the aid of his faithful associate, Watson, and Inspector Lestrade to get him out of some tight spots. This is one time neither of them is shown bungling things up as they actually handle matters quite well. Watch for Moriarty's "the needle to the end" comment, an obvious reference to Holmes' cocaine usage. Though "Secret Weapon" doesn't measure up to the short story the credits say it is based on, it has merits of its own. Rathbone and Bruce never fail to deliver.

I was a little puzzled by the opening scene with Rathbone in disguise and involved in a heavy conspiratorial discussion in a beer bar. It seems like a set-up scene is missing. At times, plot developments are difficult to follow, although the core conflict is a solid one-- the Allies must get an innovative new bombsight before the Nazis. Unlike most entries in the series, this one lacks an icy spider woman like a Gale Sondergaard or a Hillary Brooke. Instead, Holmes is dueling it out with his arch-nemesis Prof. Moriarty, the sinister Lionel Atwill in an unusually understated performance. The final 20 minutes adds up to a pretty good nail-biter. Having Scotland Yard race against time before Holmes is bled to death is both novel and suspenseful. Then too, cracking the "dancing man" code makes for another intriguing sequence. Based on a Conan Doyle short story "Dancing Men", the screen adaptation cleverly integrates Doyle's material into modern tale of espionage. Of course, WWII was still hanging in the balance in 1943, which explains Holmes' stirring brief soliloquy to plucky little England at movie's end. Out of that context, it now sounds rather artificial. Nonetheless, except for occasional gaps in story development, this is an engaging and atmospheric little programmer.