Holmes is asked to escort the prince of a tiny European nation to his homeland – in the end-of-war spirit, the ruler’s presence is essential for democracy. While Holmes goes in a plane, Watson is sent off on a boat. Around 20 minutes in come reports that Holmes has died in a plane crash – do you think he’s really dead? Of course he isn’t, and we find out fairly soon that he isn’t, but they already did this in The Spider Woman and it’s even more irritating here.
Most of the film takes place on a ship which you think is an interesting setting, but it quickly gets tired. There’s a lot of walking around, and murder attempts. Some of the actors playing assassins are ok but the prince is bland as cardboard and there’s all this time spent on a not particularly interesting singing character. The twist at the end isn’t bad (that the bloke you think is the prince is actually a stand in) but by then it’s too late – and it’s been used as a twist too often (eg The Narrow Margin).
Bruce’s Watson is particularly dim in this one, being of little help to Holmes (although he does regale passengers with the story of the Rat of Sumatra, and sings “Danny Boy”). They play up the Watson-and-Holmes-as-an-old-married-couple angle in this one – watch the bit towards the end where Holmes is practically sitting in Watson’s lap.
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