I have to agree with about everyone here on two things: 1 - it's sad to see this great combination of Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce end its run of Sherlock Holmes films, and 2 - it's too bad it ended with a mediocre film.

The story involves several music boxes which are made in prison and sold at an auction. Whoever buys them, gets killed. (I was sorry to see Dr. Watson's friend "Stinky" bite the dust so early, as he was one of the more interesting characters.)

The main culprit is a deadly female who reminds Holmes of an ex-foe he has great respect for: "Irene Adler." This character is "Hilda Courtney" (Patricia Morrison).

Actually, if I was grading this, I'd give it a C for "average." It's not the worst one in the series, as some people think, but it's not riveting, either, and I can see why the guys decided to "pack it in" after this one. The end of World War II also signaled the end of this series as a number of them were WWII stories.

It was a wonderful ride. I own all of them in the series and have a high regard for everyone connected with the set. I still think Rathbone is THE Sherlock Holmes and always will be.

The final film of the Basil Rathbone-Nigel Bruce series of Sherlock Holmes stories ends the series on a high note. Holmes is battling a most ruthless foe in skirts in Dressed To Kill.

That foe is Patricia Morison two years away from her career role on stage as Lilly Vanessi in Kiss Me Kate. Dressed To Kill is not a whodunit, we know that she and her cohorts do at least two murders to achieve their objective. They nearly do in Holmes as well. The question is will Holmes and Scotland Yard get to the objective before the bad guys do.

Holmes and Watson get innocently involved enough when an old friend of Watson's reports an unusual crime to them. Edmund Breon is a collector of music boxes and a rather cheap ordinary one is taken from him, one that looks like something he recently purchased. Later on he's killed and the box they wanted stolen, but not until after Holmes as memorized the tune.

Among Sherlock Holmes's avocations is playing the violin and among his other gifts is an uncanny musical ear. That is of enormous importance in solving this case and why Patricia Morison and her henchmen are after the boxes.

I'm glad Holmes and Watson after World War II ended got back to just doing their crime thing. I always thought they were misused as propaganda symbols. Rathbone and Bruce go out on a high note in this series in Dressed To Kill.

After two very successful Sherlock Holmes movies (THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES and THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES),Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce moved on to a different studio. In these newer Holmes movies, attempts to place the duo in the correct era were completely abandoned and the dramas were contemporary. Many of them had to do with the war effort (since they were made during WWII) and they seemed to stray further and further from the Conan Doyle series. They are rather formulaic and interesting to B-movie buffs, but are at times an insult to the fans of the original stories. Fortunately, this movie was made after the war and in so many ways it was an improvement in the series. While the stories are still set in the present time (1946),the spirit of the original stories in much more obvious--with no reliance on ridiculous Nazi plots and so many themes that seem right out of the Conan Doyle stories. For instance, the basic plot of the three music boxes is pretty reminiscent of the Conan Doyle stories of "The Six Napoleons" and "The Blue Carbunkle". Also, there are repeated references to famous Conan Doyle/Sherlock Holmes stories (such as "The Scandal in Bohemia") and Holmes, like in the books, chides Watson for making his accounts of their adventures in THE STRAND magazine too sensationalistic (this was the actual magazine in which the Holmes stories actually appeared). Plus, happily, Holmes looked and acted a lot more like the original character. So, this movie, unlike some of it predecessors, had great respect for the audience and especially the devoted Holmes fans. It's just a shame, though, that once the series once again hit its stride that it ended! As for the film itself, it is not without some problems. Several times Holmes makes some pretty dumb mistakes--something the original could never have done. Would you like some examples? First, when one of the three music boxes is recovered by Holmes and it is part of the puzzle leading to stolen British 5 pound note plates, why didn't he simply destroy the box so it would ensure that the bad guys wouldn't figure out the puzzle? Second, if the box is so darn important, why would he leave the box guarded so poorly? The Nigel Bruce version of Watson was a lot dumber and useless than the Watson in the stories or the great PBS series, so why would a brilliant man like Holmes rely on this mumbling idiot? But, the film also is a plus for a pretty good plot, decent supporting acting, excellent pacing and a reverence for the material. A good film, though I would argue that even the best of these Holmes movies were not as good as the 1980s PBS/British Holmes TV shows (but that's a topic too great to really discuss here).