MartinHafer While IMDb says that this was based on a Conan Doyle story, you'd have a hard time recognizing the original. That's because so many details were changed and the entire Moriarty plot line was ridiculous--having nothing to do with the original stories. For the Sherlock Holmes fans out there, Moriarty died at Whisteria Falls--and the whole angle about Holmes going into retirement is poppycock. What also is VERY problematic for me, and it's less because it violates the Holmes canon, is the way the story is told. About half the film is told in flashback!!! What a sloppy and boring way to tell a story! Overall, because of the many problems, this is among the worst of the Arthur Wontner films of Sherlock Holmes. There are some very, very good ones and some bad ones. This is a bad one--due less to the acting and more for the bizarre and convoluted storytelling.

Michael O'Keefe This is the fourth film of five with Arthur Wonter in the title role. A faithful adaptation of Conan Doyle's The Valley of Fear. Holmes(Wonter)and partner Dr. Watson(Ian Fleming)investigate a mysterious murder at the Birlstone Castle. The murder seems tied in with a secret society of coal-miners from America. Holme's arch-enemy Professor Moriarty(Lyn Harding)appears to have conspired with an American gangster(Ben Weldon)to kill a Pinkerton agent trying to break up the covert society. This may not be on par with other Sherlock Holmes movies, but still provides it chills and thrills. Note that Fleming is not the famed James Bond author. Other players include: Charles Mortimer, Roy Emerton, Jane Carr and Michael Shepley.

Jim Land The movie opened in 1935 and appears to be set in the 1930s. The original Arthur Conan Doyle serial, from which the screenplay was written, was published in 1914-15, and was set in the 1880s.The movie's flashback to the U.S.A. introduces the Scowlers, a secret society of thugs. The fictional Scowlers appears to be based on the Molly Maguires, an actual secret society of immigrant Irish coal miners in eastern Pennsylvania, USA, in the 1860s and 1870s. They were set up as a secret network of local committees, and they did not brand their members, since they wished to remain anonymous.Conditions in the mines were abominable, as this was long before child labor laws, a minimum wage, suitable standards on working conditions, or any organized form of labor union. The Mollies fought back with threats, beatings, riots, and murder against abusive mine owners, supervisors, police, and anyone who spoke out against them.The powerful owner of many coal mines hired the Pinkerton Detective Agency to infiltrate the society, and one of their detectives managed to join the Mollies and stay under cover for nearly five years. When his investigation was finished, trials in were held, twenty convicted society members were hanged, and the Mollie Maguires were history.So the film's use of a local committee of thugs, and the triumph of the Pinkerton Detective Agency, are quite realistic, based on Pennsylvania history.

jlnic I bought this DVD at a local discount store for a buck due to the fact that it stated that Basil Rathbone was staring in it. I liked Basil Rathbone played Holmes. You get what you play for. The lead in this film was played by Arthur Wontner. The plot of the film had a good plot of pacing for an early sound film of the thirties. The film itself was a fine film. But I go have a few minor complains.Possible spoiler1. Professor Moriarty was played as a 1930's gangster instead of the British upper-class anti-Holmes.2. The Scowlers ( the secret society of coal miners is right out of the 19th Century not the 20th Century). The dangers of updating older books.3.It would fall to the American Government to investigate a criminal gang and not a private agency like the Pinkertons.4. Professor Moriarty as a Crimelord would not go in person to pickup the Hit-man , but would instead get an underling to do it.Other then that it was a good Holmes movie.