Paul Evans An original story I guess which drew a little from The Final Problem. For my humble opinion, the story itself is excellent, it's very dark, and would almost work today, fitting the bill for today's demand for the dark and grizzly. The aspects of it I enjoyed, as I say I liked the story, I loved the hypnotism theme, that was cleverly done, the knitting needle etc. The scene showing the young lady going to her room at the beginning was genuinely terrifying. On the downside it's one of the very few entries in the series I find extremely dull, it feels quite slow, it plods along, lacking a little pace and imagination. The usual female villain has become a little bit of a cliché, she's beautiful, sinister and able to seduce him (seemingly.) Henry Daniell was not my favourite Moriarty by any stretch, I found him to be very wooden, although Hillary Brooke was great as Lydia. It's worth watching, but unlike Spider woman and The scarlet Claw it's not easily one to watch regularly. 6/10

Eric Stevenson I can understand why it was hard to tell what a true sequel to anything was back in the 1940's. The title "Part II" wasn't used until "The Godfather: Part II"! Anyway, this movie was quite satisfying, although I admit that it did get weaker in the second half. It's still worth looking at. It was nice to see Professor Moriarty here. I'm not even really a "Sherlock Holmes" fan, but the character is so popular I would know about the other elements in the series. Basil Rathbone was the most prolific Sherlock actor and in the longest running series of movies. It's weird to reference a "Woman In Green" when everything's in black and white! It gets interesting when they start talking about hypnotism. Sherlock Holmes was created to promote skepticism and I believe they get it pretty scientifically accurate here. These films were short films. What I mean is that they weren't short films. They were feature length films that were short by those standards. I guess it can get pretty confusing to classify the difference. The performances are fine and it's all quite authentic. ***.

Cristi_Ciopron Hillary Brooke blesses this movie with her ineffable ease and subtlety, while Holmes watches for the public good. The movie is stylish and enjoyable (despite the absurd script, with some quite stupid subject matter, though it began well, with forebodings of a Ripper copycat), and Henry Daniell as Moriarty is vastly superior to the workmanlike Rathbone; Moriarty gives dignity to every scene he's in. Now to be fair, even in the stories, the mastermind was unlike all the rest, a less good idea of the author, but here Rathbone gets saddled with an over-the-top script, and the movie feels like another episode in one of the '60s TV series. Rathbone's role resembles a Dr. Who, with that unmistakable proletarian drive, an intellectualized proletarian, with none of the _reclusiveness nor the intensity (that gave him a certain eeriness) of the literary Holmes, Rathbone's Holmes is unintellectual and even a bit placid, save for the occasional bursts of energy, another person altogether, although, at Lydia's home, he looks a bit like Poe, the writer; but otherwise, his Watson is almost better. Rathbone is a good actor, here he is simply out-shined, surpassed by others in the cast.Genre-wise, it's not a mystery movie, but a melodrama, albeit a 'Universal' picture, immeasurably helped by some of the actors (H. Brooke, Daniell, Bruce). Apart from the script (a pure love letter to '40s melodramatic rubbish), it's an exciting movie, nicely crafted, with fine cast, production values, and directing; that is: they each stood for their rights, and worked with what they had, and got through.

binapiraeus Now, how many times have we seen Professor Moriarty 'die' before our own eyes? And now we learn that he's allegedly been hanged in Montevideo a year ago - and yet, when an eerie murder series starts in London, with the victims all being young women from completely different backgrounds, and from their bodies always being one finger missing, instead of a 'homicidal maniac', as Watson suggests, Holmes again is sure that his literally... indestructible arch-enemy is at his diabolical work again...His investigations lead him to believe that hypnotism is involved (which makes Watson even more disbelieving...) - and he finally decides to let himself be 'hypnotized' as well by that mysterious 'woman in green' who's obviously collaborating with Moriarty...A clever and rather creepy plot, some pretty suspenseful moments; but otherwise, especially for those who've seen many 'Sherlock Holmes' adaptations, more or less routine stuff: Holmes against Moriarty - once again...