It's an excellent film of the splendid Sherlock Holmes Basil Rathbone series including two first-range nasties : one man , Henry Daniell as Doctor Moriarty and one woman, Hillary Brooke as an illusionist with malignant aims.

In the flick appears the usual of the Arthur Conan Doyle's novels : Mycroft (Sherlock's brother),Dr.Moriarty, Mistress Hudson , and of course Doctor Watson.

The film has a creepy atmosphere , it's in black and white with lights and shades that originate an eerie setting.

Set design is of first rate , the movie is very atmospheric ,the dark and gloomy slums of London are very well designed.

Basil Rathbone's interpretation is magnificent, he's the best Sherlock Holmes in the cinema , likeness to Peter Cushing and Jeremy Brett in television.

Basil Rathbone as Holmes plays in a clever, broody and impetuous manner.

Nigel Bruce plays as Watson with humor, goofy and joy , he's the perfect counterpoint to Holmes.

Rating : Better than average , 7/10 . Well worth watching .

Hilary Brooks' finest film, playing a beautiful sinister baddie - who's supposed to be in green in a b&w movie and no-one actually tells you she's in green either. Henry Daniell plays Moriarty colder than a refrigerator; George Zucco was mad and Lionel Atwill was pervy but imho I think Daniell was maybe better fitted to play the part of Evil Personified, being cold as ice. But I've always had a soft spot for Zucco however - what a team they made a few years before in SH in Washington! Brooks' housekeeper (subbing Mrs Danvers) and the actual murderer (only briefly seen) complete the Gang of Four.

Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce as Holmes and Watson are as usual marvellously embroiled in solving a series of particularly gruesome crimes - apparently the censors had their say - of murder and mutilation of young women in London. Inspector Lestrade's comedic touches were considered out of place in this one, so we had the extra stolid and rather wimpish Inspector Gregson instead. My daughter pointed out that when Brooks is hypnotising her prey both the characters look into a lily pond with a decidedly wrong reflection looking back! Unless we were both hypnotised into believing it!

But even if it's slightly sub-par it's still another enjoyable entry, at this distance and after 10 viewings I'd have loved a 3 hour directors cut of this to be suddenly found, but alas it will never be! A great (Definitive edition) print works wonders though.

"The woman in green" is the lovely Hillary Brooke. But what she to do with the Jack the Ripper fiend, now terrorizing London?

Of the 12 Universal entries in the Sherlock Holmes cycle, all starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce, The Woman in Green, alas, proves to be one of the weakest. This can only be described as a shame because there's nothing amiss with the players, the camera credits or the production values. In fact, all rate among the top entries in the Universal twelve.

As for the players, not only do Rathbone and Bruce acquit themselves in typically fine form, but the support cast headed by Hillary Brooke must be counted as one of the most pleasing in the series. In fact, critics have often singled out Henry Daniell as the most effectively sinister Moriarty of all time. Mind you, Daniell doesn't have the villainous equation all to himself, but receives superb support from super-seductive Hillary Brooke as the hypnotically radiant title character, as well as Sally Shepherd's evil housemaid and Percival Vivian's chillingly sadistic doctor. Harold de Becker's whining assassin-shoelace man must also be listed in this quartet of horror.

On the other side of the fence, Eve Amber (in her second of only two credited movie roles) shines as the briefly glimpsed but attractive heroine, while Mary Gordon proves as captivating as usual as the definitive Mrs Hudson. Special mention should be made of Frederick Worlock's deft fluency as a necromantic hypnotist (viewers are warned not to gaze too intently at his spinning wheel, or you're liable to go dizzy yourselves).

In this adventure, Rathbone forms a welcome alliance with Matthew Boulton (who also narrates),here playing an intelligent CID man for a nice change. Of course, although he admittedly makes a late entrance, Bruce receives a commendable innings too and actually has a suitably scary sequence all to himself when he enters and explores a supposedly empty house.

Roy Neill's fluid direction, ably enhanced by Virgil Miller's moodily atmospheric, strewn-with-shadows cinematography, raises no questions either. In fact, it's quite impossible to fault. The problem lies with the script. My advice is to just let it wash over you. The plot is so full of gaping holes, it makes no sense at all if you pry into Cavanagh's dilemma. Is he a surgeon? No! Any previous black-outs? No! Any