Pursuit to Algiers
(1945), 65 min. b&w

Watson reads on the bulletin board that a small grey plane crashed over the Pyrenees and the occupants are assumed killed. Horrified, he believes that Holmes has been killed. But it turns out that Holmes and the young king have been hiding in a cabin on board the ship. Holmes suspected that the plane would be shot down, so he made arrangements to secretly board the ship with the king. He now asks King Nikolas to pose as Watson's nephew.

In the lounge, when Sherlock Holmes is introduced to Miss Woodbury, she looks shocked, and leaves without explanation. Holmes quips: "Really, Watson. I've never thought of myself as handsome, but that's the first time a woman has run away at the sight of me."

Three sinister-looking men come aboard the ship at an unscheduled stop in Lisbon: Gregor, Gubec and Mirko. Mirko looks familiar to Holmes, but Holmes can't place him.  It becomes clear to viewers that these three men are on a mission to kidnap the young king, and they are willing to kill Holmes in order to accomplish that objective. That evening Mirko attempts to kill Holmes by throwing a knife through the porthole of Holmes' cabin, but the knife hits an empty pillow and Holmes slams the porthole cover down on Mirko's wrist.

"How unfortunate, Mr. Mirko," remarks Holmes. "These porthole covers are notoriously treacherous. I am afraid you've broken your wrist. You shouldn't have played shuffleboard today, you know. When I saw that skillful hand and that unerringly accurate eye of yours, I remembered the Circus Medlano in Paris and your amazing exhibition of knife throwing. Goodnight!"

Now that we know the other passengers are no threat to the young king, Holmes effortlessly solves the mysteries of their suspicious behavior. He says it's not unusual for a woman traveling alone—in this case, Miss Agatha Dunham—to carry a gun. The two conspiratorial men are archeologists, who were nervous because at the start of the voyage they hadn't received permission from the Egyptian government to dig up "the body of a king" (a mummy). Once they received the permission, they relaxed and talked openly about it.

"Circumstances would indicate that the jewels you found in your music case are both stolen and valuable."

"I don't think either of us is going to get much sleep tonight. ... This is the last opportunity our three friends will have to prevent our successfully carrying out our mission."

Holmes notices that Miss Woodbury has not let her music case out of her sight. He confronts her and suggests that she is the unwitting courier of stolen emeralds. She was frightened when she discovered them in her bag, and is grateful to Holmes when he offers to return them for her.

As the ship approaches Algiers, Watson sings "Loch Lomond" and tells the story of "The Giant Rat of Sumatra." When the ship drops anchor, Watson goes ashore to meet the king's protectors. During the voyage Holmes has thwarted three attempts on Nikolas' life: falling off the boat, drinking poisoned coffee, and exploding a party-favor bomb. But now it appears that the detective has failed. Gregor, Gubec and Mirko have taken Nikolas, and left Sherlock Holmes bound and gagged in his cabin. Appearances can be deceptive, however. When Watson returns with the royal bodyguards, unties Holmes and asks, Where is Nikolas?, Holmes tells him to ring for the steward. The steward arrives and reveals himself to be the real King Nikolas—Watson's "nephew" was a decoy! Thus Holmes proves once again, as he did in Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon, that the best place to hide something is in plain sight. The king reports that the three men have been arrested and the decoy Nikolas is safe—Holmes is again triumphant.

Click here to listen to Nigel Bruce singing "Loch Lomond."   The passengers listen to Watson sing.

Viewers may remember Morton Lowry (the steward) as Stapleton in The Hound of the Baskervilles. A bit of trivia is that Martin Kosleck (Mirko) and Leslie Vincent (the decoy King Nikolas) were lovers at the time this film was made.

The working title for this film was The Fugitive.

Latest of Series Has Enough Suspense to Win the Approval of Melodrama Fans. The fact that it is far from being one of the best of the Sherlock Holmes series will not prevent "Pursuit to Algiers" from gaining the full support of those who relish the type of entertainment represented by the current exhibit. This time Holmes' assignment is to safeguard the heir to a mythical kingdom's throne after the king has been slain by plotters. Aided by Dr. Watson, the super sleuth conveys his charge home from England, where the latter has been going to school. Our hero has some close calls before he succeeds in thwarting the villains. Roy William Neill, who produced and directed the picture under the supervision of Executive Producer Howard Benedict, has kept the action sufficiently suspenseful to hold the interest alive virtually all the way. The Leonard Lee screenplay, based on characters created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, makes good use of routine melodramatic material. The film has been capably acted. Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce once more complement each other as Holmes and Watson, respectively. Marjorie Riordan plays a mystery woman whose exact place in the story isn't made clear until the film is near its end. —The Film Daily, October 26, 1945

More pictures from Pursuit to Algiers are on Page Two and Page Three.

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Images on this page and pages two and three are from the film Pursuit to Algiers.   Back to Sherlock Holmes films

Pursuit to Algiers is available on DVD: Click to order

DVD also available as part of The Sherlock Holmes Collection, Volume 3: Click to order

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All original content is copyright Marcia Jessen, 2024