science

Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon

Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon rather than just read about it. In short: Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon (1942) is the fourth in the Basil Rathbone/Nigel Bruce series of 14 Sherlock Holmes films, which updated the characters created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to the then-present day. The film is credited as an adaptation of Conan Doyle's 1903 short story "The Adventure of the Dancing Men", though the only element from the source material is the dancing men code.

Key takeaways

Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon (1942) is the fourth in the Basil Rathbone/Nigel Bruce series of 14 Sherlock Holmes films, which updated the characters created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to the then-present day. The film is credited as an adaptation of Conan Doyle's 1903 short story "The Adventure of the Dancing Men", though the only element from the source material is the dancing men code. Rather, it is a spy film taking place on the background of the then-ongoing Second World War with an original premise. The film concerns the kidnapping of a Swiss scientist by their nemesis Professor Moriarty to steal a new bomb sight and sell it to Nazi Germany. Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson have to crack a secret code to save the country. The film is one of four films in the series that are in the public domain.

Plot Sherlock Holmes (Basil Rathbone) pretends to be a Nazi spy to aid scientist Dr. Franz Tobel (William Post Jr.) and his new invention, a bombsight, in escaping a Gestapo trap in Switzerland. Holmes and Franz fly to London, where Holmes places him under the protection of his friend, Dr. Watson (Nigel Bruce). The scientist slips away against Holmes' instructions for a secret reunion with his fiancée, Charlotte Eberli (Kaaren Verne), and gives her an envelope containing a coded message. He tells Charlotte to give it to Holmes if anything should happen to him. The German spies' attempt to abduct Tobel as he leaves Charlotte's apartment is foiled by a passing London bobby. Tobel successfully demonstrates the bombsight for Sir Reginald Bailey (Holmes Herbert) and observers from Bomber Command. Tobel, now under the protection of Inspector Lestrade (Dennis Hoey) and Scotland Yard, tells Sir Reginald that although willing to provide the British with his bombsight, only he will know its secret and has a complex plan for its manufacture to keep the secret safe. He separates his invention into four parts and gives one to each of four Swiss scientists, known only to him and not to each other, to construct separately. Soon after, Holmes receives a call from Lestrade telling him that Tobel has disappeared. Holmes goes to Charlotte's flat, where he receives Tobel's envelope. Rather than the coded message, the message inside is from Holmes' nemesis, master criminal Professor Moriarty (Lionel Atwill), who is now working for the Germans. Disguising himself as Ram Singh, one of Moriarty's old henchmen, Holmes searches the Soho district for information. He encounters two henchmen Peg Leg (Harold De Becker) and Jack Brady (Harry Cording), but is captured by Moriarty. Holmes is put into the false bottom of a sea chest, but is rescued when Watson and Lestrade observe the henchmen struggling with its unusual weight. Holmes returns to Charlotte's flat to search for clues to the message's contents. He finds impressions of the message left on a notepad page by immersing it in "fluorescent salts... and then photograph(ing) it by ultraviolet light." Holmes breaks the first three lines of a cunningly modified substitution cipher, which are the identities and locations of three of the scientists, but cannot break the fourth line, which has been altered as an added precaution. He soon learns that Moriarty has murdered all three scientists and stolen their parts. Meanwhile, Moriarty, also unable to break the fourth line, tortures Tobel for the name of the fourth scientist. Holmes deduces the change in the code and breaks the fourth line, identifying the scientist as Professor Frederick Hoffner (Henry Victor). Moriarty accidentally deciphers the code. He sends agents to abduct Hoffner, who has the brilliance to put the four parts together should Tobel not recover from torture. The German agents bring the scientist, who is actually Holmes in disguise again, to Moriarty's seemingly undetectable stronghold. Unknown to Moriarty, Holmes had the real Hoffner attach an apparatus to their car that drips luminous paint (which Watson helped prepare) at regular intervals. To stall for time, Holmes uses Moriarty's vanity and pride to trick him into slowly bleeding Holmes to death "drop by drop". Holmes is saved at the last minute by Watson and Lestrade, who with Hoffner's help, successfully followed the luminous paint trail. Scotland Yard apprehends the spies, but Moriarty escapes. When he attempts to complete his escape through a secret passageway, he falls 60 feet to his death; Holmes has discovered the criminal's hidden trap door and left it open. With Tobel saved and the bombsight recovered, Watson notes that things "are looking up... this little island is still on the map".

Cast Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes Nigel Bruce as Doctor Watson Lionel Atwill as Professor Moriarty Kaaren Verne as Charlotte Eberli William Post Jr. as Dr Franz Tobel Dennis Hoey as Inspector Lestrade Holmes Herbert as Sir Reginald Bailey Mary Gordon as Mrs. Hudson Henry Victor as Dr. Frederick Hoffner Harry Woods as Kurt (uncredited) George Burr MacAnnan as Gottfried (uncredited)

Cast notes This is the second Basil Rathbone "Sherlock Holmes" film in which Moriarty dies. He is thrown to his death from the top of the Tower of London by Holmes in 1939's The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. During the course of the adventure, Holmes adopts the disguises of an elderly German bookseller (taken from the Arthur Conan Doyle story "The Adventure of the Empty House"), the lascar sailor Ram Singh, and the Swiss scientist Professor Hoffner. His disguise as the bookseller was parodied in the film The Pink Panther. This film marks the first appearance of Dennis Hoey as Inspector Lestrade - the Scotland Yard detective who, with Watson, provides much of the comic relief in six of the films of the series. Lionel Atwill appeared previously in the film The Hound of the Baskervilles (1939) as Dr Mortimer.

Adaptation notes Though the film is credited as an adaptation of "The Dancing Men", little resemblance is noted between the two other than the code. By implication, the events of "The Dancing Men" are canon with the events of the film, as Watson is reminded of "a case [they] had some years ago".

See also Sherlock Holmes (1939 film series) Adaptations of Sherlock Holmes in film

References

External links

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Illustrations

Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon illustration

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon

In research: Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1940s spy films, 1942 films, 1943 English-language films, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon in simple terms?

Why does Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon.