The Fatal Hour is truly a hidden gem of a film. Authur Wotner accentuates the cerebral and neurotic sides of Sherlock Holmes to excellent effect here. Fleming, as Dr. Watson, plays the perfect straight man to the eccentric Holmes. This film also demonstrates some early artistic film touches such as the fantastically dark and shadowed opening scene and claustrophobic interior shots which work to emphasize Holmes's "armchair-detective" style. The one serious fault I had with the film was the underwhelming first encounter between Moriarty and Holmes; the scene lacks the tension one would envision between the two. But even with this disappointing scene, I found the film a real treasure. I discovered this movie on the Hulu channel American Pop Classics, and they had some other really wonderful and obscure movies as well:

http://www.hulu.com/studio/American-pop-classics?sort=name

"The Sleeping Cardinal"{1931}with Arthur Wontner playing the part of Sherlock Holmes was long thought lost and has only recently been found. When we think of Sherlock Holmes in film, most likely either Basil Rathbone or Jeremy Brett come immediately to mind. I find the latter gives the character an excessive nervous, edgy quality. It is true that Doyle in the early stories had Holmes taking cocaine, but it is never given any consistent emphasis and one must remember that opium use (via Laudanum}was common in the Victorian era.

Rathbone's Holmes has great energy and there is little doubt that he has created the image of the detective that remains a cinematic icon. But much of Rathbone's performance depends on his character sparking off against the ludicrous parody of Dr Watson as played by Nigel Bruce.

I found Arthur Wontner very satisfying in the role. Wontner lacks the sheer physical exuberance we admire in Rathbone but he conveys the character's whimsical brilliance better than anyone else. While considerable liberties are taken with the Doyle stories upon which this film is based, it is still recognisably Doyle--something not always the case with the Rathbone series.

Ian Fleming created a believable and sympathetic Watson. {One must wait until Andre Morell in the neglected 1959 version of "The Hound of the Baskervilles" to find a performance equally good.}Fleming gives us the Watson as conceived by Doyle--a loyal, intelligent, courageous friend--not an absurd buffoon.

I'm not saying that this film is a masterpiece by any means! The print I saw was not the best quality, to put it charitably. One felt that there was a serious lack of good, interesting cinematic techniques. It could very well have been presented as it was shown on a stage. Many of the supporting roles were quite ordinary.

But still this film is worth viewing to see a performance of Sherlock Holmes that rings true.

Other films in which Wontner played the role are all in the Public Domain and available on the Internet Archive site.

This is probably the picture with the first portrayal of the famous sleuth that would have absolutely satisfied his 'creator', Arthur Conan Doyle. Arthur Wontner (who would play Holmes in four more movies) is exactly the eccentric, clever, cool and slightly sarcastic type that Doyle's 'Holmes' was in the novels - maybe even more exactly than Basil Rathbone, who would later become the most famous and 'characteristical' Holmes, playing the role no less than 15 times, because Wontner lacks Rathbone's haughtiness, which of course makes him more sympathetic to the audience... And the way he speaks in riddles, until the others actually think he's got some mental problem - although he's just giving them (and us) clues to the solution of the mystery - is also 'typically' Holmes; just like his favorite expression: "Elementary, my dear Watson, elementary!"

The VERY clever and twisted story is also treated in a masterful way and makes this movie, complete with the great acting of ALL involved and the moments of suspense and drama, but also of pure British humor, a REAL enjoyment for any fan of the crime genre or of classic movies in general; it's true that it doesn't have to show the scary special effects that the films with Rathbone had 10 years later - but it's a REAL treat for even the most demanding film fan to watch Holmes, obsessed with the idea that his arch-enemy, the criminal mastermind Moriarty, is behind all this, untangle the seemingly incoherent stories of card sharks and diplomats, real and forged money, boot makers and park trees; and maybe even be able to follow the master sleuth's thoughts and deductions!

One of the VERY best adaptations ever of a Sherlock Holmes adventure, this movie can easily compete with most of the - today much more famous - films starring Rathbone.