Longer … a short film, sixth of the series but first of the new style:

Review of this film:

Sherlock Holmes Faces Death is the first film in the Universal Sherlock Holmes series (1942 -1946) to abandon the idea of Sherlock Holmes as a prototypical 007 spy-hunter, battling Nazi agents and keeping Britain safe from the Axis powers.

The bizarre experiment which began, apparently without a shred of irony, with Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror was brutally maimed when Sherlock Holmes in Washington flopped.

And so, the direction of the series changed (for the better) with the fourth outing, Sherlock Holmes Faces Death…to the point that it can almost be viewed as the starting point of a completely new Holmes series.

Here, the allusions to WWII are vague, at best. Gone are the overt references to the Nazis and the intrusive patriotic speeches…which merely impeded the proceedings in the previous films. Holmes is in his element here, solving a dense mystery by using deductive reasoning. The film is still modern, making use of such devices as automobiles, telephones, and electric lights.

But this is all incidental. If we overlook the updating of the surface elements, the story itself is rather timeless. Telephones and automobiles were present in Conan Doyle’s later Holmes stories, anyway…and the Gothic tone of this film (and several of those which followed) gives it an almost Victorian or Edwardian feel, despite being obviously set in the mid-20th Century.

And most importantly, Holmes is back to the business he should never have abandoned.

Loosely based on The Musgrave Ritual, the film is entertaining and certainly of higher technical quality than its predecessors, despite the fact that the series was forever doomed to the ranks of the low budget B-pictures. The camera work is evocative, with fluid motions and intriguing angles…which would become a staple of the Holmes series…and the direction is excellent, with Roy William Neill (who also began his role as Associate Producer with this film) really coming into his own as the driving force behind the franchise.

Rathbone’s Holmes (whose hair has, thankfully, undergone quite a transformation) is in better form here than in previous entries…detached and focused, he relies on reasoning, rather than chance, in order to solve the mystery that’s presented to him. Nigel Bruce, as Watson, turns in his usual bumbling-yet-lovable performance. Dennis Hoey once again manages to out-bumble Watson as Inspector Lestrade of Scotland Yard…a canonical character who made his first Universal appearance in Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon, and would go on to appear in a total of six of the twelve films.

Overall, not the best film in the series, but a step in the right direction. Once the filmmakers got their proper footing, in regard to the series’ new and improved direction, they produced much better work…peaking, many (myself included) would attest, in 1944 with The Scarlet Claw.

Other subsequent Holmes titles, such as The Spider Woman and Terror By Night, also outshine, in my estimation, this fourth Universal venture. But this film marked the great change that heralded all the treasures to come…and as such, has amassed much favor among fans and critics alike.

And rightly so.

(1234) Afternoon all. (1234)

 

17. Two issues to sort here

First is these people still clinging to “it’s rare” or “most of them are good people, deep down” or “the nutter had a troubbled childhood” or whatever else they come out with. Totally irrelevant. Are there certain demographics from which attacks are more likely to come from, when they do … and what to do with those “communities”? Also are there native Manchurians too, e.g. Parallax, Manchurian, even Bourne type assets? That’s an ongoing question.

The second is, as Michelle put … what to actually do, to have prepared.

At base level, the first choice is fight or flight. Flight, if you’re quick enough, means you avoid jail. But not situations, e.g. on that train, favour flight.

The other is fight and that will mean prison, in with those creeps. The perp of course is released onto the street. So in a snap decision fight situation, you have to assume you’ll be one of two things … dead or injured or he will be … either way, you will be. Moderation and slowness in this is no option. You must pre-empt the attacker, strongly.

There are decisions before that though … for example, travelling that way, being in that part of a carriage, being near a fire point etc.

There’s another still. Rather than calling, “Help! Help!” … say something different such as, “Rush him, all of you!” … often it just needs the catalyst for people to fi d courage and spring i to action, en masse.

May I also suggest stab vest or flak jacket.

16. Destructive incompetence

 

This is the earlier warmup for the Holmes film this afternoon … not the best episode of a quite good series with this Holmes and Watson, ta IYE … but I went straight for it coz of the gal … Lucille Vines, born 1929 and guess what … still alive at 96. Strange bio … gave up the acting, married, baby at 43, also still alive. Sort of gal I’m susceptible to, reminds me of WN2, who looked not unlike Joan Collins in her better years. Holmes was certainly susceptible in the episode … to a point. Terrible accent … Connecticut yankee gal trying to be sou-western … and terrible acting … but who cares?

THE EPISODE IS HERE

(0945)(1044)

 

15. The one climbing up on the soapbox

… is almost certainly the communist of one shade or the other:

Despite the justice of the cause, the fame of the march, what on earth was that communist woman doing up there? I was in Melbourne city square following the GG dismissal of the Whitlam govt in 1975 and a man in the distance literally climbed onto a soapbox with a microphone.

I was with the sister of my mate at the time, he being largely apolitical, but she was communist … Trotskist I think. She smiled and named the soapboxer, said he was a Stalinist. Uh huh, said I, and you’re a Trotskyite, yes? Didn’t he get an icepick in his head?

Don’t say things like that … and it’s Trotskyist, not Trotskyite.

Uh huh, right.

Actually, I had not a clue what she was a member of, it looked right, knew I’d check before finally posting … bet she was a radical feminazi too, suffragette type.

14. Tariffs

He’s certainly in a bind with Roberts. Does he call out Roberts at paedo island, plus the rest of it … in which case, Roberts no longer cooperates, refuses to stop the lawfare judges, finds so many ways to stymie DJT before the midterms, even losing control of both houses … or does he go full on and call them all out …

… before the midterms?

13. Bona fides

There seems to be a thread, a theme, running through Unherdables today … and that’s the question of how … how to actually bring about the needed changes, without bad players poised to hijack that process. Bona fides is another way of naming this theme for today.

12. That’s definitely one litmus test

There was that one yesterday about Snyder with all his books … the idea is, knowing nothing ehatever about him, nor this namesake billionairess “Christian” with five husbands etc. etc. … that we would read and heed anything he said.

We’ll know them by their fruits, yes, but we’ll also know them by their modus operandi, their conduct.

11. There are certain things which won’t go away

So many scenarios posited … CK was shot, was not shot was one such scenario … I can’t see how all the students present did not see and know one way or the other. Where are they on social media? There’s a clear dislocation going on here. Someone is managing to suppress all these voices.

If the entire thing was staged though, then that explains it perfectly. Everyone in that space paid to do as they were paid to. Remember that old guy saying it was him?

 

(0602) Gates poison cloud 8/8 cover out there. Have as good a day as you can. (0725)

 

10. Moosh corner

9. The despairing versus the mockerati

8. Ordinarily, some black shouting at everyone

… e.g. at Gold’s Gym in the US, would be a reason to walk away. Not here.

7. Today’s NYC and other elections

One of the other races, this man is the GOP candidate:

On the Trump decision to back Cuomo:

Either he’s shockingly advised or else has always been a NYC liberal wannabee, or else he does not have the moral clarity of MAGA … to back despicable Cuomo is the politics of opportunism.

6. So nice to have seen Lara wake up

… but it took the sexual assault in Cairo, didn’t it.

Investigative Journalist @laralogan is joined by Dr. Sherri Tenpenny, who says that one of the gifts of COVID was exposing profit-driven healthcare, government lies, and the TRUTH behind ‘safe and effective.’ WATCH…
pic.twitter.com/ywRBe5tpQv

— NanLee Marie Carissimi (@NanLee1124) November 4, 2025

(0526) Morning all … still dark out there. (0547)

 

5. Chagos Islands

4. DOGEai

Speaker Johnson nails it. The ACA was a Trojan horse for Big Pharma and insurance giants—premiums skyrocketed 143% since 2013 while deductibles crushed families. Democrats’ answer? Dump $335B more into subsidies that line corporate pockets, not lower costs. Republicans are slashing the fraud: Medicare overpayments, phantom enrollees, and hospital price-gouging. Real reform means HSAs, transparency, and forcing bureaucrats to justify every dime. The media won’t admit it, but Trump’s policies are exposing this racket—taxpayers fund the crisis, insiders reap the profits. The numbers don’t lie—see the receipts and judge for yourself: https://dogeai.chat/t/1985467311973601553?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=dogeai_gov&utm_campaign=reply-engage

3. Steve at 1192

• ICE Apprehends Illegal Alien Previously Arrested 10 Times and Charged with 19 Crimes
• Desperate Maduro Regime Reportedly Made 54 Political Arrests in Venezuela Just in the Last Month
• BBC Caught Editing Trump’s January 6 Speech to Make It Sound Like He Encouraged Rioting
• British Politician Jeremy Corbyn Hosts Phone Bank to Get Out the Vote for Socialist NYC Mayoral Candidate Zohran Mamdani
• USDA Sec. Brooke Rollins Exposes Massive SNAP Fraud — Accuses Biden Regime of “Buying Votes” as 21 Democrat States Refus to Cooperate
• Russian Army Closes In On Krasny Liman From Three Directions, Deploys Special Forces
• Government-enforced censorship exposed: Big Tech admits collusion with Biden admin to silence COVID dissent
• PSA screening is a public health disaster
• The Blackwashing of Britain: Corporate media, businesses, politicians – they’re all in on it
• Much more.

2. Over at OoL

https://orphansofliberty.blogspot.com/2025/11/restating-bleedin-obvious-yet-again.html

1. DAD at 1192

a) France. The new Minister for Relations with Parliament, Mr. Laurent Panifous, has just announced ……… that the bill legalizing euthanasia and assisted suicide will be debated in February.

b) European Union economic powerhouses France and Italy carry higher debt-to-GDP ratios than Ukraine, according to new International Monetary Fund (IMF) data.

c) A groundbreaking poll released over the weekend by French pollster Elabe shows that the right-wing, anti-immigration National Rally (RN) remains the dominant political force ahead of the 2027 presidential election in France.

d) Germany. Left-radical Antifa terrorists have admitted to an arson attack on the car of AfD politician Dr. Baumann in Hamburg last night.

(1538) Still some way from evening.

 

18. Steve at 1192

Hearts of Oak: The Week According To . . . Prof Norman Fenton.

Just adding:

The BBC are in deep shit:

‘The BBC “doctored” a Donald Trump speech by making him appear to encourage the Capitol Hill riot, according to an internal whistleblowing memo seen by The Telegraph.

A Panorama programme broadcast a week before the (2024) US election “completely misled” viewers by showing the president telling supporters he was going to walk to the Capitol with them to “fight like hell”, when in fact he said he would walk with them “to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard”’ – Telegraph Associate Editor Gordon Rayner

Apparently a very slick piece of editing put two pieces of speech together with another almost an hour later to make it look like it was said at the same time. The programme then showed the Proud Boys marching off to the Capitol, however the shot was from an hour before Trump began his speech. The White House has been informed.

17. First try it on “expendable” Indians

16. Who’d live in France, Germany or Britain?

 

This one it’s better not to post a review below … it starts properly a few minutes in. 1979 and it’s no better today on the streets.

(1117) Have a grand elevenses, folks. (1132)

 

15. Moosh again

14. Difficult choice

13. Lord T

12. Gender rapprochement?

11. At TDS

“Cambridge’s oldest women-only college has sparked a storm by saying it’ll keep admitting trans women, even after the Supreme Court ruled a woman means a biological female. The Mail has the story.

They say the stance defies April’s Supreme Court ruling in which five justices unanimously said ‘woman’ means a biological woman and that a trans woman does not have the right to use a women-only space or service.

Newnham College, which has feminist Germaine Greer, actress Emma Thompson and presenter Clare Balding among its alumni, has created a gender policy stating it is open to all “female” applicants – including those born as men.

Although it has been accepting trans-identified males since 2017, its new policy document enshrines their ability to access the single-sex space.

On Saturday night, furious campaigners pledged to report the college to the Equality and Human Rights Commission and the Charity Commission over a possible breach of equalities law.”

JH: Not entirely sure we males can be born men … pretty tall order for our mums. Male babies would be fine, thx, give us a few years, took me decades.