THE SPECKLED BAND

UK, 1931, 50 minutes (originally 90, versions at 66 minutes), Black and white.
Raymond Massey, Athole Stewart, Lyn Harding, Angela Baddeley.
Directed by Jack Raymond.

The Speckled Band is an early version of Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes story. It was filmed several times in the silent era and, of course, in the various Sherlock Holmes series later.

This is the only time that Raymond Massey appeared as Sherlock Holmes, a rather more down-to-earth commonsensed Sherlock Holmes than various later versions. Athole Stewart is a non-memorable Doctor Watson. The villain is played by Lyn Harding and the heroine played by Angela Baddeley who had a long career including the cook in Upstairs, Downstairs. Director Jack Raymond was an actor from the silent era and a director from the early 20s to the early 1950s, mainly of B-budget features.

The film follows the outline of Conan Doyle’s story about the oppressive doctor who murders one of his stepdaughters, is opposed to the marriage of the second stepdaughter and threatens her. His plan, with an aide from India and the connivance of the housekeeper, is to send a snake, the speckled band, through the wall and down the bell rope so that the presence of the deadly snake would not be detected.

Holmes, using his practicalities, examines the scene, uses his deductive powers and is able to reveal what had happened.

The film has echoes of British silent film styles, being made in the early years of sound. It is somewhat creaky in its presentation of plot, although it was adapted by W.P. Lipscomb who had a strong career writing screenplays including A Town Like Alice and Robbery Under Arms as well as Dunkirk.

It is a pity that Raymond Massey did not play Sherlock Holmes more often. His is a refreshing interpretation different from the buttoned-up later performances and interpretations.