Sherlock Holmes Faces Death (1943)

Basil Rathbone: Sherlock Holmes

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Quotes 

• [last lines] 

  Sherlock Holmes : There's a new spirit abroad in the land. The old days of grab and greed are on their way out. We're beginning to think of what we *owe* the other fellow, not just what we're compelled to give him. The time is coming, Watson, when we shant't be able to fill our bellies in comfort while other folk go hungry, or sleep in warm beds while others shiver in the cold. And we shan't be able to kneel and thank God for blessing us before our shining altars while men anywhere are kneeling in either physical or spiritual subjection.

  Dr. John H. Watson : You may be right, Holmes... I hope you are.

  Sherlock Holmes : And, God willing, we'll live to see that day, Watson.

• Dr. John H. Watson : Yes. We told you, you were taking an awful risk.

  Sherlock Holmes : Well, we had to have a confession and these egomaniacs are always so much more chatty when they feel they have the upper hand.

• [Inspector Lestrade is lost in a secret passage] 

  Insp. Lestrade : Get me out! It's me, Lestrade! I'm lost! I'm all turned around!

  Sherlock Holmes : You have been for years. Get him out of there, will you, Mrs. Howells and give him a saucer of milk.

• Dr. John H. Watson : Oh, Hurlston. It's a grim old pile, very spooky.

  Sherlock Holmes : Don't tell me that you met a ghost.

  Dr. John H. Watson : Well, not so spooky as that. Ghosts don't stab people in the neck, do they? Or do they?

  Sherlock Holmes : Not well-bred ghosts, Watson.

• [Lestrade brings a suspect's shoe to compare to recovered footprints] 

  Insp. Lestrade : And that's Alfred Brunton's shoe.

  Sherlock Holmes : Fits perfectly, Inspector.

  Insp. Lestrade : Uh-huh.

  Sherlock Holmes : But the fact that these prints were made by Brunton's shoes doesn't prove that Brunton's feet were in them.

  Insp. Lestrade : Why not? Where should Brunton's feet be if not in his own shoes?

  Dr. John H. Watson : Well, they're not in them now, are they?

• Dr. John H. Watson : Simple reasoning; a child could do it.

  Sherlock Holmes : Not your child, Watson.

• Sherlock Holmes : Surgical instruments. You know, Watson, the instruments that save life are hardly more pleasant to look at than those that take it.