Captain Morstan (Edgar Norfolk) and Major John Sholto (Herbert Lomas) are Army officers that work at a prison on one of the Andaman Islands in the Indian Ocean. In a conversation with a prisoner of a penal colony, Jonathan Small (Graham Soutten), they learn of a treasure hidden in an old Indian fortress. They make a deal with Small to help him escape from prison and he will tell them where the treasure is buried. Morstan and Sholto find the treasure but greed sets in. Sholto kills Morstan and absconds with the treasure. Small is left in prison to stew.
Years later Sholto is living in London with his two sons, Thaddeus (Miles Malleson) and Bartholomew (Kynaston Reeves). He tells them of the treasure and shows them a string of pearls. He confesses to killing Morstan and tells them that they must give the pearls to Morstan’s daughter Mary, (Isla Bevan). Years of mentally torturing himself has affected his sanity. He is also aware that the long forgotten Small has escaped from prison and is after him. When he sees the former prisoner at the window, he has a heart attack and dies before he can tell his sons the whereabouts of the rest of the treasure.
Small threatens Thaddeus who then tells him about Marry and that she has the pearls. Small and his minions begin harassing Mary. She receives a note to be at a certain place at a certain time. The note also says that she can bring a friend if she feels uncomfortable. Mary goes to Sherlock Holmes (Arthur Wontner) for help. Holmes and Watson accompany her to the rendezvous. They end up at Thaddeus Sholto’s house.
While in a cab Thaddeus explains the situation about the treasure and his father’s death. He tells them that his brother Bartholomew found the treasure in the family lodge, and they are on their way to meet him. When they get there, they find that Bartholomew has been murdered and the treasure is gone. Small is no longer happy with a third of the treasure. He wants all of it. The only thing left is the string of pearls that Mary still has in her possession. Mary is now being targeted by Small and his minions.
“The Sign of Four” AKA “The Sign of Four: Sherlock Holmes’ Greatest Case” was released in 1932 and was directed by Graham Cutts. This British production is the third of five Sherlock Holmes films that starred Wontner as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s beloved character Sherlock Holmes. The first two films “The Sleeping Cardinal” 1931 and “The Missing Rembrandt” and the last two films, “The Triumph of Sherlock Holmes” 1935 and “Silver Blaze” 1937 were produced by Twickenham Film Studios in Britain. The movie is based on Doyle’s second novel, “The Sign of the Four” written in 1890.
This film was the only one produced by “Associated Talking Pictures”. They wanted a younger Holmes and Watson, so they gave Wontner a toupee and replaced Ian Fleming with Ian Hunter as Watson. They also changed Holmes’ address to 22A Baker Street.
There is a lot more action in this movie then there was in the previous two which makes this film a lot more interesting. There is a speedboat chase and a fist fight. The film stock is rather shabby and the sound a little fuzzy. The film could use a decent restoration. Some of Holmes’ leaps of deduction are impossibly farfetched such as knowing someone has one leg based on their handwriting alone.
Actor Graham Soutten, who plays the one-legged Jonathan Small is actually an amputee.