Pursuit to Algiers starts as the world's foremost detective Sherlock Holmes (Basil Rathbone) & his faithful assistant Dr. Watson (Nigel Bruce) are about to head up to Scotland for a holiday when the Prime Minister (Frederick Warlock) of an obscure Europeon country named Rovenia ask's for their help. It seems that the widely-reported car accident that killed his countries King was no accident but in fact a cold-blooded assassination by a terrorist group. He ask's Holmes & Watson to escort the King's son, who lives in London for his protection, back home to take his rightful place on the throne & restore some stability to the country. Holmes agrees & the plan is for him to travel with the King by plane while Watson acts as a decoy & travels to the Mediterranean country by boat. Watson sets sail & is expecting a fairly quiet journey until he hears a report about a small plane being shot down & it's three passengers being killed. Is Holmes really dead? Have the terrorists won? Or is there more to the case than first meets the eye? Watch it to find out...<br /><br />Produced & directed by Roy William Neill Pursuit to Algiers was the twelfth Holmes film in a series that totals ten made between 1939 & 1946 to star Rathbone & Bruce as Holmes & Watson. The script by Leonard Lee is based on the novel 'The Return of Sherlock Holmes' by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle as isn't really a mystery, it's more of a thriller & not a particularly good one either. No-one is murdered which is disappointing as I like a good murder mystery so to have a character like Holmes running around foiling a few lame assassination attempts is both a wasted opportunity & felt uninspired. Wouldn't an assassin just shoot his target with a gun & be done with it rather than coming up with silly plans like placing a bomb in someone's party cracker! I found little here to interest or entertain me, I thought it was too predictable & plodding but at only 65 minutes long at least it's short.<br /><br />Director Neill does his usual competent job but this won't impress many these days although you have to remember this film was made over sixty years ago. The horror & mystery overtones that are ever-presents throughout the rest of the series are totally lacking here which was not a good decision in retrospect.<br /><br />Technically the film is OK although the ship is obviously a stage. The black and white cinematography is fine. The acting is alright, Rathbone looks a bit disinterested this time around & who can blame him? Bruce as Watson plays the likable buffoon as well as ever.<br /><br />Pursuit to Algiers came as a big disappointment to me as the other's I've seen in this series have all been very good films. Not really worth bothering with as Rathbone made other much better Holmes mysteries, for die-hard fans only.