Pursuit to Algiers
Pursuit to Algiers is a 1945 American mystery film and the twelfth of the 14 Basil Rathbone/Nigel Bruce Sherlock Holmes movies. Directed by Roy William Neill, it runs about 65 minutes and was produced by Universal Pictures. The film nods to Conan Doyle stories, mentioning the steamship Friesland from The Adventure of the Norwood Builder and the so‑called Giant Rat of Sumatra from The Sussex Vampire.
The story starts as Holmes and Dr. Watson are asked to escort Prince Nikolas of Rovinia home after his father’s assassination. An airplane ride is planned, but engine trouble forces a smaller plane that only has room for the Prince and Holmes, leaving Watson to travel on a passenger ship to Algiers. Holmes insists Watson join the ship, while aboard he keeps a wary eye on many passengers. The ship stops in Lisbon, where criminals Mirko, Gregor, and a silent enforcer named Gubec board and try to kill Holmes. After a series of attacks, the villains kidnap the supposed prince at Algiers, but Holmes reveals the truth: the “prince” was a decoy, and the real prince had been hiding as a steward all along. The decoy is recovered unharmed.
Pursuit to Algiers is a playful, campy take on the Sherlock Holmes franchise, with director Neill and star Rathbone knowingly doubling down on Holmes’s perfect instincts and the film’s genre conventions.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 18:01 (CET).