Sherlock Holmes in New York

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Sherlock Holmes in New York is a 1976 film featuring Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson travelling to New York City to investigate a recent threat made by Professor Moriarty. During their investigation, Holmes and Watson are reunited with their old acquaintance Irene Adler, now a popular music-hall singer, who reveals that Moriarty has kidnapped her son. Moriarty has also left a note for Holmes informing him that he will be approached by the police soon for aid in a crime, and should he not refuse—without providing a reason for doing so—the boy will die.

Holmes is subsequently contacted by the NYPD regarding the recent apparent theft at the New York bank, with the entire vault of gold bars having vanished seemingly overnight. To protect the child, Holmes refuses the case, but he and Watson later manage to track down and rescue the boy, thus removing Moriarty's blackmail card. Investigating the vaults, Holmes swiftly determines what has taken place; based on the speed of the lift's descent, it should take them 45 seconds to reach the vaults, but they stopped after only 42 seconds. From this, Holmes deduces that Moriarty had a duplicate vault built a few metres above the real one, subsequently planting wooden boards to stop the lift reaching the vault; while everyone puzzled over how the bars were stolen, Moriarty would actually be stealing them at that moment.

As Holmes and Adler say their goodbyes, Adler comments that her son has a keen intellect and a certain knack for solving puzzles, implying that Holmes may be his father, but the two nevertheless part ways.