One of the earliest of over 700 Paramount Productions, filmed between 1929 and 1949, which were sold to MCA/Universal in 1958 for television distribution, and have been owned and controlled by Universal ever since. However, because of legal complications, this particular title was not included in the original television package and may have never been televised.
The final lines of this film provide the first usage of Holmes' trademark phrase "Elementary, my dear Watson". The phrase does not appear in the writings of Arthur Conan Doyle.
The first Sherlock Holmes film to be produced with sound.
The sound disks for this movie are not known to survive.