With most of this movie taking place aboard an ocean liner, an unlikely setting for Holmes and Watson (who are far more at home when investigating creepy old country manors or pounding the foggy streets of London), Pursuit to Algiers is one of the more awkward and consequently least satisfying entries in the series.
The film starts off silly, with Holmes being invited to a clandestine meeting by way of obtuse clues handed to him by total strangers, and only proceeds to get more and more ridiculous, as the action becomes sea-bound and a trio of useless assassins frequently fail to bump off their intended target (the young ruler of the fictional Eastern European kingdom of Rovenia) thanks to the great detective's repeated intervention.
A dull subplot in which Holmes also solves the theft of a valuable set of jewels allows for the obligatory role for an attractive actress, in this case, Marjorie Riordan as singer Sheila Woodbury, who has been duped into smuggling the contraband in her music case.