The Scarlet Claw (1944)

User Rating:

7.9/10   

Director:

Roy William Neill

Writers:

Edmund L. Hartmann (screenplay) and
Roy William Neill (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

26 May 1944 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

Holmes vs. Monster!

Plot:

Holmes and Watson investigate mysterious deaths in the Canadian village of La Mort Rouge, in a tribute to Canada in wartime.

Plot Keywords:

Disguise | Sherlock Holmes | Throat Slashed | Tavern | Impersonation

Cast

Basil Rathbone	...	Sherlock Holmes
Nigel Bruce	...	Doctor Watson
Gerald Hamer	...	Potts / Tanner / Ramson
Paul Cavanagh	...	Lord Penrose
Arthur Hohl	...	Emile Journet
Miles Mander	...	Judge Brisson
Kay Harding	...	Marie Journet
David Clyde	...	Sergeant Thompson
Ian Wolfe	...	Drake
Victoria Horne	...	Nora

Also Known As:

Sherlock Holmes and the Scarlet Claw (USA) (promotional title)

Runtime:

74 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

USA:Approved (certificate #9988) | UK:PG | Sweden:15

Company:

Universal Pictures

Trivia:

The eighth of fourteen films based on Arthur Conan Doyle's fictional consulting detective Sherlock Holmes starring Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes and Nigel Bruce as Doctor Watson.

Goofs:

Miscellaneous: Inexplicably, despite the French-Canadian setting, only the Journet's have French accents or (with the possible exception of Judge Brisson) names.

Quotes:

Sherlock Holmes: Poor, innocent little child. I should have prevented this!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in La morte rouge (2006)

At the very end did Holmes say "Yes Watson, Churchill, an extraordinarily malevolent imbecile"?

One of the best in the series, only no offence but I would have preferred it to be based somewhere in the UK and not Canada That Linchpin Of The English Speaking World. If you ignore references to Toronto and French place names the village, its inhabitants, their accents and the fog would make it Brigadoon or some-such anyway!

Apart from La Morte Rouge being generally populated by Limehouse rejects, this is a cracking story albeit cobbled from various sources, which doesn't let up for the 71 minutes running time. Watson is more bumbly again, and Holmes more condescending towards him as a result making for some humorous quotes and quips. Lord Penrose is the only character in here who should have been slashed for his myopic rudeness, but only the good get murdered in TSC. Poor old Watson, he sure paid for his avuncular feelings for Marie.

When Holmes confronts him, the perp acts and talks more like a robot than a consummate calculating killer, something was rushed there. But a great little B film, worthy entry no. 8/14 in the series.