The Spider Woman (1944)

Director:

Roy William Neill

Writers:

Bertram Millhauser (screenplay)
Arthur Conan Doyle (story)

Release Date:

21 January 1944 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Horror | Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

Here is crawling death sent to Sherlock Holmes by the most fiendish killer of all...

Plot:

Sherlock Holmes has to solve a mystery about a series of suicides of known gamblers.

Plot Keywords:

Suicide | Sherlock Holmes | Footprint | Bad Check | Casino

Cast

Basil Rathbone	...	Sherlock Holmes
Nigel Bruce	...	Doctor Watson
Gale Sondergaard	...	Adrea Spedding
Dennis Hoey	...	Lestrade
Vernon Downing	...	Norman Locke
Alec Craig	...	Radlik
Arthur Hohl	...	Gilflower
Mary Gordon	...	Mrs. Hudson
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Sylvia Andrew	...	(scenes deleted)
Wilson Benge	...	Unspecified Clerk (unconfirmed)
Marie De Becker	...	Charwoman (scenes deleted)
John Rogers	...	Unspecified Clerk (unconfirmed)
Donald Stuart	...	Unidentified Character [AFI catalog name: Artie] (unconfirmed)
Lydia Bilbrook	...	Susan (uncredited)
John Burton	...	Announcer (uncredited)
Harry Cording	...	Henchman on Roof (uncredited)
Stanley Logan	...	Robert (uncredited)
Belle Mitchell	...	Fortune teller (uncredited)
John Roche	...	Croupier (uncredited)
Angelo Rossitto	...	Obongo (uncredited)
Gene Roth	...	Taylor (uncredited)

Directed by
Roy William Neill

Writing credits
Bertram Millhauser		(screenplay)
Arthur Conan Doyle		(story) (as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Produced by
Roy William Neill	....	producer

Original Music by
Hans J. Salter		(uncredited)

Cinematography by
Charles Van Enger		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
William Austin

Art Direction by
John B. Goodman
Martin Obzina

Set Decoration by
Russell A. Gausman		(as R.A. Gausman)
Edward R. Robinson		(as Edward Ray Robinson)

Costume Design by
Vera West		(gowns)

Sound Department
Bernard B. Brown	....	sound director
Paul Neal	....	sound technician

Music Department
Hans J. Salter	....	musical director (as H.J. Salter)
Frank Skinner	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Universal Pictures

Distributors

• Universal Pictures (1944) (USA) (theatrical)
• Associated Artists Productions (AAP) (1954) (USA) (theatrical) (re-release)
• MPI Home Video (2006) (USA) (DVD)
• MPI Home Video (2003) (USA) (DVD)

Also Known As:

Sherlock Holmes and the Spider Woman (USA) (review title)
Sherlock Holmes in the Spider Woman (USA) (DVD title)
The Spider Woman (UK)

Runtime:

63 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

Sweden:15 | USA:Approved (certificate #9470)

Company:

Universal Pictures

Trivia:

The seventh 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:

Factual errors: When the impostor posing as Matthew Ordway knocks a terrarium of black widow spiders onto the floor and Watson reaches for the gun among them, Holmes shouts "Stop it, Watson! Those insects are deadly!" Spiders are not insects, and Holmes, having just revealed Ordway to be an impostor on the basis of the man's lack of knowledge about spiders, should know this.

Quotes:

Inspector Lestrade: Where is he anyhow?
Dr. John H. Watson: I'm blessed if I know. He said wait here, by the shooting gallery, and look inconspicuous.
Inspector Lestrade: Inconspicuous? Oh...
[Lestrade starts whistling and inspecting the ceiling]
Dr. John H. Watson: He said inconspicuous, Lestrade, not half-witted.

Movie Connections:

Spin off The Spider Woman Strikes Back (1946)

Most Entertaining In the Series

This might rate as the most entertaining of all the Basil Rathbone Sherlock Holmes films, which I still think are the best renditions on film of the famous detective.

This has a surprising amount of action and is simply a fun story to watch. Packed into just one hour are such scenes as Holmes faking his death, a near-poisoning of he and Dr. Watson by gas, a strange little boy who hops around a room, tarantulas on the loose, on and on.

Nigel Bruce is his normally funny Dr. Watson and Gale Sondergaard makes an excellent villain. Credibility is stretched in the beginning and ending scenes but it's an enjoyable ride all the way through.