The Spider Woman Strikes Back

I think I prefer this one to the Sherlock Holmes' adventuure yarn starring the same Gale Sondergard in the lead evil role. This very movie directed by Arthur Lubin may remind you some Jacques Tourneur's gems for RKO and produced by Val Lewton on the stories, mystery and horror mix-up, but certainly not on the atmosphere, so typical in Lewton's productions, Tourneur, Wise, Robson.... This one starring Brenda Joyce and Gale Sondergard is worth mostly because of both of them. For the story.... That's not the most exciting but I still prefer this one to the SH movie, which already was the least I liked in the series. Good little Universal horror flick anyway. No reason to miss it.

This film is not as well known as the earlier Universal flick The Spider Woman; and that's because this one isn't a part of the Sherlock Holmes series, isn't nearly as good, and actually has nothing at all to do with spiders. The plot focuses on a young girl that goes to become a nurse in a blind woman's house. However, it turns out that the woman is not really blind and is actually taking blood from the girl in order to feed it to her plant, which ties in with some plot about murdering cows. Aside from the fact that this film features Gale Sondergaard, I really don't see any similarity to The Spider Woman at all - she doesn't even reprise her role! The name, therefore, is just a cash-in on the success of the original. It's the sort of trick I'd expect from Italian films of the seventies and eighties, but not something often done by Universal studios! You can't blame them, though, as the film really does have no other selling points. It's a poor and rather dull tale. Nothing of interest happens for the entire duration, and I'm not surprised that it only runs for about fifty eight minutes. Overall, there's really no reason to track this film down - Sherlock Holmes fans will not be impressed!

The classy Gale Sondergaard ("The Mark of Zorro") stars as Zenobia Dollard, a blind recluse who lives with a mute, hulking henchman named Mario (Rondo Hatton, "The Brute Man"). She goes through young female assistants quickly; perky, pretty Jean Kingsley (Brenda Joyce, "Pillow of Death") is the latest to offer her services. Zenobia turns out to be up to no good, with her schemes involving a greenhouse full of carnivorous, blood-sucking plants.

Although obviously a very minor genre picture from this era, with a less than stellar script, it still delivers its goods with efficiency, incorporating elements from various horror sub-genres and giving the distinctive Hatton a decent showcase as a "monster" with something of a conscience. The principal value lies with the cast. While some people may cringe seeing Ms. Sondergaard in this sort of fare, she does elevate it with her presence; she's deliciously evil. Joyce, the second actress of the sound era to play Jane in "Tarzan" movies, is appealing, as is Kirby Grant ('Sky King') as the nice guy rancher in love with her. Milburn Stone ('Gunsmoke') and Hobart Cavanaugh ("A Letter to Three Wives") round out the principal cast members.

Directed by Arthur Lubin ("The Incredible Mr. Limpet", 'Mister Ed') directs this fast-moving entertainment that may not be high art, but is NOT trying to be, either. It does just fine for people looking for a 40s B picture with a nice and trim run time (a mere 60 minutes in this case).

Six out of 10.

This movie promises to be a sequel to the Sherlock Holmes movie, "The Spider Woman". It isn't. True, Gale Sondergard is the villainess and "Spider Woman" is in the title, but that's where any similarity ends. It's not a horrible film, but it's disappointing to tease the viewer with the promise of something that isn't there.

Rondo Hatton plays a mute, deformed servant. Too bad that he was so exploited.

I do wish Universal had made this a true sequel to the Holmes film. It would have been more interesting.

Having read the other reviews of this movie, I am struck with the idea that people must have been expecting another Dracula or Frankenstein or The Black Cat. This movie is emblematic of dozens of B horror films of the period that were fun to watch but were hardly great art. It adds the distinction of great atmospherics: the "old dark house", the fabulously creepy Rondo Hatton, the deliciously evil Gale Sondegaard and the handsome, wholesome hero, Kirby Grant. Citizen Kane it ain't, but in the context of films like "Fog Island", "The 13th Guest", or "a Shriek in the Night" it was certainly more enjoyable. Plot wise, it incorporates elements of vampire flicks (blood sucking), wolf man flicks (rare plant research), and the good versus evil conflict within Rondo Hatton's character. Oscar material? Hardly, but great fun. Lighten up people!