The House of Fear

Roy William Neil directed Basil Rathbone & Nigel Bruce as Sherlock Holmes & Doctor Watson in this loose adaptation of 'The Five Orange Pips'. Holmes & Watson are called to Scotland by an insurance company to investigate a case where seven men who belong to an exclusive club, and all of whom have taken out life insurance policies naming the others as the beneficiaries. Two have died already, and Holmes must prevent further deaths, and determine who the murderer is. Like the past two films, this is atmospheric and exciting, with a clever story and surprise ending. The series was at its peak here, but unfortunately would begin to decline afterward.

I'd have to rate this as one of the best of the Basil Rathbone Sherlock Holmes films. It has about everything you would want in these movies - suspense, action, a clever story and some good humor courtesy our friend Dr. Watson. The latter is in top form with a number of funny lines and reactions to the happenings around him.

Meanwhile, this plays like the Agatha Christie story, "And Then There Were None." Instead of "10 Little Indians," there are the "orange pips" which are sent in an envelope to the members of the "The Good Comrades" club up in Drearcliff, Scotland. Whoever receives the envelope is shortly thereafter murdered in a grisly way. Holmes, Watson and then Inspector Lestrade of Scotland Yard, all venture up to the Scottish mansion to investigate the murders.

This is good stuff with nary a lull during the 69-minute film that features a variety of suspects, from evil-looking to the nicest guy in the house. Who is committing these murders is anyone's guess, right down to the end.

A club of retired rich men called "The Good Comrades" lives at an isolated Scottish castle. One by one the men are being killed off and an insurance agent believes one of them is responsible. Sherlock Holmes (Basil Rathbone) and Dr. Watson (Nigel Bruce) investigate but fail to prevent more murders from occurring. Soon they are joined by Inspector Lestrade (Dennis Hoey), who will undoubtedly get to the bottom of things ("Suffering cats! What IS going on here?!?").

Fun Sherlock Holmes movie from Universal, the eighth in their series (tenth overall, counting the first two Fox films). It's loosely based on the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle "Five Orange Pips" story. Really the only similarity is the murder victims receiving envelopes with orange seeds before they're killed. That story is hardly one of Conan Doyle's best, by the way. The series regulars Rathbone, Bruce, and Hoey are all great. The supporting cast is made up of good character actors like Holmes Herbert, Paul Cavanagh, Harry Cording, and Aubrey Mather. Solid direction from Roy William Neill with interesting camera-work from Virgil Miller. Nicely paced with great "old dark house" atmosphere. Not the best of the series but a very entertaining one.

Above average Holmes. The real stars, however, are the evocative Gothic interiors of the seaside cliff house. The dimly-lit great halls and chambers provide genuine atmosphere, and are a tribute to Universal's art and set directors, respectively. The plot itself is reasonably compelling as we try to guess who's killing off members of a gentleman's club one-by-one. Still and all, the brief running time, 69 minutes, doesn't allow much character development, so the whodunit angle remains underdeveloped. Couple that with the pointless presence of an unfunny Inspector LaStrade (isn't Watson supposed to supply the comic relief?) and much valuable screen time is wasted. I wish the screenplay had taken better advantage of the spooky sets by playing up the menace, as for example, the shadowy appearance of the mystery man's shoes. Or Sally Shepherd as the zombie-like housekeeper, Mrs. Monteith, who's enough to make you want to clean your own castle. Nonetheless, there's enough mystery, atmosphere, and Basil Rathbone to make this a solid Holmes entry.

While it's not as great as earlier Holmes mysteries, such as The Hound of the Baskervilles, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and The Scarlet Claw; The House of Fear is still an admirable entry in Holmes' list of triumphs. My favourite detective mysteries are always the ones that include a dash of horror, and I'm pleased to remark that this one has that. The film is directed by Roy William Neill; the same man that directed fellow horror-orientated Holmes yarn, The Scarlet Claw. For this film, Neill has succeeded in capturing a foreboding and intriguing atmosphere once again, and the story, which includes a rickety old house, benefits immensely from that. The story follows a group of men that have moved to Scotland from London after forming a club and buying a large house. After two of them are murdered subsequent to receiving strange notes, the super-sleuth and his trusty sidekick; Dr Watson are called in to get to the bottom of the mystery. Could the fact that each member of the group is a beneficiary of each of the others' life insurance policies have anything to do with it?

This film is very short at just 69 minutes, and this is part of the reason why the film doesn't work quite as well as other Holmes yarns. Despite being short, the film doesn't have many moments of real tension and there are several instances where the story slows down to walking pace, and these can be a trifle dull. The story in this movie is rather thin, but, despite it's lack of tension, it does have intrigue; which redeems the plotting somewhat. One thing that the film definitely does benefit from is that, like all other Universal Holmes films made in the 30's and 40's, it stars the great Basil Rathbone as the great detective and Nigel Bruce as the sidekick; Dr Watson. These two have a great on-screen chemistry, and you can really believe that they are old friends. The climax of the film is nice and it's unlikely that you'll see it coming...but that's its main vice also; it's somewhat unlikely. I'm becoming a big fan of Sherlock Holmes movies, so I'm rating this one a little higher than many would; but in spite of my slight bias, this is still a very good film and one that Holmes fans will not want to miss