The Pearl of Death (1944)

Just perfect...

Am i the only one who thinks........Average?

Absolutely the worst movie.

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

Based on "The Adventure of the Six Napoleons" by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle this film brings Rathbone and Bruce back as Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson. Crooks are after a valuable Pearl, it's up to Holmes and Watson to stop the pearl finding it's way into the clutches of the wrong doers. But as Holmes makes an uncharacteristic mistake the upper hand is lost and Holmes and Watson are soon forced to take up the chase. Can they get the pearl before murderous consequences occur? As with the other Rathbone and Bruce films performances here are solid. Dennis Hoey supports well as the bumbling Lestrade, as do Evelyn Ankers and Miles Mander as Naomi Drake and Giles Conover. Shot by Universal and directed by Roy William Neill this is 9th of 14 films with Rathbone and Bruce taking the lead. This is a straight forward Sherlock Holmes story and therefor it's one of the better ones that Universal pumped out, no Nazi's or dinosaurs in sight - although there is the Creeper, but the less said about that the better. It feels more upbeat in pace than others in the series, it feels like reading a comic at times where the hero is trying to keep up and then get ahead of the bad guys. I enjoyed this and like the other films in the series its guaranteed to add to a wonderful lazy Sunday afternoon. A lovely mystery and suspense film with a chase style pace to it. Enjoy.

Heavily based on Conan Doyle's Six Napoleon's, the U overall touch was added making it more to the taste of the forties audiences. The threads of the missing Pearl, random killings and broken China seem almost secondary go the fiendish, back breaking Creeper. Very good use of camera work, they purposely kept shots of the Creeper as a shadowy figure only, until the latter part of the film that is. We get the usual femme fatale in the shape of the beautiful Evelyn Ankers. The darkness of the Creeper is counter balanced by the usual silliness from Watson and LeStrade, and Rathbone's disguises are great fun. All in all I think it's one of the better outings for Rathbone, plenty of fun. 7/10

Most of the Sherlock Holmes films are based totally on atmosphere, with the clues nonexistent for the viewer, based on objects the audience can not smell, hear, touch, taste, or see, or based on events that are not in the story until after the crime is solved.This is a Sherlock Holmes mystery in which we are finally given some clues. We actually go step by step with Holmes in solving the case, instead of learning about a fact "expo facto".Instead of Moriarty, we have a similar bad guy, just as formidable, with the same sort of henchmen we are used to seeing from such bad guys. He steals a pearl from under the nose of Holmes.And that is another fresh addition to this film. Holmes becomes mortal. He makes a very embarrassing mistake, and he does it while showing off. His superiority complex betrays him. In a moment of arrogant conceit, he gives the criminal the very opportunity to steal the pearl.Unfortunately, Watson is the buffoon again, and you probably know he wasn't that way in the original stories. However, here he at least is shown to be capable with firearms, and a capable doctor.The clues and evidence are shown to us. We actually get to help solve this case. And we get to see Holmes make a fool of himself for once.These two factors make this the most unique of the Sherlock films, and the one that is the "must see", if someone is to watch just one.

Very loosely based on "The Six Napoleons," this flick finds Holmes and Watson on the trail of a missing black pearl. Holmes gets it away from the bad guys and then loses it back to the bad guys. The story is a direct filch from Wilkie Collins' "The Moonstone," the first English language detective novel. The pearl is cursed and has caused rivers of blood to flow as it changes hands over he centuries. Holmes even says he would rather see it dropped to the bottom of the ocean at one point. The villain (Mander) is dull as dishwater, but his female cohort (Keyes) is another matter. She wears more disguises than Holmes ever dreamed of as she attempts to track down the pearl after her boss loses it. Some of the music was lifted from the score for "The Wolfman," and Keyes just happened to be the love interest in that movie. See if you can spot Holmes' entrance in this one.