Friday, March 8, 2019

The Scarlet Claw (1944)

Sherlock Holmes (Basil Rathbone) and Dr Watson (Nigel Bruce) are in Canada for a conference on the occult where Lord Penrose (Paul Cavanagh) tells about a murderous monster in the village of La Mort Rouge. Just after an argument on the existence of the supernatural the Lord receives the shock news his wife has been found with her throat slashed.

Holmes and Watson begin investigating the case, he sees that Lady Penrose was actually a former actress who had been involved with a murder case with another actor Alastair Ransom (Gerald Hamer). Ransom is supposed to be dead but Holmes thinks he is still alive and hiding in the village, desperate to keep his new identity secret...

Although an original story and not based on an Arthur Conan Doyle story this is a very entertaining Holmes romp with great chemistry between Rathbone and Bruce. Cavanagh also does a good turn as the Lord obsessed with psychic phenomena.