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Sherlock Holmes - The Scarlet ClawRating:
Release Date: 25 November, 2003 Retail Price: $19.98 OUR Price: $17.98 You SAVE: $2.00! Cast: |
Sherlock Holmes - The Scarlet Claw Reviews
One of the darkest entries in the Rathbone series
For only the second time Rathbone's Holmes and Watson are taken out of the UK (the first was their visit to Washington), this time into the Canadian backwoods.
Some strange apparition appearing in the village, La Morte Rouge (The Red death), kills Lady Penrose. Holmes travels to the village to look into the murder but is met with hostillity from the people. Soon, more murders take place, and the villagers place their blame on the monster of the village.
What follows is one of the darker entries in the series with the worlds most famous consulting detective putting the pieces of the mystery together in an adventure that bares more than a passing resemblence to the earlier "Hound of the Baskervilles".
Definately recommended
"Here I am, Holmes... I've fallen in another hole!"
On the surface, SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE SCARLET CLAW is just another entry in Universal's Sherlock Holmes series. One could make an argument that it's a Holmes-by-numbers production. Indeed, I can't think of any major story element that wasn't done in some earlier or later picture. There's the ghostly apparition, the grisly murder, the mysterious marshland, the secretive villagers, the disguises, etc. Yet, all the standard elements are done exceedingly well here. Everything is firing on all cylinders. It may not be the most original of adventures, but it is one of the most enjoyable.
THE SCARLET CLAW is an above-average atmospheric movie in a series that thrived on providing a grim, tense feeling. Director Roy William Neill was more than used to delivering a stark thriller, but he's really going all out here. There's nothing extremely out of the ordinary, which is perhaps why the movie is such a success. With no propaganda to ram through, no experimentation, and no surprises, the cast and crew can simply concentrate on what they do best -- making a damn entertaining movie.
The direction is superb. The acting is up to it's usual high standard. By this point, Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce could play these characters in their sleep, so their performances are precisely what you would and should expect. Bruce's Dr. Watson is again relegated to comic relief, but it's a role he plays very well. The supporting cast is made up of the usual entertaining character actors.
The script contains enough of the standard Sherlock Holmes elements for it to feel familiar, even considering that it is not a straight adaptation of story actually written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Although I've not seen all of the Holmes Universal movies (I have watched most of them), this is the one I think of as the standard by which all others are measured. It did a lot of the things we expect these movies to do and it did they very well. If you're only interested in viewing one in this series, then a very strong case could be made for making this the one.
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