22.6.09

Monday Movie: The Scarlet Claw


Canada, the fog-enshrouded village of La Mort Rouge: the church bell tolls as a dying woman tries to draw attention to her plight. Not far away, her husband is debating a sceptical Sherlock Holmes at a meeting of the Royal Canadian Occult Society. Does a mysterious and supernatural beast roam the marshes of La Mort Rouge, searching for its next victim?

The Scarlet Claw is almost universally accepted as the best film to feature Basil Rathbone's portrayal of the world's most famous detective. Director Roy William Neill rises above his often quite workmanlike and unsubtle craftsmanship on other films in this series, evoking an eerie, shadowed ambience to relate a thrilling mystery with a fair few twists and turns.

3 comments:

Geosomin said...

I loved that film.
I had a thing for Sherlock Holmes in high school...read all the stories and tried to track down as many of the movies and TV tapes of Sherlock Holmes at the library...

The upcoming movie makes me very nervous tho - it looks awful.

Tinker said...

I remember watching the old Sherlock Holmes films on tv, when I was a kid, but I'm not sure I ever saw this particular one. I'll have to look for that...

Michelle said...

I'm sure that this will beat Bride Wars, which we watched last night. Don't even ask.