The Pearl of Death
                                                                                                                       
Director: Roy William Neill
Year: 1944
Rating: 6.0
In need of some comfort food, I turned once again to the Rathbone Sherlock Holmes series. This being the ninth in the series and the seventh from Universal. Comfort because by now we are familiar with the main characters and their foibles. The acidity of Rathbone as Holmes, the bumbling of Nigel Bruce as Watson, the dimness of Dennis Hoey as Inspector Lestrade and the warmth of Mary Gordon as Mrs. Hudson. They are like family. I have been surprised by how much I have enjoyed the series so far. I saw them all decades ago on Saturday afternoon TV and was in no rush to see them again. In fact, I purchased the DVD set years ago and have finally gotten around to them. They have all been solid with a few that really stood out to me - Baskervilles, Spider Woman, Scarlet Claw. All three of those had a horror element to them. But I have noticed that different people have different favorites. Some put this one near the top of their list, but it falls in the middle for me.



The main villain is an ersatz Moriarty and it all revolves around the theft of a pearl. That feels a bit pedestrian after getting Nazis in three of the films and a couple Gothic mysteries. It does of course have the Creeper in this. Rondo Hatton in his first role as the Creeper. Director Roy William Neill plays this aspect cleverly; only referring to the Creeper early on, then showing his silhouette in shadow and finally his face at the very end. That horrifying proud face. On hand also as a villain is the lovely Evelyn Ankers, who had become a regular in Universal's B horrors.



The main villain Conover is played by the mealy wispy mustached Miles Mander who would have trouble striking terror in a mouse. He was a fine character actor usually in timid barely noticeable roles, but his real life was more interesting. From a very prominent family, he inherited a fortune in his early 20's and blew through it on show girls and alcohol. A regular Gatsby. In WWI he became a fighter pilot and at some point was gassed. After the war, he was broke and tried his hand at acting. If you have seen many older films, the chances are that you have come across him but don't remember him.



The Borgia Pearl has been found and is being returned to a museum in London. Ankers steals it on a ferry to Dover - though since this is still WWII that makes no sense - and Holmes steals it back. But then in a complete screw up Holmes makes it possible for the pearl to be stolen. A blunder unlike Holmes, but we all have bad days. The remainder of the film is Holmes trying to get it back. Meanwhile, the Creeper is killing people by breaking their backs. This is based to some large degree on Doyle's The Adventure of the Six Napoleons. It feels B routine to me. At one point a trap by Conover to kill Holmes fails, but then later Holmes again blunders and Conover has a gun on him. And of course doesn't just shoot him.