Moviecut—The House of Fear

The House of Fear

Roy William Neil directed Basil Rathbone & Nigel Bruce as Sherlock Holmes & Doctor Watson in this loose adaptation of 'The Five Orange Pips'. Holmes & Watson are called to Scotland by an insurance company to investigate a case where seven men who belong to an exclusive club, and all of whom have taken out life insurance policies naming the others as the beneficiaries. Two have died already, and Holmes must prevent further deaths, and determine who the murderer is. Like the past two films, this is atmospheric and exciting, with a clever story and surprise ending. The series was at its peak here, but unfortunately would begin to decline afterward.

This is one of the best of the low-budget Sherlock Holmes films with Basil Rathbone as Holmes and Nigel Bruce as Watson. Seven men, the "Good Comrades" have formed a club, and they all live together in a castle on the North coast of Scotland. They all have life insurance policies of high value, the beneficiaries being the surviving members of the club. Holmes is called in by the insurers when two of them die violently in quick succession. It all takes place in the castle, and more of the Comrades meet an end, so it's Ten Little Indians territory. Rathbone and Bruce, with the cheerful support of Dennis Hoey as Lestrade, do their usual number with a fairly intricate plot, and a jolly good time is had by all. The direction is pacy, and it rattles along very satisfactorily; the production values are pretty low, but we're only looking at story-telling than brilliant cinematography. Enjoyable stuff.

Being older I've found that many times we end up watching the same plot over and over in remakes. This movie was totally different then any I've ever seen to date. I won't spoil the movie by saying much but it kept me guessing whodunit. The movie had it's share of comedy with Nigel Bruce and moved along at a good pace. This is probably the best of the Sherlock Holmes series by Rathbone and Bruce. Let no one ruin the ending for you and watch it, I think you'll like it. For a low budget movie it won't let you down. How I survived this long without ever seeing it at least once is amazing.