The Scarlet Claw

1944
Approved
1h 14m

IMDb RATING

7.2/10

YOUR RATING

Basil Rathbone, Nigel Bruce, Paul Cavanagh, Gerald Hamer, Kay Harding, and Arthur Hohl in The Scarlet Claw (1944)

When a gentlewoman is found dead with her throat torn out, the villagers blame a supernatural monster. But Sherlock Holmes, who gets drawn into the case from nearby Quebec, suspects a human murderer.

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Crime Horror Mystery Thriller

After a gentlewoman is found dead with her throat torn out, the villagers blame a supernatural monster. But Sherlock Holmes, who gets drawn into the case from nearby Quebec, suspects a human... Read allAfter a gentlewoman is found dead with her throat torn out, the villagers blame a supernatural monster. But Sherlock Holmes, who gets drawn into the case from nearby Quebec, suspects a human murderer.After a gentlewoman is found dead with her throat torn out, the villagers blame a supernatural monster. But Sherlock Holmes, who gets drawn into the case from nearby Quebec, suspects a human murderer.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.2/10

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Trivia
Listed in Journet's inn-register is Tom McKnight of New York. He was an adviser on Universal's Holmes series, and was married to Edith Meiser, a writer familiar to devotees of the radio productions "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" and "The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes".

Goofs
Holmes signs the hotel register on February 10, no year given. In mid-February, there would likely be frost (if not snow) on the ground in that part of Canada, and the bog Watson falls into would no doubt be frozen. The vapor of the characters' breath would also be visible.

Quotes
[last lines]
Sherlock Holmes: Canada, the linchpin of the English speaking world, whose relations of friendly intimacy with the United States on the one hand and their unswerving fidelity to the British Commonwealth and the Motherland on the other. Canada, the link that joins together these great branches of the human family.
Dr. John H. Watson: Churchill say that?
Sherlock Holmes: Yes, Watson, Churchill.

Connections
Edited into Who Dunit Theater: The Scarlet Claw (2016)

Soundtracks
British Grenadiers
Traditional
(uncredited)
sung by the postman

User reviews80

Review

Featured review

8/10

Very atmospheric murder mystery

I like all of the Basil Rathbone Sherlock Holmes films, but this is one of my favorites. Imagine you are in The Quiet Man's village of Inisfree full of quirky colorful characters and suddenly the fog rolls in and a glowing monster wandering around the marshes first starts ripping out the throats of sheep, then graduates to people.

The same thing happens here, except it is in a village in wartime Canada. Luck will have it that Holmes and Watson are in Canada at a convention on the occult when the first human victim is killed, the wife of one of the attendees of the conference. She was once a famous actress. This is quite a mystery, since two of the people Holmes comes to suspect end up victims of "the monster" themselves, and yet none of the three victims has anything in common, none know each other now nor ever did. Well, they actually did have one thing in common - each had an odd premonition that they were about to be killed before it happened. The first victim actually sent a message to Holmes at the convention in Canada asking for his help, unfortunately, not in time though.

You know you are in present day because of the technology being used, but the characterization of Holmes, Watson, and the villagers makes the film timeless. How odd that Universal could hit it out of the park in the 40s with the Sherlock Holmes series in the realm of suspense and even horror, but really never managed to hit the mark post Laemmle with any of the actual Universal horror franchises.

This is a wartime film that rarely enough has nothing to do with WWII, yet at the end Holmes manages to find a way to quote Churchill.

I'd highly recommend this one.