Karry Best movie of this year hands down!

Lovesusti The Worst Film Ever

Fleur Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

Logan By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

classicsoncall Lord love a duck and strike me up a gum tree! This is the quintessential Sherlock Holmes maguffin filled red herring film, or red herring filled maguffin story depending on your point of view. Not only is Holmes NOT solving a murder mystery, he's actually proving that none took place! Except for poor old MacGregor (David Clyde); his lobster pot was in the wrong place at the wrong time.You know, Holmes (Basil Rathbone) really needs to do something about Watson (Nigel Bruce). How about that scene when Watson is bumbling about the Drearcliff Mansion thinking there's only two victims to go, and he just starts shooting wildly in the dark. Boy, he could have hurt somebody that way.However I liked the set up for this story going in. The whole business with the orange pips was a nifty distraction though it would have made more sense if each delivery of the sealed envelope included one LESS pip than remaining members of The Good Comrades Club. That would have been more foreboding. I also got a kick out of Merrivale's (Paul Cavanagh) choice of reading material, books with titles like 'Murder as Fine Art' and 'Murder in the Fog'. Apparently they didn't make a suitable impression on Holmes since he never mentioned it.Well the resolution of the story had a novel touch and was creatively well done. Only thing is, you have to overlook the idea that each supposed 'Good Comrade' victim was replaced by an already dead citizen of the nearby village of Inverneal. You had to wonder why no one was investigating the sudden deaths of people a stone's throw away.

bkoganbing Sherlock Holmes gets called in on a case by insurance underwriters who have been paying out policies on a couple of deaths that are highly suspicious. The two men were members of a clique of retired gentlemen who have all taken up residence in the Scottish castle of one of the members Aubrey Mather. The place itself has a sinister reputation from back in the middle ages. A reputation that possibly some more modern sinister forces are taking advantage of.This Arthur Conan Doyle Story the Five Orange Pips is one of the best received of his Holmes stories. Even after Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce arrive at the castle and later Dennis Hoey as Inspector Lestrade arrives, the deaths still keep coming. All of the members are mutually insured and whomever might survive is going to be worth some considerable cash. The story bears a lot of resemblance to Agatha Christie's Ten Little Indians, maybe Christie got her idea from Conan Doyle.Some fine members of the Hollywood British colony like Gavin Muir, Holmes Herbert, Harry Cording, and Paul Cavanaugh are some of the gentlemen in residence. And they have a Mrs. Danvers like housekeeper in Sally Shepherd.One of the best of the Basil Rathbone Sherlock Holmes series.

Spikeopath Sherlock Holmes agrees to an insurance company request to investigate the gruesome deaths of wealthy gentlemen living in a Scottish mansion. Each death is predicted by the strange delivery of Orange Pips to the next intended victim.Lets get the main fact out of the way first, although an adaptation of Conan Doyle's Holmes story, {Adventures} The Five Orange Pips, The House Of Fear bears little resemblance to that particular source. So purist fans of the literary aspects are in for a let down. Or are they? Directed by Roy William Neill with the screenplay coming from Roy Chanslor, this tenth entry in the Rathbone/Bruce series of Sherlock Holmes films is a deliciously atmospheric mystery piece holding its own. Set very much in the creepy mansion formula, House Of Fear, with all its off kilter camera work {beautifully realised now with the marvellous restoration job}, utilises the scope for "nothing is ever what it seems" to great effect. Thus of course giving Holmes {Rathbone impeccable as usual} license to detect with great gusto and ingenuity. This is after all what one wants from a Sherlock Holmes film me thinks? The film is also aided by some rather fine work from the sound department, winds and footsteps are sharp to the ears, again impacting on the mood to fully involve the viewer.While the relatively short running time stops it from being a fully born out mystery, and yes if you dig deep enough you will find a couple of creaky plot holes. The House Of Fear is still one of the better entries in this marvellous series of films. Sometimes it's all about the characters and the situation they find themselves in. With that, this becomes an essential Holmes movie, regardless of grumbles from purists and plot holers alike. 7/10

Scarecrow-88 "Murder is an insidious thing, Mr. Watson. Once a man has dipped his fingers in blood, sooner or later he'll feel the urge to kill again."Wealthy members of a prestigious club, known as The Comrades(..retired friends without ancestral heirs, live together in a Scotland castle)are being bumped off by a mysterious killer who leaves a small envelope entailing a number of orange pips with the next victim's name on it(..the pips are the number of the members left alive after the recipient's death)..the murders are rather hideously presented, the victims bodies horribly disfigured to leave no identification, except certain little items which each member carried on their person, whether it be a signet ring or a familiar tattoo. An insurance man calls upon Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson to solve the case because the members still alive changed their policies so that each other would receive their inheritance in case they wound up dead. Arriving to the castle, Holmes is quite baffled by a series of events while bodies continue to pile up, but soon little details(..such as the murder of a tobacconist, suspicious footprints, a body removed from it's grave, an empty tobacco case)emerge and he, along with Watson, whose life is threatened multiple times, soon piece together the clues in order to uncover a brilliant, but flawed, scheme that will lead them to a murderer.Great dark house chiller with a really nifty finale as Holmes and Watson discover a sinister plot that almost works, with certain minute mistakes unraveling as they put together the clues available. Poor Watson and soon arriving Scotland Yard detective, Inspector Lastrade(..series regular Dennis Hoey)often play patsy to the wily Holmes who must embarrass them at times when pointing out their bumbling mistakes at pointing fingers at who they believe to be the killer, when all the details haven't been assembled together. Nigel Bruce is wonderful comic relief as Watson, often assigned to watch over the Comrades when he has trouble even protecting his own neck. The film has a gallery of suspects, with lots of interesting characters among the Comrades, all a bit suspicious in one way or another, with motive to kill. Aubrey Mather in a colorful part as the affable, soft-spoken Alastair and Paul Cavanagh as the obviously questionable surgeon Dr. Simon Merivale who represents the film's most blatant suspect;he's mentioned early on as perhaps behind the slaying of his wife, and Merivale is often seen reading a murder mystery as if teasing Holmes to catch him in the act. Basil Rathbone is perfect as you'd expect in the role of Holmes, this time showing a degree of puzzlement due to just how many suspects there are, knowing with his inquisitive mind that there's something feasible which explains the odd nature of how the murders are set up and reasonable answers behind the destructive appearances of the bodies when found as if the work of a fiend. Director Roy William Neill provides an ominous mood through effectively noirish B & W photography, using the darkness of night, often following Watson running around trying to catch a killer while Holmes is elsewhere. There's a touching scene at the end between Holmes and Watson(..which just describes why Rathbone and Bruce were so wonderful together as the investigating duo)as they celebrate a job well done while Inspector Lestrade(..who had to be led by Holmes like a horse to a water trough)gets the credit by the press. You can see at times how much fun Rathbone has with Holmes at the humorous expense of Bruce's bumbling Watson, smoking away at his pipe. I think this is one of the finest examples of Holmes/Watson under the elegant treatment only the Universal Studios could provide. Watson's work opposite an owl during a grave-digging sequence is hilarious, as is his scene shooting a pistol, aimed at anything that slightly moves.