☆ ☆ ☆ ½
The
Spider Woman (1944) – R. W. Neill
Action-packed instalment of the long
running series with Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes and Nigel Bruce as Dr. Watson. Holmes very nearly meets his match in Gayle
Sondergaard’s Spider Woman (potentially drawn from Conan Doyle’s Irene Adler
who was Holmes’ great female adversary and possible love interest). She almost does him in on more than one
occasion as he attempts to solve the mystery of the “pajama suicides” – men awakening
in the middle of the night and killing themselves. Of course, Holmes suspects foul play – and he
both fakes his own death and goes undercover as an Indian gambler to try to
gather evidence about the crimes. In the
end, the script draws liberally from several Conan Doyle’s stories and also
inserts Hitler, Mussolini, and Hirohito into the plot (as targets at a shooting
gallery) as a tip of the hat to modern wartime audiences. Bruce is his usual bumbling self, Rathbone is
cunning and playful, and Dennis Hoey is all bluster (though with a sentimental
streak) as Inspector Lestrade. The plot
has enough twists and moves swiftly. Indeed, all of the elements of the
franchise are here and they make for rip-roaring fun.
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