Rating: 
Summary: The Baskerville Hound Cleverly Revamped
Review: The single most famous Sherlock Holmes story...as well as the most popular...is, without a doubt, "The Hound of the Baskervilles". It has been in publication forever and is anthologized, eulogized, and satirized endlessly. And it has appeared on film almost as much as it has in print. Likely no other Holmes story has seen more screen incarnations as this one. In the late 1930s Twentieth Century Fox did a classic version of this story with Basil Rathbone as Holmes and Nigel Bruce as Dr. Watson...and created a version of this detective team that became the long-standing yardstick for judging Holmes/Watson screen portrayals. Oddly, though, Fox didn't really seem to have an inclination to carry on with this concept in series format, and so "Hound" was basically a "one-off" for them (Though they DID do one weak sequel, "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes", which paled in comparison). Not so with Universal Pictures, however. They liked the idea of a Rathbone/Bruce series and cranked one up in the 1940s that did well. In the mid 1940s Universal decided to re-tool "Hound" and this film, "The Scarlet Claw", is the result. The Baskervilles got dropped from the storyline, as did Dartmoor and the giant "hellhound"and its demonic legend.The story got moved to a desolate marshland in Canada and the hound became a ghostly,glowing, manlike "marsh monster"(in "Hound" the villain paints the killer dog's mouth with luminous paint, in "Claw" the villain wears luminous clothing...a twist on the original, but very effective). Some characters,relationships and motives got reworked and Holmes & Watson were then set on the trail. The Result? The hands-down BEST film in the Universal Holmes series. Without a doubt. Tense, eerie, exciting. "Claw" is all of these things and more. If you like Sherlock Holmes then you'll love this. A real Keeper on DVD. What was that??? Did you hear something behind you???? Maybe you should walk a little faster with this fog creeping in.
Rating: 
Summary: Holmes and Watson try to solve the case of 'La Morte Rouge'
Review: This 1944 entry in this beloved film series is perhaps the best of the lot (certainly the best of the contemporary [1940's] set Universal films). Holmes and Watson find themselves involved in the mystery of 'La Morte Rouge' (was Lady Penrose the victim of a supernatural monster, or was her throat ripped out by an ogre of the human variety?) in this brilliantly eerie suspense drama. Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce are their usual wonderfully cast selves and are matched by a marvellous supporting cast. Directed by Holmes veteran Roy William Neill, the film has a great, suspenseful (naturally) climax that may surprise the most adept Holmes fans (provided they haven't seen it before!). My only complaint is (as with all of this series) at a mere 70 minutes it is over all too soon.
Rating:
Summary: By Far The Best
Review: This movie was far and away the best in the Rathbone/Bruce series of Holmes movies. Not only does Rathbone, who is the definitive Holmes, shine with his deductive powers, but there are actually many truly scary moments in this movie, which makes it good not only for mystery fans but also for terror/horror fans. This is a must see for anyone who likes Holmes or Rathbone.
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