Sherlock Holmes and the House of Fear

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Sherlock Holmes and the House of Fear

DVD cover
Directed by Roy William Neill
Produced by Roy William Neill
Written by Arthur Conan Doyle
Roy Chanslor
Starring Basil Rathbone
Nigel Bruce
Aubrey Mather
Music by Paul Sawtell
Cinematography Virgil Miller
Editing by Saul A. Goodkind
Distributed by Universal Pictures
Release date(s) March 16, 1945
Running time 69 mins
Country Flag of the United States United States
Language English
Preceded by The Pearl of Death
Followed by The Woman in Green
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

Sherlock Holmes and the House of Fear is a 1945 crime film directed by Roy William Neill. It is based on The Five Orange Pips by Arthur Conan Doyle, and features the characters Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. It is the 10th film of the Rathbone-Bruce series.

Contents

[edit] Plot summary

Holmes is visited by Mr. Chalmers, an insurance agent, with a strange tale. Seven elderly single men, calling themselves "The Good Comrades" live together in the remote Scottish castle of Drearcliffe House. Recently one of the "Good Comrades" received a strange message, an envelope containing nothing but seven orange pips. That night he was murdered and horribly mutilated. A few days later the second envelope was delivered containing six pips, and the recipient also died mysteriously soon afterwards, his battered corpse recovered from the base of the cliffs. Chalmers holds £100,000 of life insurance policies on the seven men, and suspects that one is systematically murdering the others in order to collect the money, and begs Holmes to investigate.

Holmes and Watson arrive at the scene only to find another murder has occurred. This man received five orange pips, and his body was burned. Lestrade also arrives to investigate. Despite Holmes' best efforts three more deaths occur, each time leaving the victim unrecognisable.

Lestrade jumps to the obvious conclusion, that the single surviving member, Mr. Bruce Alistair, murdered all the others. However, Holmes has deduced the truth and leads Watson and Lestrade to a secret room where all the "Good Comrades" - alive and well - are in hiding. Holmes explains that Alistair was the victim of a plot to frame him for murder and collect the insurance money by the other six.[1]

[edit] Cast

[edit] References

  1. ^ Davies, David Stuart, Holmes of the Movies (New English Library, 1976) ISBN 450 03358 9

[edit] External links

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