The Bloody Pit #206 - THE PEARL OF DEATH (1944)

Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce return to the show! I am joined by Beth Morris and Troy Guinn to discuss the next in Universal’s long running Sherlock Holmes series featuring the legendary detective in the 1940’s. This entry uses one of Arthur Conan Doyle’s original short stories to provide the basic plot – or does it? We look at the film’s very strong ties to a certain American crime fiction writer’s famous story that the script seems to borrow from. Is this a mash-up of two tales that taste great together?  

THE PEARL OF DEATH (1944) is a movie that doesn’t spring to mind as one of the best of the Universal Holmes films but perhaps it should. The series’ regulars are in fine form and returning guest actor Evelyn Ankers gets a lot to do as the main female baddie. She seems capable of getting any job in London and can disguise herself effectively in the bargain. In fact, this film has her character, Sherlock and the lead bad guy Giles Conover so often pretending to be someone else that it plays like there is a contest between them! And the film also sports the first screen appearances of Rondo Hatton as The Creeper. We talk a good deal about the way the plot unfolds and take note of how the screenplay seems to be digging into a Holmes character flaw to drive the story. Of course, there are the usual odd asides including a Tolkien reference that is quite out of place and a short debate about the correct size of a Yamaka or skullcap. We try to use our meager deductive reasoning skills but we tend to be more Watson than Holmes.

Thank you for listening to the show and thebloodypit@gmail.com is the place to send any thoughts. Stay warm and we’ll be back soon.

Video - THE SCARLET CLAW (1944)

If you want to watch (or rewatch) this creepy little Sherlock Holmes film before listening to our latest podcast, here it is in all its foggy glory! It is perfect October viewing and one of the more entertaining of the series. 

Poster Art and Lobby Cards for THE SPIDER WOMAN (1944)

 

Brief Thoughts - THE MAD DOCTOR (1940)

After watching THE MAD DOCTOR (1940) the other night I have a new favorite Basil Rathbone performance. Not that I've ever seen a bad performance from Mr. Rathbone! It might be that he was such a good actor that I may have taken him for granted. I may have seen him in too many Sherlock Holmes roles or as the villain in too many Errol Flynn swashbucklers to fully appreciate just how nuanced and effective an actor he could be. The Mad Doctor gives him the chance to shade his character in a number of scenes so that the audience is pulled along not just by the plot mechanics of the admittedly interesting story but also by the fact that Rathbone’s character’s motivations and desires shift and change over the course of the movie. It is his subtle acting, his incredible vocal performance that gives the viewer real insight into the changes happening to his character long before he has to spell it out to his partner in crime. His work is stunning in this film and I highly recommend it to people who have yet to see it. Oh! The film is quite good as well even with a slightly weak performance opposite Rathbone and an odd, out of place sound effect added to the final scene.

  

Trailers From Hell - THE COMEDY OF TERROR (1963)

Jacques Tourneur’s 1963 horror romp retains most of the actors and crew from Roger Corman’s Poe adaptations—including poster art from Reynold Brown. The film lacks the luster of Mr. Corman’s efforts but with Vincent Price, Boris Karloff, Peter Lorre, and Basil Rathbone on board, who’s complaining? Price and Lorre play luckless undertakers who start supplying their own corpses.

Video - SHERLOCK HOLMES & THE VOICE OF TERROR (1942)

Those following The Bloody Pit podcast and our ongoing series on the Universal Horror films of the 1940's will know that this is the subject of our next episode. No - it's not a horror film in the strictest sense but it does have horrific elements. And by including the Holmes movies from the studio we get to talk about some incredible actors and the restrictions placed on movies of the period. Plus, the entries later in the run that are unabashed horror movies are best enjoyed with a firm grounding in what came before. 

Enjoy this excellent print of the movie on YouTube and join us in a few days for a lengthy discussion. 

The Bloody Pit #88 - THE BLACK CAT (1941)

The ‘old dark house’ tale was a staple of the horror genre for decades. It still shows up in the 21^st century but most of the time it drops the gothic accoutrements for a less antique view of a creepy location. In the 1940’s the ODH story had become a standard for both straight scary tales and horror comedies wishing to use the tropes of the genre as easy set-ups for humor. Such is the case with Universal’s 1941 film THE BLACK CAT. While it treats its mystery with some seriousness it is often pushing events toward a silly joke from the film’s comic relief character. As with any scary movie incorporating laughs as part of its storytelling there is the chance that the humor will not appeal to each viewer. Smartly, the writers employ several different kinds of jokes throughout in an attempt to hit as many potential targets as possible. That means we get some clever dialog in places and some fairly broad comedic bits in others. But does the film as a whole work?

Troy and I walk into this old creeper looking to see how it fits in with the types of chillers Universal was producing at the time. We revel in the excellent cast that is so packed with talent that it even sports a young Alan Ladd in an early role. How can any film with Bela Lugosi, Basil Rathbone, Anne Gwynne, Brodrick Crawford, Cecilia Loftus and Gale Sondergaard be less than entertaining? We take note of the ways the film adheres to the Old Dark House tropes (hidden passages, family hatreds, romantic betrayals, cruel Last Wills & Testaments, etc) and the strange ways it alters those ideas for the times. We remark on the unnecessary confusion caused by the softening of the violence in the story and the clever ways that the spirited investigators piece together clues. Our man Bela looks great in the film but is only given a limited amount of screen time. Luckily, he makes the best of it with some creepy moments and an unexpected humorous scene as well. And, while we both love cats, we have much sympathy for Crawford’s character as he deals with an allergy that we kept waiting to be part of the denouement.

If you have any comments about THE BLACK CAT (1941) or any other of the Universal horror films of the 1940’s please drop us a line. The show can be reached at thebloodypit@gmail.com or over on the show’s FaceBook page. We thank you for downloading and listening to the podcast and we’d be thrilled if you could spread the word about what we’re doing here. Thank you for any help getting out the word to a wider world. Talk to you again soon.

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