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The
Pearl of Death
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The Pearl of Death AUDIENCE SLANT: Suspenseful morsel for the mystery fans which rates about tops for the Sherlock Holmes series. Very fine story, well told and convincingly portrayed. BOX-OFFICE SLANT: Character of "The Creeper" allows broad latitude for mystery-horror exploitation. Should pay off for the extra selling effort it deserves. Plot: A valuable pearl, The Borgia, is stolen in transport to a London museum. Holmes, in disguise, retrieves it, but it is again stolen by the same gang from the museum. A monster who kills his victims by breaking their backs, known to Holmes as The Creeper, is a tool of the gang. In an attempt to conceal the pearl after its theft it is pressed into one of six clay statuettes of Napoleon in a pottery maker's shop. The statuettes are sold meanwhile and the efforts of the gang to recover the pearl leads to several murders of the purchasers by The Creeper. Holmes finally traps the killers and recovers the pearl. Comment: This is indeed a very fine mystery story taken from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's original, "The Six Napoleons." Producer-Director Roy William Neill has turned in a splendid picture, about the best of this popular series, maintaining suspense, planting the clues intelligently and keeping the piece moving in a highly entertaining manner. There are enough murders to please the most blood-thirsty action fan, but without the visual spilling of blood. The character of The Creeper is carried through the film without his being actually seen other than by shadow until the final scenes. when revealed he is really a gruesome-looking fellow to vie with Karloff in his best make-up. The acting of the cast is excellent, and the only criticism which might be posed is that it seems unfortunate that the "dumb cop" characterization of Inspector Lestrade in the cut-and-dried story-book manner could not be given the benefit of a higher degree of intelligence in keeping with the talents of men so employed by Scotland Yard. We believe that even average audiences would welcome the absence of a dumb cop for a change, without detracting from the telling of so fine a story. Nevertheless, the film is very pleasing entertainment and deserves extra selling effort in theatres where mystery films are popular. —Showmen's Trade Review, August 26, 1944 |
"Following the trail of a killer who leaves his victims in a litter of broken china leads Sherlock Holmes also to the stolen pearl of the Borgias and the arch-criminal who has taken it. Mounting and cast are of the usual good sort that these adventures rate." —New Movies National, October 1944
"Sherlock Holmes continues his cinematic sleuthing in this murder mystery, which should provide good entertainment on the duals for the customers partial to mystery dramas, Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce, previously identified as Holmes and Dr. Watson, respectively, again carry on for satisfactory results. ... Rathbone and Bruce are okay in their familiar roles. Mander is good as the criminal with aid from Evelyn Ankers as accomplice." —Variety, August 30, 1944
 Holmes hears footsteps outside the flat. |
 Holmes hears that the Borgia pearl has been stolen. |
"Rathbone and Bruce again fill the roles of the super detectives in fine fashion." —The Harrisburg Patriot, August 28, 1944
"From the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle story, the Six Napoleons, Bertram Millhauser has drawn a screenplay that has been turned by Producer-Director Roy William Neill into what is easily one of the finest of the Sherlock Homes pictures. In every way the Pearl of Death is a superior melodrama. The plot has been worked out with genuinely gripping suspense and with a clarity that is most commendable. The excitement is heightened by an air of horror that hangs over the story. ... Neil has functioned superbly in his dual capacity. He has elicited fine performances from every member of the cast, especially Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce." —The Film Daily, August 28, 1944
"A fairly good murder mystery melodrama, one of the best in the Sherlock Holmes series." —Harrison's Reports, September 2, 1944
| The Pearl of Death Belying its pennythriller title, Pearl of Death is a smoothly executed mystery film with Basil Rathbone exercising once again his deductive powers as the famous detective from Baker Street, Sherlock Holmes. Roy William Neill's forceful production and direction from the literate screenplay by Bertram Millhauser, make this one of the more attractive in the Universal series. The urbane Rathbone is pitted against a cunning arch-criminal, Miles Mander, with the object of their tussle a fabulous pearl which Mander has snatched from its supposedly fool-proof niche in a London museum. Suspense mounts inexorably as a series of murders grips the city. After a narrow scrape from death, Rathbone concludes that the murders are linked with the missing pearl. Pursuit becomes hotter and finally the trail leads to a doctor's home where Rathbone confronts Mander and Rondo Hatton, a half-witted creature who has committed the murders at Mander's behest. It seems that the pearl has been cached in a plaster bust of Napoleon, the last of which is owned by the doctor. Rathbone is almost doomed to a violent death when Hatton temporarily secures the upper hand, but a little applied psychology saves the day. Rathbone is excellent as the detective and Nigel Bruce, as Doctor Watson, and Dennis Hoey, as a befuddled Scotland Yard man, prove able foils for Rathbone. Mander is properly menacing as the menace, while Evelyn Ankers is competent as his accomplice. —Charles Ryweck, Motion Picture Daily, August 29, 1944 |
"A Sherlock Holmes tale, in which Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce appear to have slightly more difficulty than usual with their sleuthing, The film is based on Conan Doyle's story, 'The Six Napoleons,' and is baffling enough to raise your admiration for Mr. Holmes' powers of deductive reasoning by several notches." —Chicago Daily Times, September 9, 1944
"Although the picture is one of the weaker numbers of the Sherlock Holmes series, thus giving rise to the hope that it is tapering off to an unprofitable conclusion, it cannot be said that Mr. Rathbone seems tired of his chore. He throws himself into the struggle with customary intensity, just as if he didn't know he had to win. Some of this feeling carries over to the audience. It succeeds in impressing one with the fact that the picture is better made and acted more competently than the material deserves. Basil Rathbone may never tire of his endless round of deductive victories but it's a foregone conclusion to those who have attended too many of them." —New York Evening Post, August 26, 1944
 Holmes questions Conover about the theft. |
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"The direction by Roy William Neill, who also produced the film for Universal's release, is tight and sure, and Messrs. Rathbone and Bruce have practically become Holmes and Watson, respectively, so long and so well have they been doing these characters. The co-stars' support is very good, Evelyn Ankers performing loyally on the side of crime and Miles Mander doing the mastermind in slick style." —Cleveland Plain Dealer, September 9, 1944
"While much that is drastic happens in Pearl of Death, Dr. Watson remains the ever-loyal henchman and stooge of the nimble Sherlock, swallowing his gibes and doing his best in what turns out to be one of the liveliest in this everlasting series." —The Chicago Sun, September 8, 1944
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