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The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

This sixth entry in Universal's Sherlock Holmes series finds Holmes and Watson in Canada investigating a series of gruesome killings in a small village called La Mort Rouge (The Red Death). The villagers, including respected Lord Penrose, believe this to be the work of an evil supernatural monster. Holmes, not surprisingly, is skeptical of this and sets out to uncover just who is behind the killings.In my opinion, this is hands down the best of the Universal Sherlock Holmes series. Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce are as wonderful as ever. Bruce brings levity to things but just enough at the right times, never at the expense of the suspense. The two stars are backed up here by a great cast of character actors like Miles Mander, Arthur Hohl, Gerald Hamer, and Paul Cavanagh. None of those names may leap out at you but I'm sure you'll recognize some of their faces if you're a fan of classic movies. The story owes a little to The Hound of the Baskervilles, the most famous of the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Holmes tales (previously filmed by Fox in 1939, also starring Rathbone). Watson even mentions that story early in the film, so I'm sure even the screenwriters were aware of the similarities. Director Roy William Neill creates a fine moody atmosphere with foggy nights and colorful villagers scared out of their minds by a throat-slashing phantom. The village of La Mort Rouge would have been right at home in one of Universal's Frankenstein movies. It has the look and feel of a horror film, a genre where Universal unquestionably excelled. So if you enjoy those movies but don't typically gravitate towards mystery films, try this one out anyway. I'm sure you'll find something to enjoy here.

The theatrical film series of "Sherlock Holmes" continues with Basil Rathbone (Sherlock Holmes) and Nigel Bruce (Doctor Watson) starring in THE SCARLET CLAW (Universal, 1944), as produced and directed by Roy William Neil. For this sixth installment for the studio, it basis its characters created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle rather than resorting to stories taken from any one of his many novels. Acquiring an original story by Paul Granglin and Brenda Weisburg certainly was a welcome change in this modernized series, yet, intentionally or not, has more of Doyle's 1890s period setting feel to it, resulting to the best, if not, one of the best of this Universal/Holmes entries.Though none of the 14-film Rathbone-Bruce "Sherlock Holmes" franchise never resorted to remaking itself from its earlier works, THE SCARLET CLAW comes close to being Universal's own contribution to Rathbone/Bruce's introductory roles from THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES (20th Century-Fox 1939). In fact, there's one scene where Bruce's Watson briefly brings up in conversation one of the earlier cases being "The Hound of the Baskervilles." The intention obviously was there, using fog-drenched marshes, moody set pieces and assortment of suspicious looking characters as sheer reminders. With no hounds involved, there's enough anticipation of fear in the dark by some murderous monster for added suspense. This time the locale of Canada is used in place over Holmes' homeland of London, England. Very much a Universal product, known mostly for its horror film genre, one would expect this mixed bag of horror/ mystery to have Holmes and Watson coming face to face with a werewolf or Frankenstein monster. Comics Abbott and Costello would take care of that later in the decade. In true essence to the Doyle character, and Universal as well, Holmes does encounter some strange admiration, forming great admiration for followers of this series.A brief prologue opens in a small French village of La Morte Rouge (The Red Death), outside of Quebec, Canada, where at Journet's Tavern, townspeople gather together, talking about a ghost-like glowing image roaming about at night connected with a series of brutal murders involving a claw-like weapon tearing the throats of its victims. In attendance at the bar include the hotel proprietor, Emile Journet (Arthur Hohl), his young daughter, Marie (Kay Harding); Potts (Gerald Hamer), the postman; and Father Pierre (George Kirby). Due to the unforeseen late night bell ringing at a nearby church, Father Pierre goes to investigate, only to find the body of Lady Lillian Gentry Penrose (Gertrude Astor), with her hands clutching the bell rope. Word reaches her husband, Lord William (Paul Cavanaugh) addressing a meeting for the Royal Canadian Occult Society at a Quebec hotel meeting room with Sherlock Holmes (Basil Rathbone) and assistant, Doctor John H. Watson (Nigel Bruce) in attendance. Because Lord Penrose associates the ghastly murders with the supernatural, Holmes believes otherwise. Later that night, after receiving a letter for help from the late Lady Penrose, Holmes postpones his return to England to assist Sergeant Thompson (David Clyde) with the investigation. As Watson remains at the tavern to mingle with the guests while keeping an eye on a prime suspect, Holmes risks his own life roaming through the foggy marshes alone; races against time to prevent the murder of a frightened Judge Brisson (Miles Mander) living a reclusive lifestyle with his mysterious maid, Nora (Victoria Horne), before finding evidence leading to the unmasking of the phantom monster.Running ten minutes longer than the usual standard 65 minutes, THE SCARLET CLAW, strictly a second feature "B" product, is pure "A" murder mystery material with entire cast in fine form. With Gerald Hamer, Miles Mander, Ian Wolfe and Arthur Hohl as repeat cast members, all assuming different roles from earlier to latter "Holmes" installments, missing this time around are series regulars Mary Gordon (Mrs. Hudson); and Dennis Hoey (Inspector Lestrade). Regardless of any similarities between this and THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES, THE SCARLET CLAW is first-rate entertainment throughout, right up to Watson's run-on gag falling into a hole in the marshes. Be aware this being a motion picture release during World War II era, audiences would get to listen to the master detective, as he did in SHERLOCK HOLMES IN WASHINGTON (1943), recite a passage from a speech by British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill.Distributed to home video in the 1990s (later DVD in 2006), THE SCARLET CLAW, formerly part of "Sherlock Holmes Theater" on broadcast television, turns up occasionally on various cable stations, notably Turner Classic Movies (TCM premiere: December 26, 2009), with its restored print taken from the UCLA Film and Television Archive. Next installment: THE PEARL OF DEATH (1944), another creepy tale where Holmes and Watson meet another mysterious image known as The Creeper. (***)

The Turner Movie Channel id playing a series of Sherlock Holmes movies today and I have been watching them, for want of anything else to do. I find that this particular movie is a cut above the others that have been shown today. Basil Rathbone was a marvelous actor throughout his career.Having been trained in the Shakespearean discipline,I can't help to think that he must have been painfully distraught at the caliber of some of the 'hacks' portraying other roles in this and others of this series. I know it pained me to hear someone reading lines without any inflection whatsoever. My mother did far better than that just reading nursery rhymes.

In this, the eighth entry in the continuing Sherlock Holmes saga, the sharp-witted detective and his affable assistant Dr. Watson, who happen to be in Canada for a discussion on the occult, find themselves hired under the most peculiar circumstances by a deceased woman. A ghostlike apparition or monster has been terrorizing the inhabitants of a small village near Quebec but the sceptical Holmes is not entirely convinced the human factor is not somehow involved in a series of gruesome murders that appear to have been committed with some kind of claw.THE SCARLET CLAW is not only one of the best entries in the Holmes series with Basil Rathbone, and certainly my favourite so far, but also a terrific murder mystery that works fine on its own terms, a genuinely engaging movie that manages to transcend its low budget limitations. It maintains the darker tone of its predecessor, THE SPIDER WOMAN, but injects it with an absorbing, suspenseful plot, an interesting backstory that is revealed gradually, and a villain whose motives make sense. In that sense it is less of a cartoon strip and more of a fully fledged movie akin to Rathbone's debut for Fox (THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES) yet simultaneously carries the pulpy atmospheric stylishness of a Poverty Row noir or a Universal horror film.A couple of jumps in logic are required of the viewer but this is not a movie to be picked apart. It is a movie to be enjoyed like fine, old cognac. For its fantastic performances by Rathbone and Nigel Bruce (much maligned for his interpretation of Dr. Watson but I think he's perfect counterbalance to Rathbone's Holmes), for the beautiful black and white cinematography, for the intricate plotting, for a great SFX scene that involves a glowing man running through the woods that hasn't dated one bit 60 years later. Fans of the series are in for a treat.