THE HOUSE OF FEAR (1944)

Drearcliff House sits on a cliff above the sea on the coast of Scotland. Owned by Mr. Alastair, the house is currently home to himself and six other men who call themselves the Good Comrades. One night as all are seated for dinner, the housemaid brings an envelope she found under the back door to the addressee, Mr. King. Inside are seven orange pips (or seeds). The men are puzzled but not overly concerned until the next night, King's car plunges over a cliff and he is burned to death. A few nights later, a man named Raeburn gets an envelope with six pips and he is soon found drowned in the sea, his body mangled. At this point, an insurance man named Chalmers goes to London to seek the help of Sherlock Holmes. The men, all single, retired, and wealthy, have named each other as estate beneficiaries, and Chalmers worries that someone is trying to kill them all off for their money. Holmes and Watson head off to Drearcliff, where some of the men, like the owner Alastair, are more welcoming than others (the burly sailor Simpson, the true-crime fanatic Merrivale, who killed his bride years ago but was acquitted of murder). Some threats pop up that may be red herrings, like a poisoned needle placed on a chair and a wine glass that has the scent of bitter almonds, but still, the pips keep turning up and, despite all precautions, men keep dying in gruesome fashion—the house is associated with a saying that no man from the house "ever goes whole to his grave." Inspector Lestrade is called in from London, and the death of the village tobacconist might be related to the deaths at Drearcliff. When Watson goes missing, Holmes must solve the mystery if any of the Good Comrades are to remain alive.

This, the eighth in the Universal Holmes series after THE PEARL OF DEATH, is credited as being based on the Doyle story "The Five Orange Pips," but it really only borrows the title device, and is more related to Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None in which people in an isolated house die one by one. Like SHERLOCK HOLMES FACES DEATH, this has an effective Gothic atmosphere and a tricky plot. Basil Rathbone (Holmes), Nigel Bruce (Watson, who is a little less doddering than usual), and Dennis Hoey (Lestrade) are very good, and the supporting cast is a notch above average. Paul Cavanagh attracts the most attention as the suspicious Merrivale, Aubrey Mather is fine as the friendly Alastair (could his jovial appearance be just a front?), and Holmes Herbert and Harry Cording are good as two of the last remaining Comrades. Gavin Muir (from FACES DEATH) is fine as Chalmers who is only in the beginning and ending. There is no potential femme fatale except for Sally Shepherd as the severe (and also suspicious) housekeeper—imagine a slightly mellower Mrs. Danvers from Rebecca. There are secret passages, dark shadowy rooms, and is a vigorous thunderstorm at the climax. In my estimation, this is certainly one of the best of the Rathbone films, even if it does slow down a bit in the middle. Pictured are some of the Good Comrades with Holmes, Watson, and Lestrade at the end of the table. [DVD]