Ameriatch One of the best films i have seen

Majorthebys Charming and brutal

Ezmae Chang This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Michelle Ridley The movie is wonderful and true, an act of love in all its contradictions and complexity

alexanderdavies-99382 "The Pearl of Death" is one of my favourite "Sherlock Holmes" films with Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce. In this film, Holmes manages to make a considerable blunder near the beginning. Lestrade makes the most of it! We know that the Baker Street sleuth shall redeem himself. There is excitement, thrills, a pretty good script and a good atmosphere. Miles Mander is a great villain as the criminal mastermind Giles Coniver. Including Rondo Hatton as the Creeper was inspired. The attempt by Evelyn Ankers in putting on a Cockney accent are cringeworthy. As with most "Sherlock Holmes" films from this period, the pace rarely lets up.

TheLittleSongbird Great ingredients for a great Sherlock Holmes mystery, and Pearl of Death was that. Despite the too-short length and the out-of-place patriotic speech, Pearl of Death is one of the better entries of the RKO series(Scarlet Claw being the best, Hound of the Baskervilles and Adventures of Sherlock Holmes are even better but they were 20th Century-Fox distributed). It is crisply and atmospherically shot, with very striking period detail and the fog and shadows make the atmosphere remarkably creepy. The music score is very well-incorporated and haunting, if somewhat similar to the score of The Wolf Man, the film is solidly directed right up to one of the series' scariest climaxes and the dialogue is both funny and intelligent(you have to love Holmes' line to the police in the climax). The story, while only containing elements(the pearl, the Napoleon busts) of the original story, moves very quickly though not feeling too rushed and is always engaging with great suspense and sense of mystery. The acting is strong, the most memorable being Rondo Hatton who is just spine-chilling as the Creeper, having seen this at about 11 years old and having vague memories of that viewing it was Hatton that I ed the most vividly. Basil Rathbone is spot-on as Holmes as he always was, cunning and very well-read with a touch of humour about him, Pearl of Death also has some of his best deductions of the series. Nigel Bruce is amusing as Watson, and he does bring some loyalty to counterpoint with Rathbone's Holmes, though the character can be too much of an idiot in this series and at times that is true here. His chemistry with Rathbone still convinces, there really is a great dynamic between them. Lestrade is even more so, the character was always inept but this Lestrade really is as thick as a brick, like with Watson the writing of the characters is part of why that is. Dennis Hoey is very funny though and seems to be really enjoying himself. Evelyn Ankers is very attractive with great disguises, she makes for a striking and strongly-acted accomplice. Miles Mander is not quite as good as the rest, he is menacing in a quiet and subtle sense- without falling into total blandness- which is a good approach, if not quite distinguishing himself in the climax especially compared to Hatton, one rare case where the henchman actually eclipses the mastermind. In conclusion, an entertaining and atmospherically effective Sherlock Holmes mystery, Hatton's Creeper makes the film. If you are a purist though and want a more faithful adaptation of the story, watch The Six Napoleons with Jeremy Brett as Holmes as part of the Granada series, even better than this and one of the best of that series. 8/10 Bethany Cox

bkoganbing Baker Street purists won't have too much to quarrel about with this adaption of Arthur Conan Doyle's The Six Napoleons. Because of a master criminal's haste to get away, six people who bought busts of Napoleon Bonaparte are marked for death unless The Pearl Of Death is found.Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce are on the trail of another master criminal, in the Sherlock Holmes stories, Professor Moriarty's second in command Giles Conover. Conover is played with a quiet menace by British colony regular Miles Mander.What Mander is after is the Borgia Pearl which with its connection to the Borgias has as bloody a history as the fabled Star Of India. Rathbone already pulls a double switch on Mander and his lovely accomplice Evelyn Ankers. But later through a bit of Holmes own hubris Mander steals the Borgia Pearl from the British Museum. But he doesn't have it long. Pursued by the police fresh from the theft Mander ducks into a pottery shop and hides the pearl in some fresh plaster busts of Napoleon, in one of six of them which are later sold.Now he's on a mission to recover his loot and it's a bloody mission because Mander brings along in tow the Hoxton Creeper, a giant of a man who can and does snap people's backs to kill them. The creeper is played by Rondo Hatton and he brings this Holmes feature into the realm of Gothic horror. In fact Dr. Watson's knowledge of forensic medicine is called into play here when he correctly identifies Hatton's known method of homicide.One of the better Basil Rathbone films from the Sherlock Holmes series.

Scarecrow-88 This time a sought after Borgia Pearl is the object of desire, worth snapping the lumbar vertebrae of many unfortunate victims' backs at the hands of the sinister Creeper(Rondo Hatton), working for a lecherous thief, the devilish, elusive Giles Conover(Miles Mander). Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson are out to discover why innocent people are found dead, their china dishes broken all over the crime scenes. A Borgia Pearl was stolen by Conover in a daring heist actually caused when Holmes himself proved to the museum curator that his security system was flawed, inadvertently assisting the conniving con artist who almost got away with it. Conover had to get rid of the pearl temporarily and Holmes & Watson soon discover that it was hidden in one of six plaster busts of Napoleon..it's essential that Holmes get to the bust containing the pearl before Conover and The Creeper do, or else another victim might be targeted. Of course, Holmes must contend with Scotland Yard's Inspector Lastrade(Dennis Hoey), who is assigned to the rash of serial killings, having to tolerate his temperament and obtrusive attitude. Along the way, Holmes' life is in danger because he poses a threat to Conover's plans. Universal Studio's regular Evelyn Ankers has a substantial ing role as Conover's lovely partner-in-crime, Naomi Drake, who uses aliases and disguises to secure information for her protégé. Hatton's The Creeper is quite an effectively spooky villain, barely seen but quite established thanks to director Roy William Neill's superb methods of building his presence until his reveal late into the film. Rathbone is more intense in this film, because of his treatment by authoritative figures and the press who blame him personally for the loss of the pearl, and Bruce's lovable Watson almost gets his best friend killed when Conover attempts to kill the Baker Street sleuth with a book containing a springing dagger. Mander, as Conover, has a very wily villain which contends with Moriarty as one of Holmes' more despicable and challenging foes. The Universal Studios production values add immensely to the beautiful look of the film and this cast couldn't be much better. Macabre plot, to boot.