The Spider Woman (1944)

Director:

Roy William Neill

Writers:

Bertram Millhauser (screenplay)
Arthur Conan Doyle (story)

Release Date:

21 January 1944 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Horror | Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

Here is crawling death sent to Sherlock Holmes by the most fiendish killer of all...

Plot:

Sherlock Holmes has to solve a mystery about a series of suicides of known gamblers.

Plot Keywords:

Suicide | Sherlock Holmes | Spider | Entomologist | Shooting Gallery

Cast

Basil Rathbone	...	Sherlock Holmes
Nigel Bruce	...	Doctor Watson
Gale Sondergaard	...	Adrea Spedding
Dennis Hoey	...	Lestrade
Vernon Downing	...	Norman Locke
Alec Craig	...	Radlik
Arthur Hohl	...	Gilflower
Mary Gordon	...	Mrs. Hudson
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Sylvia Andrew	...	(scenes deleted)
Wilson Benge	...	Unspecified Clerk (unconfirmed)
Marie De Becker	...	Charwoman (scenes deleted)
John Rogers	...	Unspecified Clerk (unconfirmed)
Donald Stuart	...	Unidentified Character [AFI catalog name: Artie] (unconfirmed)

Also Known As:

Sherlock Holmes and the Spider Woman (USA) (review title)
The Spider Woman (UK)

Runtime:

63 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

Sweden:15 | USA:Approved (certificate #9470)

Company:

Universal Pictures

Trivia:

The seventh of fourteen films based on Arthur Conan Doyle's fictional consulting detective Sherlock Holmes starring Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes and Nigel Bruce as Doctor Watson.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: Holmes studies a 'low, rambling structure' in a photo to determine if the scene is really India. The picture appears as dots as it should under magnification - except a flag, on which is written 'Sun Valley.' The flag is clearly inked on.

Quotes:

Adrea Spedding: I'm so sorry we have nothing in the house for burns. I so seldom get burned.

Movie Connections:

Spin off The Spider Woman Strikes Back (1946)

Very decent Holmes mystery

I'm becoming a huge fan of Universal's classic Sherlock Holmes series. The more of them I see, the more I enjoy the series and the more I am impressed by Basil Rathbone's excellent portrayal of the great literary detective. This mystery follows a mysterious series of suicides and it sees Holmes and his good friend Dr Watson at their best once again. While I wouldn't consider this entry in the series as one of the very best, it's certainly very good and anyone who likes this sort of thing will no doubt enjoy themselves. Really, though, Holmes could be investigating what makes steam come out of the kettle and it would be invigorating and exciting just thanks to the way that Basil Rathbone plays the man. The mannerisms, the voice and the screen presence of the great actor combine to create a fantastic representation of the eloquent detective and you really can't imagine anyone but Basil Rathbone playing Sherlock Holmes in these films. One problem with this entry in the series, however, is that it's very short at just an hour long and this ensures that the film can never really get it's teeth into the central mystery plot line, and it feels somewhat underdone because of this. However, this is made up for with some great sequences, most notably the one in which Doctor Watson meets an entomologist that Holmes has hired, which I say is the best scene in any Sherlock Holmes movie, ever. These sorts of films work because they're a lot of fun to watch, and this instalment is no different. If you like Sherlock Holmes mysteries; this isn't as good as the likes of Hound of the Baskervilles, The Scarlet Claw and The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes; but it stands up as an admirable entry into the series in it's own right!