The Pearl of Death

Infobox Film
name = The Pearl of Death


image_size =
caption =
director = Roy William Neill
producer =
writer = A. Conan Doyle (story)
Bertram Millhauser
narrator =
starring = Basil Rathbone
Nigel Bruce
Evelyn Ankers
music =
cinematography =
editing =
distributor = Universal Studios
released = 1944
runtime = 69 mins.
country = USA
language = English
budget =
preceded_by = "The Scarlet Claw"
followed_by = "Sherlock Holmes and the House of Fear"
website =
amg_id = 1:37568
imdb_id = 0037168

"The Pearl of Death" is a 1944 Sherlock Holmes film starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce. It is loosely based on Conan Doyle's story "The Six Napoleons" but features some interesting additions such as Rondo Hatton as "The Creeper" and Evelyn Ankers as Naomi, a villainess and the accomplice of Giles Conover, played by Miles Mander.

Plot summary

Master criminal Giles Conover steals the famous "Borgia Pearl" from the Royal Regent Museum under the very nose of Holmes and Watson, but when caught the pearl is not found on him and he is released.

Later, Holmes hears of an apparently motiveless murder. An elderly Colonel is found with his back broken amid a pile of smashed china. Holmes takes an immediate interest in the case as the unusual method of killing is that of "The Hoxton Creeper", known to be Conover's right hand man.

Another murder occurs, of a little old lady, also surrounded by smashed china. Conover makes two attempts to kill Holmes, who surmises that Conover is desperately trying to recover the stolen pearl.

After a third killing Holmes eventually tracks down the link in each case - a bust of Napoleon. Conover, when being pursued by the police, had fled through the workshop where they were being made, and hid the pearl inside one of six identical busts.

Holmes tracks down the vendor of the busts and find out that one is still unaccounted for, as does Conover's accomplice Naomi. Conover and The Creeper arrive at the house of the owner of the final bust, only to find that Holmes has taken his place. Overpowered, Holmes convinces The Creeper that Conover will double-cross him, and the Creeper turns on Conover and kills him before the police finally arrive. Holmes smashes the final bust and recovers the pearl "with the blood of five more victims on it". [Davies, David Stuart, "Holmes of the Movies" (New English Library, 1976) ISBN 450 03358 9]

Cast

Basil Rathbone ... Sherlock Holmes
Nigel Bruce ... Dr. John H. Watson
Dennis Hoey ... Inspector Lestrade
Evelyn Ankers ... Naomi Drake
Miles Mander ... Giles Conover
Ian Wolfe ... Amos Hodder
Charles Francis ... Digby
Holmes Herbert ... James Goodram
Richard Nugent ... Bates
Mary Gordon ... Mrs. Hudson
Rondo Hatton ... The Creeper

References

External links

*imdb title|id=0037168|title=The Pearl of Death