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The Pearl of Death (1944)
Country of Origin: USA
Year of Production: 1944
Running Times: 69 mins
Format: black and white 35mm
Ratio: 1.37:1
Sound: mono
CREDITS
PRODUCTION
Production Company: Universal
Producer: R. William Neill
SCRIPT
Script: Bertram Millhauser
Story: The Six Napoleons by Arthur Conan Doyle
DIRECTION
Director: R. William Neill
Assistant Directors: Melville Shyer, Ray Kessler
PHOTOGRAPHY
Director of Photography: Virgil Miller
EDITING AND POST PRODUCTION
Editor: Ray Snyder
MUSIC
Musical Director: Paul Sawtell
SOUND
Sound: Bernard B. Brown, Joe Lapis
MAKE UP AND COSTUMES
Costume: Vera West
DESIGN AND SET CONSTRUCTION
Art Directors: John Goodman, Martin Obzina
Set Decorators: Russell A. Gausman, E.R. Robinson
MISCELLANEOUS
Dialogue Director: Raymond Kessler
CAST
Basil Rathbone (Sherlock Holmes)
Nigel Bruce (Dr Watson)
Dennis Hoey (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)
Harold De Becker (restaurant owner)
J.W. Austin (uncredited)
Wilson Benge (uncredited)
Billy Bevan (uncredited)
Lillian Bronson (uncredited)
Harry Cording (uncredited)
Leslie Denison (uncredited)
Al Ferguson (uncredited)
Leyland Hodgson (uncredited)
Colin Kenny (uncredited)
Charles Knight (uncredited)
Connie Leon (uncredited)
Audrey Manners (uncredited)
Frank McGlynn Jr. (uncredited)
John Merkyl (uncredited)
Arthur Mulliner (uncredited)
Arthur Stenning (uncredited)
David Thursby (uncredited)
Eric Wilton (uncredited)
SUMMARY
Sherlock Holmes foils an attempt by Giles Conover
to steal the priceless - and supposedly cursed - Borgia pearl. Conover
is using the Oxton Creeper, a brutish thug, to blackmail the young Naomi
Drake into acting as his accomplice and determines to get his hand on
the gem and manages to steal it from the British Museum, right under
the nose of Holmes himself. Conover is captured but there's no sign
of the pearl - and then bodies start turning up, surrounded by smashed
porcelain and with their backs broken...
CAPSULE REVIEW
The Pearl of Death was the last
gasp of genuine creativity for the Universal Sherlock Holmes series
before it descended into a mediocrity born of undue haste. It boasts
some memorable set pieces and some great detection work from Holmes
who has a particularly fine confrontation with the dastardly Conover
- both Basil Rathbone and Miles Mander are excellent. The Pearl
of Death may have its faults but it certainly eclipses the
routine thrillers that were to follow. (Full
Review)
AVAILABILITY
USA
Theatrical Distributor: Universal Pictures
Video Distributors: Allied Artists Home Video; CBS / Fox; Fox Home Entertainment
TIMELINE
1944
August
1: USA - theatrical release
1954
November
3: USA - television broadcast (on CBS)
1960
April
28: UK - television broadcast (on Rediffusion)
1977
December
14: UK - television broadcast (on BBC1)
1985
September
28: UK - television broadcast (on BBC2)
1988
March
4: UK - television broadcast (on BBC2)
1993
March
10: USA - video release (Fox Home Entertainment)
2000
June
27: UK - television broadcast (on BBC2)
POSTER TAGS
The master minds tackle the master crimes!
Marked... for sudden and violent Death! A Girl risked everything
for it! 20 men lost their lives for it! Who was the Creeper?
ALTERNATIVE TITLES
La perla della morte - Italian title
Die Perle der Borgia - German title
LINKS
SEQUEL TO
The Hound
of the Baskervilles (1939)
The
Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1939)
Sherlock
Holmes and the Voice of Terror (1942)
Sherlock Holmes and the Secret
Weapon (1942)
Sherlock
Holmes in Washington (1943)
Sherlock Holmes
Faces Death (1943)
Spider Woman (1944)
The Scarlet Claw
(1944)
SEQUELS
The House of Fear
(1945)
Pursuit to Algiers
(1945)
The Woman in Green
(1945)
Terror by Night
(1946)
Dressed to Kill
(1946)
REFERENCES
MAGAZINES
Kinematograph Weekly no.1957 (19 October
1944) (UK)
review
Monthly Film Bulletin vol.11 p.130 (UK)
credits, review
Motion Picture Herald vol.156 no.10 (2
September 1944) (USA)
review
New York Motion Picture Critics Reviews vol.1
no.17 (4 September 1944) p.264 (USA)
credits, review
Today's Cinema vol.63 no.5099 (18 October
1944) (UK)
review
BOOKS
The Films of Sherlock Holmes pp.135-148
illustrated article
Universal Horrors by Michael Brunas, John
Brunas and Tom Weaver (Jefferson, NC: McFarland and Co (1990))
article
OTHER SOURCES
screen
credits
KEYWORDS
Sherlock
Holmes; pearls; ships; disguises; detectives
Last Updated:
10 August, 2009
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