The Scarlet Claw (1944)

Country of Origin: USA
Year of Production: 1944
Running Times: 70 mins 34 sec (UK - video)     73 mins 58 sec (UK - theatrical)     85 mins
Format: black and white     35mm
Ratio: 1.37:1
Sound: mono

PRODUCTION
Production Company: Universal Pictures
Producer: Roy William Neill

SCRIPT
Script: Edmund L. Hartmann, Roy William Neill
Story: Paul Gangelin, Brenda Weisberg

DIRECTION
Director: Roy William Neill

PHOTOGRAPHY
Director of Photography: George Robinson

EDITING AND POST PRODUCTION
Editor: Paul Landres

MUSIC
Musical Director: Paul Sawtell
Music: Hans J. Salter, Charles Previn (uncredited), Paul Sawtell (uncredited), Frank Skinner (uncredited)

SOUND
Sound: Bernard B. Brown

SPECIAL EFFECTS
Special Effects: John P. Fulton
Technician: Robert Pritchard

DESIGN AND SET COSNTRUCTION
Art Directors: Ralph M. DeLacy, John B. Goodman
Set Decorators: Russell A. Gausman, Ira Webb

MISCELLANEOUS
Dialogue Director: Stacy Keach

CAST
Basil Rathbone (Sherlock Holmes)
Nigel Bruce (Dr John H. Watson)
Gerald Hamer (Potts / Tanner / Ramson)
Paul Cavanagh (Lord William Penrose)
Arthur Hohl (Emile Journet)
Jackie Lou Harding (Marie Journet)
Miles Mander (Judge Brisson)
David Clyde (Sergeant Thompson)
Ian Wolfe (Drake)
Victoria Horne (Nora)
Harry Allen (Bill Taylor - uncredited)
Gertrude Astor (Lady Lillian Gentry Pennington - uncredited)
Charles Francis (Sir John - uncredited)
Olaf Hytten (day desk clerk - uncredited)
George Kirby (Father Pierre - uncredited)
Norbert Muller (page-boy - uncredited)
Pietro Sosso (Andy Trent - uncredited)
Eric Wilton (evening desk clerk - uncredited)

Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson travel to Canada to attend a convention on the occult and wind up in the small village of La Mort Rouge investigating a series of murders in which the victims are found with their throats ripped open. Could the culprit really be the sinister glowing monster that the locals claim is stalking the surrounding marshes?

Easily the best of the Universal Holmes', The Scarlet Claw is a fabulous mystery and also one of the studio's best horror films. The glimpses of the mysterious glowing figure scurrying across the marshes is striking and the mood of dread and unease that surrounds the wonderfully named La Mort Rouge is the best sustained in the series. Rathbone and Bruce clearly revel in teh change of locale and are given a run for their acting money by the marvelous Gerald Hamer, a series regular here giving the performances of a lifetime in three roles. If you only watch one Universal Holmes movie, you could do a lot worse than this little gem.

UK
Theatrical Distributor: General Film Distributors
Video Distributor: Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment (7782)

USA
Theatrical Distributor: Universal Pictures
Video Distributor: Key; Fox Home Entertainment

Sweden
Rating: 15

UK
Rating: A (1944); PG (1990)

1944
May
26: USA - theatrical release

July
10: UK - rated A by the BBFC (for theatrical release)

September
4: Sweden - theatrical release

1954
September
24: USA - television broadcast (on CBS)

1960
June
2: UK - television broadcast (on Rediffusion)

1990
July
18: UK - rated PG by the BBFC (for video release)

November
29: UK - video release (Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment (7782))

1993
March
10: USA - video release (Fox Home Entertainment)

1995
March
Day Unknown: UK - television broadcast (on LWT)

September
9: UK - television broadcast (on Channel 4)
19: UK - video deleted (Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment (7782))

2000
July
6: UK - television broadcast (on BBC2)

The Red-Death Strikes

L'artiglio scarlatto - Italian title
Die Kralle - German title
Sherlock Holmes and the Scarlet Claw

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)

SEQUELS
The Pearl of Death (1944)
The House of Fear (1945)
Pursuit to Algiers (1945)
The Woman in Green (1945)
Terror by Night (1946)
Dressed to Kill (1946)

MAGAZINES

Kinematograph Weekly no.1948 (17 August 1944) (UK)
review

Monthly Film Bulletin vol.11 p.106 (UK)
credits, review

Motion Picture Herald vol.155 no.5 (29 April 1944) (USA)
review

New York Motion Picture Critics Reviews vol.1 no.3 (29 May 1944) pp.369, 370 (USA)
credits, review

Today's Cinema vol.63 no.5070 (11 August 1944) (UK)
review

BOOKS

Classic Movie Monsters by Don Glut p.19
review

Creature Features Strikes Again by John Stanley p.336
credits, review

Universal Horrors by Michael Brunas, John Brunas and Tom Weaver (Jefferson, NC: McFarland and Co (1990))
credits, review

detectives, sequels, serial killers, Sherlock Holmes

Last Updated: 10 August, 2009