Sherlock Holmes: The Scarlet Claw

A fine, surprisingly dark Holmes whodunit with a brisk pace. Watson's endless buffoonery is annoying, however, and I don't particularly care for the modernization of the Holmes universe. Also, the movie is capped off with a very odd pro-Canada coda.

One of the best entries in Universal's Holmes series. Moody and well-plotted, with a bravura performance from familiar-faced character actor Hamer working overtime in a triple role.

fun little mystery. rathbone and bruce get plenty to do and both shine in this holmes entry.

As great as Rathbone is in these Sherlock films I really don't like how useless Watson is in them, he's used as bad comic relief. Their little stabs at wartime patriotism are also rather hokey, in this case some cheesy little speech about Canada. But the mystery is the key here, and it's a reasonably good one even if it suffers from some silly moments and sudden turns.

Fixes some of the problems I have with Hound of the Baskervilles (Holme's absences from the 2nd Act), but dismisses the supernatural bit too early as well as solving the mystery long before the 3rd Act. In the end we're left tying up a minor loose end which makes for a dull Finale. An interesting script that fixes earlier problems but then makes others. Overall it's still one of the better ones.

Not one of my favorite entries into the Holmes saga.

I liked it better than The Hound of the Baskervilles - although the plot is a bit too similar, it's an improvement in terms of acting, dialogue and overall execution. Still, I find these Universal's Sherlock films to be a bit too simple to be truly enjoyable.

The best and most authentic of the Sherlock Holmes series.

Good film.

An interesting story that starts out well but goes on way too long. The story would've been better as a 30-45 minute short as everything is pretty much solved half way through the movie. Still entertaining but slightly disappointing given the great beginning.

Possibly the best of the modernized Sherlock Holmes series, with a plot hastily borrowed from _The Hound of the Baskervilles_.

Time for some Sherlock Holmes! Always a great time when Basil Rathbone & Nigel Bruce is concerned. And The Scarlet Claw (1944) is certainly another super fun adventure with the pair. For me it did take a little while before getting engaged with the story, but once that things started rolling I was hooked big time! What a way to murder someone!

The setting is never believable as Quebec (only 2 characters even have French names and most have some variation on a British accent), but it's a welcome change from the more pedestrian settings of earlier films in the series. The mystery is pretty good, using some pretty convincing misdirection to hide the identity of the murderer.

Totally love the Basil Rathbone Sherlock Holmes' movies!

This is thrilling from start to finish and the atmosphere is very eery; proper spooky. Mr Holmes could learn a thing or two from Alistair Ramson about wearing a convincing disguise! But as suspenseful and entertaining as the plot is, for me it is (as is often the case with the films in this series) the Peircean moments I most enjoy; "It's the conclusions drawn from facts that are frequently in error," Sherlock poignantly remarks to members of the Royal Canadian Occult Society.

Hasn't aged too well.