Starring Basil Rathbone, Nigel Bruce, Aubrey Mather, Dennis Hoey, Paul Cavanagh
Directed by Roy William Neill
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)
Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson come to the aid of a group of men calling themselves "The Good Comrades," who are being killed off one by one after receiving an envelope containing orange pips.
A very good entry in the Universal Holmes series, the picture has a well-wound mystery plot that doesn't give too much away, making the revelation at the end even more worthwhile. Although based on Conan Doyle's story "The Five Orange Pips," it's not a close adaptation, but Roy Chanslor's screenplay adds in new well-defined characters, as well as bits of whimsical humor for Doctor Watson and Inspector Lestrade. Mather is a delight as the patriarch of the group, a convivial host seemingly oblivious to the threat to him and his comrades, as is Sally Shepherd as the humorless housekeeper who brings the envelopes forecasting death and is later found roaming at night carrying an amazingly huge meat cleaver. Neill directs at a fine pace, but the film really picks up some steam during a stormy night sequence in which Watson finds himself alone in an old dark house.
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