The House Of Fear (1945)

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.

The Scarlet Claw (1944)

Starring Basil Rathbone, Nigel Bruce, Gerald Hamer, Paul Cavanagh, Arthur Hohl
Directed by Roy William Neill
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson investigate the death of a reputed British actress in Canada, and learn a local legend of a monster may be connected to the crime. 

One of the most highly regarded films in the Universal Holmes series, the picture has some wonderful atmosphere, including creepy exterior scenes of boggy terrain, highlighted by the appearance of a glowing creature animated by Universal's ace special effects man, John P. Fulton.  Friend and film historian Troy Howarth points out that George Robinson, who photographed several of the Universal horror films, lensed this entry and his skills would have been appreciated on other Holmes pictures.  Along with the fine visuals, there's an equally fine mystery at back of this one, with plenty of suspects for the viewer to guess between, and well-scripted revelations of clues one by one.  The cast is quite fine as well, with Hamer as a charming but mild-mannered postman, Cavanagh as a proponent of belief in the supernatural who may have secrets he's hiding, Ian Wolfe as Cavanagh's former butler, eager to head out of town, and Miles Mander as a crippled former judge who's paranoid of being a future victim.  It's a well-polished production worthy of the acclaim it's received.

Bride Of The Gorilla (1951)

Starring Barbara Payton, Lon Chaney Jr., Raymond Burr, Tom Conway, Paul Cavanagh
Directed by Curt Siodmak
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

The foreman of a jungle plantation murders the owner in order to have his attractive young wife, but is then cursed by a native servant into becoming something far from human.

Written and directed by Curt Siodmak, who wrote several screenplays for the classic Universal horror films of the 1940s, the picture has been compared by film historian Tom Weaver to The Wolf Man, which Siodmak also scripted, as I recall from a commentary where he noted a number of interesting parallels between the two productions.  This movie is not in the same league as that film, but Burr has a brutish presence that works for his character, and although Chaney is not ideally cast as a native police commissioner, he approaches the role seriously and pulls it off with distinction.  Payton as the film's star is lovely to look at but her performance didn't make much of an impact on me- I thought she was a bit better in Four Sided Triangle.  For my money, Siodmak wasn't as talented a director as he was a writer, and that may hurt this film a bit, which drags here and there, but thought he was successful in creating a memorable jungle setting and atmosphere.

The Woman In Green (1945)

Starring Basil Rathbone, Nigel Bruce, Hillary Brooke, Henry Daniell, Paul Cavanagh
Directed by Roy William Neill
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

When the London police are stymied by a murderer who kills young women and then cuts a finger off each corpse, they consult Sherlock Holmes, who concludes his arch-nemesis is behind it all.

One of the slower-paced Holmes films for Rathbone and Bruce, befitting its focus on hypnotism, and the third appearance in the series of Professor Moriarty, each time portrayed by a different actor, here by Henry Daniell.  Although Daniell has always been an accomplished actor and very good in everything I've seen, he doesn't have as much to work with here as prior Moriarties Lionel Atwill and George Zucco did, and his scheme here seems rather pedestrian compared to the character's more memorable capers.  However, Neill does an excellent job of staging a memorable sequence from Conan Doyle's original story The Empty House, and fans of Rathbone and Bruce should find plenty to enjoy.

Shadows On The Stairs (1941)

Starring Frieda Inescort, Paul Cavanagh, Heather Angel, Bruce Lester, Miles Mander
Directed by D. Ross Lederman
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

An aspiring playwright living in an English boarding house discovers that several of the residents are engaged in suspicious activities.  

There's nary a big star to be found in this small-scale mystery which has only a few brief scenes filmed outside the boarding house, but the ensemble of actors do a capable job in the limited environment without overstaying their welcome.  Inescort's portrayal of the house's owner and operator is at times a little over the top, compared to the other actors' more restrained performances, but I still enjoyed the picture.  It's not a great film, but I found it to be a more than enjoyable diversion with a fairly clever story.

The Case Of The Black Parrot (1941)

Starring William Lundigan, Maris Wrixon, Eddie Foy, Jr., Paul Cavanagh, Luli Deste
Directed by Noel M. Smith
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

A young reporter tries to get to the bottom of a mystery concerning a valuable cabinet bought by his fiancee's father which was designed by a master criminal.

A fun B-movie mystery from Warner Brothers, with a young Lundigan very engaging in the lead, this film has a few twists that are obvious and some that caught me by surprise.  Although small in scale, with only a few settings, it benefits from Warner's production values and studio polish.  Only issue I had was that Cavanagh overdoes his French accent a bit, to an almost comical extreme, but that's a minor complaint, and I had a good time with this entertaining whodunit.