Better Late Then Never

Clever, believable, and super fun to watch. It totally has replay value.

Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Heavily based on Conan Doyle's Six Napoleon's, the U overall touch was added making it more to the taste of the forties audiences. The threads of the missing Pearl, random killings and broken China seem almost secondary go the fiendish, back breaking Creeper. Very good use of camera work, they purposely kept shots of the Creeper as a shadowy figure only, until the latter part of the film that is. We get the usual femme fatale in the shape of the beautiful Evelyn Ankers. The darkness of the Creeper is counter balanced by the usual silliness from Watson and LeStrade, and Rathbone's disguises are great fun. All in all I think it's one of the better outings for Rathbone, plenty of fun. 7/10

I generally enjoy watching these Sherlock Holmes films but I can't help feeling that the famous detective was often writing the script of the story instead of solving a crime. How else would he surmise that the recent murder of a retired major might have been caused by the presumed dead Hawkston Creeper, who confines his back breaking technique to specifically the third lumbar vertebrae? For once, Holmes receives a comeuppance when the famed Borgia Pearl is stolen from the Royal Regent Museum during a Holmes demonstration to prove how easy it would be to steal it! Talk about timing, that's another thing. The villain Conover (Miles Mander) had to position himself to eavesdrop on Holmes and the museum curator without anyone seeing him, a tactic very much over-used by B Westerns of the era and a fair share of mystery flicks as well. A lot of this stuff works only if one is willing to suspend disbelief long enough to allow for the circumstance.However the story throws enough other distractions into the mix to make it an entertaining affair, like the business with the broken china and the six Napoleon busts. When the Creeper was finally brought out of the shadows, I had to marvel at the make-up job done on the character until I learned it was the actual disfigured countenance of the actor Rondo Hatton suffering from a form of acromegaly. My immediate impression was that he might have been right at home in a Dick Tracy film with that series' odd assortment of villains but a quick look at Hatton's credits reveal no such role.As always, Holmes solves his case satisfactorily, but this one time I had to wonder how he managed to thwart an attack by The Creeper. Having set up Conover for his own version of spinal tap by his dreaded associate, the authorities arrive to find Holmes safe and sound, so one can only presume he dispatched The Creeper, though there was no off screen gunshot to herald that conclusion. With the Borgia Pearl of Death now in safe hands, the only question left to my mind was why it seemed to effect various shades of gray throughout the story.

The famous, huge, and of course immensely valuable Borgia Pearl is just on its way to its 'safe' place in a London museum, when Giles Conover and his greedy gang (including pretty Naomi Drake) almost manage to steal it while it's being shipped to London. But since this valuable jewel has to be guarded, of course, Holmes is on the same ship, and (in another fabulous disguise as an elderly clergyman) recovers it from clever Naomi.So, it's finally placed in its 'uniquely' guarded place in the museum - and the director lets Watson, who's got his doubts about its safety, demonstrate how his security system works: as soon as Watson takes the pearl away from its cushion, the alarm bells ring and all doors and windows are automatically shut! But a little later, when Holmes, Watson and the director are discussing the security matter again in his office, Holmes turns the tables and demonstrates to HIM that his system is not at all that safe: because it's all connected by only three little wires, which Holmes disconnects in order to show the security flaws to the director - BUT in those few minutes until the system is restored, a member of the gang, disguised as a worker, manages to get away with the priceless pearl; for once, the great Sherlock Holmes has embarrassed himself most terribly...And so the hunt for the pearl, which must be hidden somewhere, begins - but it isn't called the 'Pearl of Death' by pure chance: in the many centuries since it belonged to the infamous Borgias, it has brought death upon many people; and it continues to do so. Very soon, a series of murders begins, with the victims having no relation whatsoever with each other or the pearl - but all bear the same cruel 'handwriting' of the murderer: their backs are all broken at exactly the same spot; the method a demented mass murderer, who's believed dead by the police by now, used years ago. And there's another thing the scenes of all crimes have got in common: around all the victims, whole heaps of broken china are scattered...A very intriguing, entertaining case, with many unusual features: Holmes, the great, PERFECT detective, makes a vital mistake for the first time without which the whole story wouldn't even have happened; the ending is made up of a very cunning psychological trick instead of the usual chase scene; and another thing: Evelyn Ankers, who usually played the frightened heroine in Universals thrillers and horror movies, gets an opportunity here to show MUCH more of her talent in various disguises, and most of all, as the reckless femme fatale fit for any Film Noir of the time! This is definitely one entry in the Rathbone/Bruce 'Holmes' series that not only Sherlock Holmes fanatics will find enormously interesting, thrilling and entertaining...

Basil Rathbone & Nigel Bruce return as Sherlock Holmes & Doctor Watson in this fine entry, based on the short story 'The Six Napoleons'. Master criminal Giles Conover robs a museum after Holmes makes an uncharacteristic mistake. Embarrassed, he resolves to retrieve the stolen pearl, but Conover's immense henchman The Creeper(played by Rondo Hatten, who suffered from a disfiguring disease in real life) is smashing sculptures where Conover had hidden it, but was unable to retrieve in time. Evelyn Ankers costars as his accomplice. Another atmospheric and exciting entry with The Creeper being used well, and returning series actress Evelyn Ankers is good in a different role.