The Scarlet Claw

One of a run of three films in the Rathbone/Bruce Sherlock Holmes series - it came sandwiched between Sherlock Holmes and the Spider Woman and The Pearl of Death - which made effective use of elements more properly belonging to the horror genre. Here Holmes and Watson travel to remoter Quebec (cue for some of the World War II propaganda uplift deemed essential at the time) to solve the mystery of the marsh monster of La Morte Rouge. With the fog machine working overtime, Neill makes nicely atmospheric use of the old inn and the gloomy marshes where citizens are having their throats bloodily torn out and a revenge-crazed old actor lurks in assorted disguises. Highly enjoyable.