Dennis Hoey

During the 1860s in the South Pacific, Capt. Ralls, skipper of the Red Witch, has a series of adventures involving sunken gold bullion, pearls, natives, an unscrupulous ship owner and a giant octopus. Captain Ralls fights Dutch shipping magnate Mayrant Sidneye for the woman he loves, Angelique Desaix, and for a fortune in gold aboard the Red Witch. —Jim Beaver <jumblejim@prodigy.net>

An off-screen narrator tells of the deadly curse carried by the fabulous "Star of Rhodesia" diamond. In London, Vivian Vedder (Renee Godfrey) verifies that a carpenter has completed a coffin for her recently deceased mother's body, which she is transporting to Scotland by train. She'll be taking it on the 7 PM train to Edinburgh. She boards the train that evening, as do Lady Margaret Carstairs (Mary Forbes), who owns and is transporting the famous Star of Rhodesia diamond. Star of Rhodesia, which she has owned for many years, was the object of an attempted theft when Lady Margaret wore it at a royal function. Holmes is certain the thieves will try again. Also travelling on the train are Lady Margaret's son, Roland, Sherlock Holmes, whom Roland has hired to protect the diamond, Inspector Lestrade (Dennis Hoey), who is also worried about the diamond's safety and Dr. Watson and Watson's friend Major Duncan-Bleek (Alan Mowbray). Holmes briefly examines the diamond. Carstairs brings Holmes to his compartment, where his mother is skeptical about the aid of a "policeman", but she lets Holmes examine the Star. While Holmes, Watson, Duncan-Bleek, and Lady Margaret are in the dining car, Carstairs falls onto the floor of his compartment. Lestrade hears the thud, but finds the door to the Carstairs compartment locked. Holmes arrives and has the attendant (Billy Bevan) open it. They find Carstairs dead and the box that had contained the Star empty. The body shows no wounds aside from a tiny spot of blood, but Holmes declares it's murder, since a thief arriving right after Carstairs died of natural causes is too improbable. Lestrade, Holmes, and Watson learn nothing conclusive in questioning the other passengers. Watson gets nowhere at all in his attempt with cranky William Kilbane (Frederick Worlock), a professor of mathematics. However, when he questions Alfred Shallcross (Gerald Hamer), he gets an immediate confession. At one point during the investigation, Watson believes an elderly couple is guilty of the crime but the only crime that they have committed is stealing a teapot from a hotel. While searching the train, Holmes is pushed out of the train, nearly to his death, but climbs back into the day coach and discovers a secret compartment in the coffin carrying Miss Vedder's mother. It has the remains of an elderly woman in the top part, but also a false bottom that could have hidden the murderer. He suspects that one of the people on the train is the notorious jewel thief Colonel Sebastian Moran. Upon further questioning, Miss Vedder admits that a man paid her to transport the coffin. Holmes asks if her employer was Duncan-Bleek, but she says she never saw him before. Watson is shocked that Holmes would subject his old friend to that kind of suspicion. As Watson and Duncan-Bleek join the group, Holmes reveals that he swapped the diamond with an imitation while examining it. Lestrade ostensibly takes possession of the real diamond. In the luggage compartment, Holmes and Watson find a train guard murdered with a poisoned dart. He also has a tiny spot of blood, but this time they find the tiny gelatin dart that delivered poison. Unlike the case of Carstairs, there hadn't been enough time for it to dissolve in the wound. Meanwhile, a street criminal named Sands (Skelton Knaggs) incapacitates the conductor. Sands was hidden inside the coffin, and is in cahoots with Duncan-Bleek, who is, in fact, Colonel Moran. He reports how he dealt with the guard and the attendant, and turns the diamond he stole over to the Major, who knows it's the fake planted by Holmes. Sands and Moran go to Lestrade's room, where Sands knocks Lestrade unconscious and steals the diamond from him. But Moran double-crosses Sands, shooting him dead with the same dart gun he used to kill Roland and the guard. The train makes an unexpected stop to pick up several Scottish policemen, led allegedly by Inspector McDonald. MacDonald, claiming jurisdiction because he's from the Edinburgh police, has them all move to the dining room to conduct his investigation. Holmes informs McDonald that Duncan-Bleek is really Moran, and McDonald arrests Moran and finds the diamond in his vest, but Moran seizes a policeman's gun and pulls the emergency cord to stop the train. During a scuffle in which the lights are turned off, Holmes subdues and handcuffs Moran, then secretly hides him under a table. MacDonald takes the prisoner off the train, which starts off for Edinburgh. Holmes points out to Watson that Moran lies unconscious on the floor. As he revives, he's startled not to find himself in the company of MacDonald, who was actually his accomplice. However, Holmes realized that (mainly because he knew the real MacDonald), and the man the fake police took off the train was Lestrade. Meanwhile, Lestrade has untangled himself, pulled a gun on his supposed captors, and arrested them. Moran wants to take solace in the fact that Holmes doesn't have the Star, but of course the detective has pulled yet another switch, and reveals the real diamond.

A young heiress finds evidence suggesting that at night she acts under the influence of a family curse and has begun committing ghastly murders in a nearby park. Several murders have been committed in a London park and the victims have been savagely clawed about the throat. The police believe that a woman is a killer, and perhaps she is a (she) werewolf. Heiress Phyllis Allenby, fears she is the criminal, based on the family legend of the "Allenby Curse" which was the belief that members of the family at times assumed the form of a wolf. Her aunt's constant reminders to her of the "Allenby Curse" only serves to keep her niece's fears alive. —Les Adams <longhorn1939@suddenlink.net> In the turn of the century in London, the aristocratic lawyer Barry Lanfield proposes to marry the heiress Phyllis Allenby and she accepts. Phyllis lives in the family manor with her "aunt" Martha Winthrop, her pseudo-niece Carol Winthrop and the housemaid Hannah. Out of the blue, dreadful murders happen in a nearby park and Detective Latham believes that they are victims of a werewolf or a she-wolf, but his superior Inspector Pierce says that they are victims of an animal. Meanwhile, Phyllis finds blood on her hands, and her shoes and clothing dirty and she believes that she may be killing people under the influence of a family curse. Who might be the serial-killer? —Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Tongue-in-cheek fantasy film set in Baghdad and loosely based on the One Thousand and One Nights medieval story. On the run after being found sweet-talking the Sultan's daughter, Aladdin comes upon a lamp which, when rubbed, summons up Babs the genie. He uses it to return as a visiting prince asking for the princess's hand. Unfortunately for him, the sultan's wicked twin brother has secretly usurped the throne, someone else is after the lamp for his own ends, and Babs has taken a shine to Aladdin herself and is bent on wrecking his endeavours.

After a valuable pearl with a sinister reputation is stolen, Sherlock Holmes must investigate its link to a series of brutal murders. After a pearl with a sinister reputation for causing misfortune to its owners is stolen from a museum by a master criminal - because of Sherlock Holmes' show-boating - he is naturally obliged to find it. Soon, he learns of a series of brutal murders that seemed to have been committed by a malevolent man mountain known only as the Creeper. Now, Holmes must deal with the seemingly overwhelming menace of this man and his boss in order to retrieve the pearl. —Kenneth Chisholm <kchishol@execulink.com> After recovering the famous Borgia pearl from shipboard thieves, Sherlock Holmes is held responsible for its theft. While visiting the museum where it goes on display, Holmes shows the curator how easily it could be stolen by simply cutting the electrical wires. During that demonstration, Giles Conover, a well-known thief, snatches the pearl and runs off. He's soon caught but the pearl is nowhere to be found. Soon after, homes are being broken into with the occupants having their backs broken. There also seems to be a large amount of china broken in the process. After several such break-ins, Holmes realizes that several similar pieces of porcelain, all of a bust of Napoleon, are found at each house. Realizing its significance, he sets a trap for the thief. —garykmcd

Sherlock Holmes investigates a series of so-called "pajama suicides". He knows the female villain behind them is as cunning as Moriarty and as venomous as a spider. Sherlock Holmes takes on a case that the press has dubbed the pajama suicides. Eminent men are going to bed in the safety of their own homes, with everything seemingly being normal, only to commit suicide in the night. Holmes fakes his own death in the hopes of giving him a freer hand in the investigation and is convinced that a woman, a female Moriarty as he describes her, is behind the deaths. The dead men were all eminent and very wealthy. He impersonates a wealthy retired Indian military officer in the hope of drawing out the woman and he soon meets Adrea Spedding but she quickly sees through his disguise and proves herself to be the challenge Holmes predicted she would be. She is a worthy adversary and soon traps him setting him up in a carnival shooting gallery that seems to assure his death. —garykmcd Alarmed by a series of baffling suicides of prominent gamblers popularly dubbed "The Pyjama Murders" by the newspapers, Holmes fakes his own death and assumes the identity of Rajni Singh, a retired Indian military man with a paralyzed arm. After losing a large sum in a casino and writing a bad check to cover his losses, he appears to try to take his own life. He is prevented by the mysterious and sophisticated Adrea Spedding with an offer of a loan with his life insurance policy as collateral. Shortly thereafter, there is an attempt on his life with a rare but deadly spider with the only other clue a child's footprint. A resurfaced Holmes consults experts on spiders in an effort to solve the mystery. —Gabe Taverney (duke1029@aol.com)

Dr. Watson () is staying at Musgrave Manor to assist with several ex-soldiers suffering from different battle psychoses who are rooming there. When the owner of the manor Dr. Sexton () is attacked and wounded by an unknown assailant, Watson summons Sherlock Holmes () to the house to detect who the culprit is, and as soon as they arrive another dead body turns up. As Holmes and Watson uncover more clues Sally Musgrave () is required by family tradition to recite the Musgrave Verse for a ritual performed at a funeral. Believing that the clue to the identity of the murderer is located in the Musgrave Verse, Holmes finds language referring to Chess among the rhyming lines and pulls together the inhabitants of Musgrave Manor to determine what the secret of Musgrave Manor is and what it means to the murderer. When another dead body is discovered in a cavern deep beneath the main floor of the house Holmes makes a bold move to draw the killer out into the open and defeat him.

The movie opens with the view of a full moon in a graveyard. As a rave squawks two grave robbers break into Larry Talbot's (aka The Wolfman- Lon Chaney Jr.) mausoleum. even though Larry has been dead for four years, his body is fully preserved. As the moon light hits the body, Larry comes to life and transforms. He kills the closer grave robber and the second one escapes. Later, Larry finds himself in a hospital with a big wound on his forehead. Dr. Mannering talks with him and Larry talks about his curse. Inspector Owen (from the police department) thinks Larry is crazy and the Dr. thinks that Larry believes that he is a murdering wolf, because of his head injury. Next night the Wolfman is seen in a nearby town and is confronted by a police officer. The beast runs down an ally and the officer meets his demise. As Larry insists on the truth, the Dr. and the inspector go to Larry's hometown to prove that the real Larry Talbot is dead. However, they see that the body is gone and a picture of Larry looks exactly like the man in the hospital. Dr. Mannering then calls the hospital to check on Larry, only to find that he bit through his straight jacket and escaped through the window. The wolf kills again and then finds Maleva, the old gypsy woman from The Woflman (1941). They start on an adventure to Vasaria to seek the help of Dr. Frankenstein. Larry wants only to break the curse and die. On the way, Larry turns again and runs from the carriage so Maleva will not be attacked. After turning, he kills yet again and then passes out in the frozen ruins of Frankenstein's Castle. There he finds the infamous Monster and revives him. Larry, in his human form befriends the monster. Together they search the castle for Frankenstein's records and writings about the undead. They don't find what they need. Later, Larry meets with the Baroness, Dr. Frankenstein's daughter to ask her for the doctor's diary. The Baroness declines but Larry agrees to meet her again at the festival of the new wine, the town's biggest event. At the event Dr. Mannering appears and confronts Larry. Larry is using an alias and refuses to go with the Dr. to get help. Then Larry explodes in anger and causes a scene. Just then, the town's attention turns to the arrival of the other undead visitor, The Monster. The villagers try to attack the monster and Larry helps him escape. They return to the castle and are soon joined by the baroness and the Dr. The Dr. promises to help both "men" as the Baroness finds her father's book. The villagers take Maleva as a prisoner and question her about what is going on. They figure it out and Vazec decides to go against the level-headed Mayor and take matters into his own hands. Vazec leaves his bar and disappears. Meanwhile Dr. Mannering has both the Monster and Larry strapped to two separate slabs. He has promised to drain both of their energy and destroy both Monsters. Then the Dr. changes his mind and becomes obsessed with Dr. Frankenstein's dreams and reverses the energy and powers up the Monster. Larry looks up at the full moon as the Monster breaks out of his straps. The Monster immediately sees the Baroness and grabs her. Larry transforms again and breaks out of his straps. He attacks the Monster who drops the Baroness. Finally Vazec blows up the dam above the castle as the two titans battle. The monster throws a heavy piece of equipment at the Wolfman and the two spar back and forth. Then, just before the water bursts through the castle walls, the Wolfman climbs to a ledge to jump on the Monster and gain the upper hand. The Dr. grabs the Baroness and both flee before the flood wipes out the castle and take the two legends of horror with it.

At a cafe in Switzerland, two Gestapo agents plot with a man disguised as an old bookseller to abduct Dr. Franz Tobel (William Post Jr.), the inventor of a new bomb sight. However, the bookseller is really Holmes (Basil Rathbone), who sends the Nazis after decoys while he and Tobel drive to a rendezvous with an RAF plane that takes them to London. They go to 221B Baker Street, where Watson (Nigel Bruce) pulls a gun on them, but Mrs. Hudson (Mary Gordon) recognizes Holmes's voice. Holmes leaves to make arrangements with government representative Sir Reginald Bailey (Holmes Herbert), and Tobel sneaks out while Watson is asleep. He goes to see his sweetheart, Charlotte Eberli (Karen Verne), and gives her a message which, if anything happens to him, she's to give to Holmes. The message is in a version of the stick-figure code from the Holmes story "The Adventure of the Dancing Men". On his way back from Charlotte's, Tobel is struck on the head, but a policeman rescues him. Back at 221B, Holmes deduces that Tobel has been with a girl, and even describes her based on clues left on Tobel's clothing. The next day, a test of Tobel's bomb sight is a huge success. Tobel will supply it to the RAF, but insists that he will arrange all production, so no one besides himself will know the secret of the invention. The authorities reluctantly agree not to interfere, and will rely on Holmes to protect Tobel unofficially. Tobel brings a gift-wrapped package to fellow scientist Prof. Frederic Hoffner (Henry Victor). It's the prototype of the part of the bomb sight he'll be producing. Three other scientists will produce the other parts, all unknown to anyone other than Tobel. Soon, Scotland Yard reports that Tobel is missing. Holmes tracks down his secret office, but all they find there is some gift wrapping and the scent of an expensive perfume. Holmes deduces that Tobel called his lady love from 221B that first night and has the call traced. When Holmes visits her, Charlotte hands him the envelope Tobel left, but now it only contains a note - "We meet again, Mr. Holmes." It must have been switched by the "electrician" who came to Charlotte's apartment. From her description, Holmes realizes that he's up against Prof. Moriarty (Lionel Atwill). Holmes disguises himself as a thug formerly in Moriarty's employ and roams Soho until an old sailor leads him to one of Moriarty's places of business. The master criminal won't back down from his plans of treason, and has Holmes put in the false bottom of a sea chest, so he can be dumped in the ocean. Meanwhile a "beggar" (Michael Mark) who followed Holmes to Moriarty's place reports back to Watson and Inspector Lestrade (Dennis Hoey). They see Moriarty's two henchmen carrying away the sea chest. Amazingly, Lestrade figures out the false bottom trick and rescues Holmes. Back at Charlotte's, he takes the sheet of paper that was underneath the one on which Tobel wrote his coded message and finds away to reveal the message from it. Watson recognizes the substitution cypher from the earlier case, but it takes Holmes to figure out the variation that Tobel used. Decoded, the message gives the names and addresses of 3 of the 4 scientists (which is enough for Holmes to deduce Tobel's entire scheme). The final name is gibberish - obviously coded differently. Moriarty has had the message longer, and has already murdered the first three scientists and taken the prototypes of their components. The final name has him stumped - as he's busy trying unsuccessfully to torture it out of Tobel. Holmes realizes that the final name and address, of Prof. Hoffner, were coded in mirror image. Not long after, Moriarty comes to the same realization, and sends men to grab Hoffner (who will be more useful alive than the others) and the final component. When the thugs return, Moriarty opens the package, only to find a note - "We meet again, Professor." Of course, the captured scientist is really Holmes in disguise. Unknown to Moriarty and his men, while they were grabbing the fake professor, the real one went to their car and attached a device that would drip luminous paint on the street. Although they are delayed by a false trail at one point, Watson and the police are able to track Holmes to Moriarty's supposedly impregnable hideout. Meanwhile, Moriarty is open about his intention to murder Holmes, but the latter mocks his lack of originality in means of death. If their positions were reversed, he says, he'd put a needle in Moriarty and start slowly removing his blood, so Moriarty would die by inches, fully conscious the entire time. "The needle to the last, eh Holmes?" says Moriarty, but of course he can't resist inflicting this very form of death on the detective. This elaborate process gives Lestrade and Watson time to arrive and rescue Holmes. Nearby, a gunfight breaks out when police attempt to rescue Tobel, and Moriarty escapes in the confusion. Holmes, though weakened, has anticipated Moriarty and has a gun on him. However, Moriarty runs through his special escape tunnel, complete with a trap door that will send anyone following Moriarty plunging sixty feet into the sewers below. As soon as he disappears, we hear a long scream and a splash. Unfortunately for Moriarty, Holmes had found the trap door and left it open. In an epilog, Holmes and his companions watch RAF bombers on their way to Germany, equipped with the new bomb sight. Charlotte is now Mrs. Tobel. Holmes waxes Shakespearean, quoting from John of Gaunt's "Sceptred Isle" speech in Richard II.