The Pearl of Death (1944)
Sherlock Holmes tracks a stolen pearl hidden inside one of six identical plaster busts, racing to find it before the thief's monstrous accomplice, nicknamed the Hoxton Creeper, murders his way through the busts' unsuspecting new owners.
The Pearl of Death is a fan favorite among the Basil Rathbone Sherlock Holmes films for Rondo Hatton’s genuinely unsettling turn as the Creeper, a role built around his own distinctive features rather than makeup; loosely adapted from Conan Doyle’s “The Adventure of the Six Napoleons,” it shows director Roy William Neill at his most atmospheric, having largely shaped the visual style of the Universal series by this point in its run.
Background
The film is loosely based on Conan Doyle’s “The Adventure of the Six Napoleons” and features the stolen Borgia pearl, hidden in one of six plaster busts. Rondo Hatton, who really had the condition acromegaly that changed his features, plays the Hoxton Creeper, and his presence gives the film a genuinely uneasy edge. Hatton became a minor horror star as a result, though he died in 1946.
What to watch for
Evelyn Ankers, familiar from Universal’s horror films, plays a leading role, and Roy William Neill directs with the low-key lighting and drifting fog that had become the studio’s signature. Some fans consider this the best of the series after The Scarlet Claw. Note how the plot moves between the stately drawing rooms of Victorian London and the seedy back streets where the Creeper works; the contrast gives the film its shape.
