The House of Fear (1945 film)

The House of Fear (1945 film)
The House of Fear is a 1945 Sherlock Holmes crime film starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce. Directed by Roy William Neill, it is loosely based on the 1891 short story "The Five Orange Pips" by Arthur Conan Doyle. It is the 10th film of the Rathbone/Bruce collaboration as Holmes and Dr. Watson.
Plot
Sherlock Holmes is visited by Mr. Chalmers (Gavin Muir), an insurance agent with a strange tale. Seven single men, calling themselves the "Good Comrades", live together in the remote Scottish castle of Drearcliffe House, near the village of Inverneill. Recently one of the "Good Comrades" received a strange message, an envelope containing nothing but seven orange pips (seeds). That night, he was murdered and his body horribly mutilated. A few days later, a second envelope was delivered, this time containing six pips, and the recipient also died mysteriously soon afterwards, his battered corpse being recovered from the base of the cliffs. Chalmers holds £100,000 of life insurance policies on the seven men, and suspects that one is systematically murdering the others in order to collect the money, and begs Holmes to investigate.
Holmes and Dr. Watson arrive at the scene only to find another murder has occurred, its body burned to a crisp. Inspector Lestrade also arrives to investigate. Despite Holmes' best efforts three more deaths occur, each time leaving the victim's body unrecognizable. Meanwhile, the local tobacconist Alec MacGregor writes a message to Lestrade, which already had been opened and resealed before it arrived in the inspector's possession. Holmes and Lestrade went to MacGregor's shop to investigate, only to learn the tobacconist was shot in the back before they got there.
Lestrade jumps to the obvious conclusion that the last surviving member, Bruce Alastair (Aubrey Mather), murdered all the others. However, after Watson goes missing, Holmes has deduced the plot behind it all and leads Lestrade (and Alastair) to a secret room where all the "Good Comrades" are hiding and Watson is tied up. Holmes explains that Alastair was the victim of a plot to frame him for murder and collect the insurance money by the other six. MacGregor had been murdered because he had spotted one of them alive on the beach.
Cast
Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes
Nigel Bruce as Dr. John Watson
Aubrey Mather as Bruce Alastair
Dennis Hoey as Inspector Lestrade
Paul Cavanagh as Dr. Simon Merivale
Holmes Herbert as Alan Cosgrave
Harry Cording as Captain John Simpson
Sally Shepherd as Mrs. Monteith
Gavin Muir as Mr. Chalmers
David Clyde as Alec MacGregor
Florette Hillier as Alison MacGregor
Wilson Benge as Guy Davis
Cyril Delevanti as Stanley Raeburn
Richard Alexander as Ralph King
Doris Lloyd as Bessie, Innkeeper
Alec Craig as Angus
C.E. Anderson as Mourner (uncredited)
Leslie Denison as Sergeant Bleeker (uncredited)
References
External links
1945 films
1945 mystery films
American mystery films
American black-and-white films
American detective films
Films based on short fiction
Sherlock Holmes films based on works by Arthur Conan Doyle
Universal Pictures films
Films directed by Roy William Neill
Films set in London
Films set in Scotland
American crime films
1945 crime films
Films scored by Paul Sawtell
1940s English-language films
1940s American films