Movie: ***** _____ DVD Quality: ****1/2 _____ DVD Extras: N/A

A moody, atmospheric entry in the classic Rathbone-Bruce Sherlock Holmes series, featuring a corking good mystery with an intriguing "whodunit?" angle. In an old and lavish Scottish mansion, the seven bachelor members of a private club are being brutally maimed and murdered one by one; interestingly, each victim receives an envelope containing orange seeds just before his turn to die. What can it mean? It's up to Holmes and Dr. Watson, with the fumbling assistance of Scotland Yard's Inspector Lestrade, to unravel the complicated plot. Rathbone and Bruce are in typically fine form as the master sleuth and his faithful foil, and the supporting cast includes wonderfully deft work by Aubrey Mather and Paul Cavanagh as two of the endangered gents. On the distaff side, Sally Shepherd turns in an intriguing performance as a dour housekeeper; and veteran leading actress turned character player Doris Lloyd, always a welcome presence in any film, has a meaty unbilled supporting role as the proprietess of a local tavern. In addition to a fine plot and stellar performances, "The House of Fear" also benefits from outstanding art direction and set decorations, all of which are beautifully captured by Virgil Miller's noirish cinematography.

The MPI video release features a generally excellent video and audio transfer from a 35mm print digitally restored by the UCLA Film and Television Archive. A couple of early scenes appear overly grainy, but the rest of the transfer is sharp and clear with pleasing contrast (and especially nice graytones in a couple of key outdoor sequences). The soundtrack is remarkably crisp and clean throughout. Overall, highly recommended, and an absolute must-see for Holmes completists.

...At least, that's certainly how it feels! This, the tenth Holmes/Watson film to feature Rathbone and Bruce, and the eighth by Universal, takes more than a page from the grand dame of mystery. Although ostensibly credited as being based on the Conan Doyle Holmes tale "The Five Orange Pips," the film owes a far greater debt to Christie's "Ten Little Indians" (aka "And Then There Were None"). In fact, it's basically little more than the Christie story retold with a Conan Doyle plot device at its core - and, strangely enough, the ultimate solution seems to have been lifted from a different, equally famous Christie novel! It's a bit odd to watch, a little like experiencing an alternate universe Sherlock Holmes, because this so clearly the territory of a detective more like Christie's own Hercule Poirot - but that doesn't stop it being entertaining.

Yes, the Universal series has started to dip a little bit in quality again (after a string of three excellent entries), but only just. Rathbone and Bruce still keep it fun, as always, and it's one of the very rare films in the series to qualify as a whodunnit murder mystery. Yet you can make a pretty good stab at the solution well before the end, and the curious element to the murders (which, of course, only Holmes notices) is blindingly obvious. At least it all makes a sort of skewed sense.

Unfortunately, we're trapped in yet another pseudo-Gothic situation, in an ancestral home sans any modern luxuries but a sour-faced housekeeper. Delightful, or at least it would be if it hadn't been done several times already. Even more unfortunate is the fact that Nigel Bruce's Watson is called upon to be still more of a dunderhead than usual, and Dennis Hoey's Inspector Lestrade is there to make even Watson look bright.

I am, perhaps, being a little over-critical; don't get me wrong, I certainly enjoyed the movie, and I think it's a good entry in the series. If you just want to see one or two films from the series, however, this is not the title for you. It works best seen in the overall context of the fourteen Rathbone and Bruce films; in other words, it's a film for the fans.

On the point of the odd plot alone, I wouldn't recommend this one to the casual viewer. Sadly, however, this is also the worst-looking of the films yet (having seen the previous nine, including the two Fox entries). I'm sure the UCLA Archive did what it could, but it's clear they didn't have all of the original 35mm elements at their disposal. Several shots are a little soft and grainy, most especially obvious in dissolve transitions, and that sometimes extends as far as whole scenes. The film simply lacks the sharp, crisp look of most of the others ("The Scarlet Claw" has a few problems too), hence my rating of only three stars - with better picture quality, it would certainly have garnered four.

If you're a Sherlock Holmes fan, or you want to see all of the famous series, you'll definitely want to at least give "The House of Fear" a rent. If you're purchasing, I seriously recommend MPI's "Sherlock Holmes Collection: Volume Two," where you'll also get the three previous, better entries. If you're new to Sherlockiana, though, or even just the Rathbone incarnation, try some of the others first: "The Hound of the Baskervilles," "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes," "The Spider Woman," and "The Pearl of Death" are my top choices.

Adapted from the Conan Doyle novel 'The Five Orange Pips' this movie opens with Holmes and Watson being visited at Baker Street by an insurance agent who relates to the crime solving duo the strange occurances at a seaside manor house. Meeting there is a group of men who have entered into life insurance policies naming the others as their beneficiaries.
Now the men are all being murdered one by one, immediately after receiving envelopes filled with orange pips. This strange factor picques Holmes' interest and he sets off with Watson to visit Scotland and solve the mystery.
Rathbone is in fine form here and the scenes at the manor contain some of the most atmospheric moments in the series. This is highly recommended for fans of the worlds most famous consulting detective

"The House of Fear" is a hugely enjoyable Sherlock Holmes film, perhaps the last truly satisying entry in the 12 film Universal series (of which this is number 8, not counting the two unrelated films made by 20th Century Fox).

This is a good old fashioned haunted house mystery, the perfect companion for a dark, stormy night. There's nothing supernatural going on, only the all too mundane matter of murder, motivated by greed. There's nothing mundane about the way Holmes and Watson go about solving it though, and director Roy William Neill guides them with his usual brilliance, magically creating an ambiance of suspicion, fear, and mystery in gorgeous black-and-white. The plot resembles Agatha Christie's "And Then There Were None," the first film version of which was in production when "The House of Fear" was in release, (and the Holmes entry was probably an attempt to steal that film's thunder) but this film is actually superior. After all, it has Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce as Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. How can you beat that?

This selection is one of the Best of the 14 Rathbone and Bruce made. I've seen it countless times and I enjoy it every time. Wonderful feel to the film that will never be duplicated!!!!!
I am writing this pre-review to express my Great Expectations and excitement over the upcoming DVD release of the 14 Sherlock Holmes movies made by Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce.
For those of us who have loved and worn out our VHS versions of these films, I am sure that I speak for many of us in expressing incredible anticipation and near shock that someone has finally recognized the need to release a "restored version" of these timeless classics.
We are told that they have been "Preserved and restored in 35mm by the UCLA Film and Television Archive." This is marvelous and I have already pre-ordered Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 from MPI Home Video.
I so hope that the entire 14 movies, are ultimately released in restored condition. Especially the rarest of them, "The Scarlet Claw" which has rarely been shown on televison and only been available on VHS sporadically.
To me and many others I know, Basil Rathbone is the definative Holmes. Not just because he looks alarmingly similar -as much as is humanly possible- to Sidney Pagets drawings of Holmes from the Strand Magazine illustrations, but mostly we love Rathbone because he portrayed the same Holmes that we as readers get through the buffer of Dr. Watson explaining away not magnifying Holmes' shortcomings.
Jeremy Brett chose to amplify every negative aspect of Holmes' personality that in the written versions Watson explained away. Rathbone's Holmes has been demeaned visciously over the past years and hopefully the respect and dignity that he gave his portrayals will be seen in all their accuracy and glory with these new digitally restored releases. ... these will have to be the best quality versions of these classics ever released...so for all of us who have cursed the incomprehensibly awful releases of these films over the years...our time has almost come. Show your support for this effort by ordering a restored version of American Film Histroy.
Much Thanks to UCLA, MPI, and Whoever was ultimately responsible for the idea of doing this!!!!