With this film - the fifth entry, and the seventh to feature Rathbone and Bruce as Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson - the Universal Holmes series reached its zenith. Although the time period is still obviously the 1940s - made overt by the finale in the shooting gallery - the film actually uses it to its advantage, presenting an engaging movie experience that goes down very smooth, seeming both cultured and modern (at least, for its time). Unlike so many of the Universal series, there's no attempt to make the proceedings pseudo-Gothic, nor to rely on a WWII setting - the basic plot is one that could work in any time period. That serves the story very well, because for once it feels like Holmes and Watson are up against a genuine, contemporary criminal. Just how ingenious can a villain be in the 1940s if he has to carry out his murders in an ancestral home without electricity or telephone service?

More than any of the other films, "Spider Woman" draws on a number of the original Conan Doyle series for bits and pieces of inspiration, chiefly "The Final Problem," "The Sign of Four," "The Speckled Band," and "The Devil's Foot." Bizarrely enough, it works quite well to take these individual little elements and weave them into an entirely new story. Sure, all that stuff about human-seeking deadly tarantulas is utter garbage, but it's made up for by the many twists and turns of the "howdunnit" (for, indeed, that's exactly what kind of mystery this is). Aside from the plot tricks, however, it's the characters that make the story. Gale Sondergaard is easily the most suave villain of the series, and her scenes with Basil Rathbone are a treat. His blackface Indian disguise may seem a bit offensive today, but at least it lets Holmes retain his dignity, unlike so many of the weird masks and outfits he dons throughout the series. Nigel Bruce also gets some nice moments, chiefly his surprise at seeing his friend Holmes alive. And as for the child - isn't that child eerie? It's his little skip that's so disturbing, I think. Perfectly done.

Ultimately, you have a taut little adventure mystery (unusual enough, in what's really a series of thrillers) with a solid cast and a fast-paced, surprising story that remains true to the Conan Doyle roots of the lead characters. What more can you ask for in 63 minutes? And as with most of the films, the restoration by UCLA yields excellent results - the picture is shockingly sharp and clean. I personally recommend getting this as part of MPI's "Sherlock Holmes Collection: Volume Two," but even if you're only interested in the one film, I don't think you'll be at all disappointed by "The Spider Woman."

With this, the fifth film in Universal's Sherlock Holmes series starring Basil Rathbone, the studio dropped the great detective's name from the title, confident that other aspects of the production were powerful enough to attract audiences. "Spider Woman" was a perfect entry in which to deemphasize the appearance of Sherlock Holmes since Gale Sondergaard's performance as Andrea Spedding, aka the Spider Woman, would have been good enough to make this episode memorable even if she had matched wits with a less formidable opponent. Her character was so well received that it inspired an unofficial sequel, "The Spider Woman Strikes Back" (unofficial because she technically played another character and Holmes was not involved) in which another alumnus of the series, "Pearl of Death"'s Rondo Hatton, was also featured.

For fans of Arthur Conan Doyle's stories, it's fun to see how screenwriter Bertram Millhauser uses Doyle's "The Dying Detective" as a source for our first glimpse of Holmes here, and, as always, Roy William Neill creates a beautifully eerie atmosphere with scenes draped in shadows the likes of which can only be found in German Expressionism (and don't miss the scene in Ordway's lab, perhaps the most frightening moment in any of the 12 films). Neill deserves more acclaim than he's received, and the fact that he never rose above the assembly line of B movie making is a damning indictment of Hollywood's inability to properly utilize its talent.

Rathbone is superb, as always, and Dennis Hoey as LaStrade also shines especially in the affecting moments early in the film when the Inspector believes his rival has died. And Nigel Bruce as Dr. Watson, though bumbling as amusingly as ever, is given the opportunity to demonstrate his intelligence, even showing Holmes up for once.

The only drawback to this creepy thriller is a disappointing climax. Otherwise, "Spider Woman" has bite to spare.

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...