A Study in Scarlet

A group of gents pool their assets to create a society that will benefit each of them equally. When they start getting murdered, one of the widows approaches "Sherlock Holmes" (Reginald Owen) asking him and colleague "Dr. Watson" (Warburton Gamble) to investigate after she is left penniless by their ... curious arrangement. When another of their number - "Capt. Pyke" (Wyndham Standing) is shot, the mystery moves to his country pile being sold by his widow Anna May Wong, who certainly arouses the suspicions of our detecting duo. As does her solicitor "Thaddeus Merrydew" (Alan Dinehart) whom "Holmes" already suspects to be a man of dubious character who may be involved in an intricate plot to fleece the beneficiaries on behalf of an even more infamous nemesis of his. This is a decent effort, though quite why "Holmes" (who lived at 221B not A, Baker St.) would have a portrait of Abraham Lincoln on his wall perhaps tends more to the American studio origins of this adaptation. I'm not sure (the very wooden) Wong's voice could have got any deeper without tunnelling through to Australia, and June Clyde ("Eileen") is just a bit too much of a damsel in distress - a bit annoying by the end. It does move along a-pace, with a few red herrings and secret stairways to keep the thing going and, though not a particularly strong story, it's enjoyable enough. read more