Study in Scarlet Reviews

Pre-Basil Rathbone Sherlock Holmes featuring Reginald Owen as the famed super-sleuth. Based very loosely on one of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's best tales, this mystery pits a rather plump Holmes against a gang of jewel thieves known as the "Scarlet Ring," each member of which has vowed to leave his estate to the organization if he should die. Not surprisingly, there is little honor among thieves and soon one of the members is bumping off the others in order to inherit several fortunes. Noteworthy for its superb cinematography and surprisingly successful British ambience, A STUDY IN SCARLET boasts the only film actor to have played both Dr. Watson and Holmes. Owen had played Watson the year before, opposite Clive Brook in SHERLOCK HOLMES (1932), and had been so taken by the success of the 1932 film that he starred in and co-wrote the next one. Although he bears little physical resemblance to the Holmes described by Arthur Conan Doyle, Owen makes up for it with a bravura performance uttering excellent dialog that he had penned himself. Although certainly not a textbook adaptation of the literary Holmes, A STUDY IN SCARLET captures the flavor of Conan Doyle admirably.