The Spider Woman
Sherlock Holmes has to solve a mystery about a series of suicides of known gamblers.
- Director: Roy William Neill
- Genre:Crime / Horror / Mystery / Thriller
- Runtime:60 minutes
Cast
Basil Rathbone : Sherlock Holmes
Nigel Bruce : Doctor Watson
Gale Sondergaard: Adrea Spedding
Dennis Hoey : Inspector Lestrade
Vernon Downing : Norman Locke
Holmes fakes his own death in order to investigate a number of bizarre apparent suicides, that he is convinced are part of an elaborate plot by “a female Moriarty”. Holmes notes that all the victims were wealthy gamblers, so disguised as “Rajni Singh”, a distinguished Indian officer, he stalks London’s gaming clubs.
It is not long before he encounters the villain of the piece, Adrea Spedding. Holmes discovers that she seeks out men short of money, persuades them to pawn their life insurance policies with her accomplices, then kills them.
Holmes sets himself up as her next victim, discovering that she uses the deadly spider, Lycosa Carnivora, whose venom causes such excruciating pain that the victims kill themselves. Holmes also finds the footprint of a child nearby.
Searching for evidence Holmes and Watson visit eminent arachnologist Matthew Ordway, who may have supplied the deadly creatures. Holmes soon realizes that the man he is speaking to is an imposter, but the villain makes his escape. Searching the premises Holmes finds the corpse of the real Audway, as well as his journals, which allude to something or someone from Central Africa immune to the spider venom. This baffles Holmes until he finds the skeleton of a child. However, Dr. Watson points out that the proportions are all wrong, so it cannot be a child, but a pygmy.
Holmes and Watson continue their investigations at a nearby fairground, but Holmes falls into the clutches of Spedding and her gang. Bound and gagged, Holmes is tied behind a moving target in a shooting gallery, at which Lestrade and Watson take pot shots with a .22 rifle. However Holmes manages to escape, and Lestrade and the police arrest Spedding, her gang, and the pygmy. Read more
