The House of Fear

Sherlock Holmes [Basil Rathbone] is visited by Mr. Chalmers [Gavin Muir], an insurance agent with a strange tale. Seven single men, calling themselves the “Good Comrades,” live together in the remote Scottish castle of Drearcliffe House, near the village of Inverneill. Recently one of the “Good Comrades” received a mysterious envelope containing seven orange pips (seeds). That night, he is murdered and his body is horribly mutilated. A few days later, a second envelope arrives, this time containing six pips, and the recipient also dies mysteriously soon afterwards, his battered corpse recovered from the base of the cliffs. Chalmers holds £100,000 of life insurance policies on the seven men, and suspects that one is systematically murdering the others in order to collect the money, and begs Holmes to investigate.

Holmes [Basil Rathbone] and Dr. Watson [Nigel Bruce] arrive at the scene only to find another murder has occurred, its body burned to a crisp. Inspector Lestrade [Dennis Hoey] also arrives to investigate. Despite Holmes’ best efforts three more deaths occur, each time leaving the victim’s body unrecognizable. Meanwhile, the local tobacconist Alec MacGregor [David Clyde] writes a message to Lestrade, which already had been opened and resealed before it arrived in the inspector’s possession. Holmes and Lestrade go to MacGregor’s shop to investigate, only to learn the tobacconist was shot in the back before they got there.

Lestrade jumps to the obvious conclusion that the last surviving member, Alastair [Aubrey Mather], murdered all the others. However, after Dr. Watson [Nigel Bruce] goes missing, Holmes deduces the plot behind it all and leads Lestrade and Alastair to a secret room where all the “Good Comrades” are hiding and Watson is tied up. Holmes explains that Alastair was the victim of a plot to frame him for murder and collect the insurance money by the other six. MacGregor had been murdered because he had spotted one of them alive on the beach.

Last Updated: October 09, 2025 at 12:31