For many people, Basil Rathbone's portrayal of the iconic detective Sherlock Holmes is the definitive screen version of Arthur Conan Doyle's much-loved character. Sherlock Holmes and the Spider Woman (1944): In wartime Britain, Sherlock Holmes fakes his own death in order to investigate a spate of "pyjama suicides". His suspicions soon fall on the attractive but possibly deadly Andrea Spedding. Sherlock Holmes and the Pearl of Death (1944): A cursed pearl is stolen from a museum and Holmes gets on the case, encountering a series of brutal murders along the way and a mysterious giant known as the Creeper.