The Dual Meaning of 'Evelyn Kitty': Executive News Vs. Public Memorials
By Sophia Al-Mansoor
Travel back 84 years, and the names carry an entirely different cultural weight. In 1942, Universal Pictures sought to modernize Arthur Conan Doyle’s Victorian sleuth to support Allied morale during World War II. Directed by John Rawlins, Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror placed Basil Rathbone’s Holmes and Nigel Bruce’s Dr. John H. Watson in contemporary 1940s London, investigating a series of sabotage broadcasts orchestrated by Nazi intelligence.
Evelyn Ankers, celebrated as the "Queen of the Screamers" for her work in The Wolf Man (1941) and Ghost of Frankenstein (1942), stepped outside traditional horror to play the pivotal Kitty character. In the film, Kitty is a fiercely loyal East End woman whose fiancé is murdered by undercover agents.
Rather than serving as a standard damsel in distress, Ankers delivers an impassioned performance, rallying London's working-class underworld to track down foreign saboteurs. Her climactic speech about sacrifice remains a standout moment in classic mystery films, cementing Ankers’ place in Hollywood film history trivia long after Universal ceased its Holmes series.
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