Sherlock Holmes Faces Death

source: Sherlock Holmes Faces Death

Not the best of the Rathbone Holmes series, but it involves a very nice little bluff at the end and, like Hitchcock's Stage Fright, features a 'lying flashback' which misleads us at the beginning. Not that this really matters - I watch these things for the acting and the atmos, not because I care who the murderer is! The chessboard sequence is pretty silly, though.

For those that know "The Musgrave Ritual," one of the better stories of the Holmes canon, this doesn't do too badly. It takes place in a convalescent home where Watson is helping veterans who suffer from a type of PTSD. The patients, sadly, provide some comic relief, and Watson's role is once again foolish and clutzy. However, once the bodies start showing up all over the place, under piles of leaves, in the rumble seats of cars, etc., Holmes must come to the rescue. There is a lot of lightning and thunder and dark and stormy night stuff going on. There is funeral service where the heroine is asked to recite the Musgrave ritual, an ancient set of cryptic statements that eventually become significant to the solving of the case. Holmes pull a few tricks from his bag of deceptions. Like the original, everyone ends up in a hidden cellar which holds a secret. It is a reasonably resonant offering in the Rathbone series and worth a watch. The atmosphere is worth the price of admission.

This is a good one. I understand it was the first of this branch of the series: producer, writer, director and Holmes set in wartime Britain. Here's what's comparatively better than other Rathbone Holmeses: Watson is less moronic and the setup is more deliberately cheesy (a remote country house where you know the culprit is among the residents). Holmes seems to do more actual detecting than usual. The clue in this case isn't a clue about the murders, but about the treasure behind the murders. This allows the writer a chance to escape the usual formula and substitute a better one. And it is also the most cinematic of all the Rathbone Holmes projects. The key factor in this is a human chess game, which is photographed amazingly well: Holmes on a ladder with an elevated chess board under an arch beyond which you can see the human chess pieces he "directs." Its a brief scene, but clearly the center of the film. And there are secret passages, goofy military officers the likes of which we wouldn't see until Kubrick. All in all, the one to prefer, I think. Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 3: Has some interesting elements.

This is one of several Sherlock Holmes films made by Universal Studios starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce. And while it isn't the best of the 1940s series, it certainly is better written and more watchable than many as well--particularly since so many of the ones made during the war were too propaganda-inundated to be the least bit believable. Plus, they were so, so very different from the original Conan Doyle stories that they were really awfully tough to watch. The film is about a manor home in which several murders and a near-murder take place. Holmes and Lestrade both investigate and in the end, surprise, surprise, the bad guy gets caught. And, catching this criminal is made easier because like all villains in these films, he's amazingly stupid and easy to trap! It's pretty standard B-movie detective type fare--no better or worse. All good fun, but a far cry from the exquisite Grenada Films shows of the 1980s starring Jeremy Brett--now THOSE were wonderful and amazingly authentic films.

This lame entry does a terrible disservice to the great detective..for example..when Sally rushes to find Holmes at the pub to tell him her brother Phillip is missing, Holmes response: "did you check his room?"...really. Why did it take so long for Holmes to realize the Musgrave Ritual was chess terms???..why did he play the chess game with humans.was it really necessary? Why did Holmes dig he broken needle fragment out of Phillip Musgraves's head? Don't they do autopsies on murder victims in England? Why did Dr. Sexton leave the Crown Grant down in the crypt? Why didn't the Musgrave's claim the land ages ago? "Oh, I'd rather stay poor, and let two generations down the road claim the land"...????? Why did Sally throw away a fortune??? Is there a law in England that states when you inherit land you have to evict the former tenants?!?!?...the whole movie is filled with idiotic nonsense....

Although it seems a little long, at times, SHERLOCK HOLMES FACES DEATH is one of the best of the modern Holmes stories starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce. The plot for a change actually is twisty enough for one to wonder who is the killer. The revelation is a bit more of a surprise than many of the other stories. The basis for this film is "THE MUSGRAVE RITUAL", which is similar in some details but has been expanded. The story, actually one of two that Holmes has to relate to Watson because it occurred before they met, is how Holmes is visiting the home of a school chum, Reginald Musgrave, and how the family butler, one Brunton, disappears after he is caught in the act of apparently looking over old family documents. Musgrave discharged Brunton, but then the butler vanished. It is believed he has fled because he has become entangled with a local girl, who has also disappeared. The story was properly filmed (although with some slight changes) in the BBC "Mystery" series of Holmes stories with Jeremy Brett. I will not tell the clever ending, but it deals with the titled "Ritual" which the Musgrave family has been reciting since the middle of the 17th Century, which begins: "Who had it? He who is gone. Who shall have it? He who will come." If one thinks about the ritual wording one can help figure out the mystery of the story. Interestingly, the wording attracted a literary figure of higher importance than Conan Doyle in modern times - T. S. Elliot. Always having a fine ear for English speech and diction, Elliot was so impressed with the first four lines of the Ritual, he transposed them into a section of his verse drama about Thomas a'Beckett, MURDER IN THE CATHEDRAL. Elliot was very fond of Conan Doyle's stories, and one of his poems in OLD POSSUM'S BOOK OF PRACTICAL CATS (the source of the musical CATS) is "MACAVITY THE MYSTERY CAT" which is based on details about Professor Moriarty. The actual ritual is used in the film, although it is expanded into a type of chess game. The story is changed (modernized to fit the war effort). Watson is working at a rest home for soldiers suffering stress and battle fatigue. The home is the estate house of Geoffrey Musgrave, his brother Philip, and his sister Sally (Frederick Warlock, Gavin Muir, and Hillary Brooke). One day Watson's assistant Dr. Bob Sexton (Arthur Margetson) stumbles in wounded and says he was attacked from behind and stabbed in the neck. The perpetrator is assumed to be one of the serviceman. Watson tells Holmes about it, so Holmes comes down to take a look. Then a murder occurs, and Inspector Lestrade (Dennis Hoey, as good as ever) pops up. The chief suspect is the American officer Captain Vickery (Milburn Stone - not given too much to do in this film, unfortunately), who has been romancing Brooke. I will leave it at that, except to say that the secret of the Ritual is expanded from a piece of jewelry to something of considerable more value. Despite some slightly long stretches, it is a good, twisty plot and well worth the watching.

When serving as doctor at a medical rest home at Musgrave Manor, Watson's assistant is stabbed and strange things seem to be stirring in the Manor. Watson goes to London to bring back Holmes to help but arrive after a murder has occurred and Scotland Yard is already on site. Holmes investigates the crime which looks to be part of a series of murders that may be related to an old secret of the Musgrave family. The title suggests a dramatic film that threatens our very hero himself and, towards the end, this is the case. However for the majority of the film the plot stops any real sense of excitement building up. It is more than a clear detective story and instead is far too mixed up in itself to really flow. That's not to say it doesn't all come together at the end, but I did feel like I'd been let in on very little up till that point. Rathbone is good at making even ordinary confrontations come off as dramatic and he keeps the film moving along well with this. Bruce is funny and isn't put down as much as in other films plus here he is not the lowest of the low as Hoey makes a welcome appearance as the ever-amusing Lastrade. Of the support cast (or suspects) none really stand out or make a lasting impression but they do well enough. The film has a good conclusion that involves a nice little bit of trickery on the part of Holmes, but it is let down a little by a little speech from Holmes about `looking out for others' and moving past the old days of greed that, although designed to be a post-WWII message, really is a bit flat and obvious now.

Spoiler alert!!! Starts oddly, with the people we are imagine are going to be the main characters merely sketched in or unseen: two brothers, one prematurely elderly, the other a smoothie, have a younger sister who wants to marry an American airman. Before we get to know the brothers or even meet the airman, weird things start to happen, including murder. The airman is arrested and hence absent for most of the film. The central characters are as usual the wonderful Holmes and Watson. Weird trappings include a raven that croaks not 'Nevermore' but 'I'm a devil' - a lift from Charles Dickens, who owned and fictionalized such a bird. The shell-shocked soldiers billeted at Musgrave Manor help in the mystery's solution and are an excellent bunch. Despite nervous stammers, strained smiles and compulsive knitting, their intelligence is clearly intact. xxxxx

always enjoyed the atmosphere of this movie. spooky manor, wind and thunder and lightning. pleasure to watch over and over. its in my top 3 of the whole series starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce. if any of you enjoy this movie then the other 2 that make up my top 3 would be of interest to you. they are House of Fear and Hound of the Baskervilles. another one that has great atmosphere but doesn't have the stately manor to speak of is the Scarlet Claw. the selections i have mentioned are best viewed at evening with all the lights off. i even go as far as lighting candles to give my own surroundings similar atmosphere. David