Sherlock Holmes Faces Death

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.

I dearly love all of the Basil Rathbone / Nigel Bruce SHERLOCK HOLMES movies, but this one is one of my favorites. Maybe it's just some fond memories from my youth. A modern comparison can be made between the chess game in this movie and the one in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. Even though no one actually died in Potter's game, murder surrounded the Musgrave Ritual -- so which one could be deemed more violent? Both movies arrived at the mysteries' solutions after the completion of the game, so there's another loose comparison.

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

Sherlock Holmes films are always better when they have a horror edge to them - The Hound of the Baskervilles and The Scarlet Claw prove this best - and Sherlock Holmes Faces Death makes another nice entry in the list of Holmes films with a horror slant. The story this time round takes place in a foreboding old house where people are turning up dead. Holmes is brought in to investigate, along with his good friend Dr Watson and Scotland Yard's most inept inspector - the hilarious Lestrade - joins in the fun also. The acting from the central three is great, and they offset each other brilliantly. Rathbone gives another great performance as the brilliant detective of the title, while Nigel Bruce provides some of the more inept moments as Dr Watson; and Dennis Hoey always amuses as Inspector Lestrade. The mystery itself is a little messy at times, and can become a little slim on logic at times; but it all comes together at the end. The ending itself is great as usual for Universal's Holmes series, with the title character thwarting the villain with a combination of intelligence and skill. I would much prefer the movie if it cut off before the ending speech, however – even Watson looked like he was about to fall asleep! The title is perhaps a little over-dramatic for what the film is, and the supporting cast can be a little drab at times; and although this isn't one of the absolute best Sherlock Holmes films, it's certainly a very worthy entry in the series and comes with high recommendations.

Sherlock Holmes Faces Death is the first film in the Universal Sherlock Holmes series (1942 -1946) to abandon the idea of Sherlock Holmes as a prototypical 007 spy-hunter, battling Nazi agents and keeping Britain safe from the Axis powers. The bizarre experiment which began, apparently without a shred of irony, with Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror was brutally maimed when Sherlock Holmes in Washington flopped. And so, the direction of the series changed (for the better) with the fourth outing, Sherlock Holmes Faces Death...to the point that it can almost be viewed as the starting point of a completely new Holmes series.

Here, the allusions to WWII are vague, at best. Gone are the overt references to the Nazis and the intrusive patriotic speeches...which merely impeded upon the proceedings in the previous films. Holmes is in his element here, solving a dense mystery by using deductive reasoning. The film is still modern, making use of such devices as automobiles, telephones, and electric lights. But this is all incidental. If we overlook the updating of the surface elements, the story itself is rather timeless. Telephones and automobiles were present in Conan Doyle's later Holmes stories, anyway...and the Gothic tone of this film (and several of those which followed) gives it an almost Victorian or Edwardian feel, despite being obviously set in the mid-20th Century. And most importantly, Holmes is back to the business he should never have abandoned.

Loosely based on The Musgrave Ritual, the film is entertaining and certainly of higher technical quality than its predecessors, despite the fact that the series was forever doomed to the ranks of the low budget B-picture. The camera work is evocative, with fluid motions and intriguing angles...which would become a staple of the Holmes series...and the direction is excellent, with Roy William Neill (who also began his role as Associate Producer with this film) really coming into his own as the driving force behind the franchise. Rathbone's Holmes (whose hair has, thankfully, undergone quite a transformation) is in better form here than in previous entries...detached and focused, he relies on reasoning, rather than chance, in order to solve the mystery that's presented to him. Nigel Bruce, as Watson, turns in his usual bumbling-yet-lovable performance. Dennis Hoey once again manages to out-bumble Watson as Inspector Lestrade of Scotland Yard...a canonical character who made his first Universal appearance in Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon, and would go on to appear in a total of six of the twelve films.

Overall, not the best film in the series, but a step in the right direction. Once the filmmakers got their proper footing, in regard to the series' new and improved direction, they produced much better work...peaking, many (myself included) would attest, in 1944 with The Scarlet Claw. Other subsequent Holmes titles, such as The Spider Woman and Terror By Night, also outshine, in my estimation, this fourth Universal venture. But this film marked the great change that heralded all the treasures to come...and as such, has amassed much favor among fans and critics alike. And rightly so.