That was an excellent one.

Am i the only one who thinks........Average?

It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

Review - Sherlock Holmes Faces Death 9-17-43 6th in the Series The storyline has Dr. Watson overseeing the needs of convalescing soldiers from WWII battles, each suffering some traumatic incident, resting at the historic centuries old Musgrave Manor, also occupied by three Musgrave's, two of which shall meet with a fatal end, plus the butler is killed, too. It is for Holmes to find the killer of the three gentlemen through whatever clever means possible. Holmes gives Bob Sexton multiple reasons he is the killer. The man who murdered the Musgraves, with such a sure hand, would never have missed killing Sexton. Also, Dr. Sexton examined both bodies, but failed to report the real cause of death. The case of systemic needles in his possession found earlier by Holmes, just after Geoffrey Musgrave was found murdered. Matrimony was motive, Miss Sally was the object of Sexton's affections. He planned on marrying Sally Musgrave in order to gain possession of the estate. Sexton claimed he knew nothing about the game of chess, but he named the square in chess parlance, when Holmes suggested he must have moved off it. Holmes finds a button on the cellar floor, asking Sexton if per chance it was his button. Sherlock Holmes faces death from Dr. Sexton, stating he thinks he could manage killing Holmes with one shot. He fires, Holmes goes down, Sexton rises to the next level, with Lestrade, Watson and policemen waiting for him. Sexton fires at all of them, but Holmes admits he put blanks in the weapon. Holmes asks Watson if he heard his confession. Watson acknowledges hearing it all. Lestrade heard likewise. Holmes admits to the risk being alone in the crypt with a killer, even with blanks, and adding, these egomaniacs are always so chatty, when they seem to have the upper hand. Some notable appearances included the following: The series' movies with Dennis Hoey portraying Lestrade and Hillary Brooke as a heroine are my favorites. Milburn Stone looked a young 39, in this 1943 release, no matter what his actual height, he played his part well, although briefly, in only two scenes. A very young Peter Lawford, appearing, at 20, in the opening scene at The Rat and The Raven. A bit of whimsey includes the following: When the proprietor tells of the raven in the bar coming from Musgrave Manor, it does seem a little far-fetched, but I suppose the scavenger bird could have travelled from the spooky estate to the pub. Question is, why did he let it in the establishment? Answer, it coincides with the name of the place. Rated high on favorites list in series based on the mystery, the cumulative clues, the background of the Manor, the pub and the characters; most of all how Holmes put all parts together to catch the killer.

Roy William Neil directed this entry, loosely based on 'The Musgrave Ritual', and sees Sherlock Holmes(played by Basil Rathbone) & Doctor Watson(played by Nigel Bruce) investigating a convalescent home for soldiers during WWII. It seems someone is trying to find the fabled buried treasure of the Musgrave family located somewhere on the estate, and is not above murder to do it. The culprit is someone among the staff or clients, but who? A return to form in the series, with a nice atmospheric feel and the downplaying of the war itself, making appropriate use of Holmes' deductive ability. Only negatives are a bit of padding and a weak villain, but otherwise a fun installment.

I think this may have been the fourth of the Universal productions starring Rathbone and Bruce and, contrary to the usual trajectory, it appears to be an improvement in some ways over the earlier three.For one thing -- and thank heavens for small favors -- the director, Neill, has deep-sixed that forward sweep of Holmes' hair. It made him look like a lithograph of Lord Byron.For another, the earlier movies were pep talks that had Holmes and Watson fighting Nazi spies and secret weapons. Boston Blackie could have done as good a job. This returns Holmes to his more natural practices of rooting out a murderer and it puts him back in his accustomed milieu, a dark old house in a windswept forest. The house has secret passages, ancient crypts, hidden documents, and a handful of soldiers convalescing from traumatic war experiences. It's more of a Gothic melodrama than a spy story.The plot alludes often to the Musgrave ritual, which all fans of the canon will be familiar with, but aside from the family name they might not recognize it here. The incantation, rewritten for the purposes of the film, changes the directions into a description of moves on a chess board. The butler is still named Brunton, but he's not a young womanizer, just an old and not particularly bright drunk, and he dies in the crypt, but the MacGuffin is still in the compartment with him.The cast is full of familiar stalwarts and gives us a glimpse of Peter Lawford in his first feature film.Nigel Bruce is his usual mumbling and indignant self, but Rathbone plays Holmes a little differently. Rathbone's presence was always quick and darting but here he's more authoritative than usual. He seems to boss everybody around more and rarely shows sympathy towards any of the other characters. It's not offensive, just a little different.You know the elegant elderly lady that Robert Walker almost strangles at the party in Hitchcock's "Strangers on a Train?" Or the elegant elderly lady that Tyrone Power bamboozles in "Witness For the Prosecution"? That's Norma Varden. Like the Musgrave ritual, she's almost unrecognizable as a jolly bar lady in the local pub.

Sherlock Holmes Faces Death (1943) *** (out of 4) Dr. Watson (Nigel Bruce) is working at a convalescent home where a murder takes place so he calls in his buddy Holmes (Basil Rathbone) to solve it. As soon as the detective shows up more bodies start to pile up so Holmes looks from the inside to catch the killer. This fourth film in Universal's series manages to be quite good even though the supporting cast here isn't nearly as strong as previous films. What does work is Neill's strong direction, which makes for some funny scenes as well as a tense ending where Holmes, as the title tells, faces death. There's a rather amusing bit with a human chess board that manages to be funny as well as give major clues to the killer's identity. Rathbone and Bruce once again deliver the goods and continue to make an impressive team. Dennis Hoey has a few funny moments but Arthur Margetson, Halliwell Hobbes and Hillary Brooke are all rather weak and don't offer any support. The screenplay is quite clever and manages to offer up a few good surprises along the way. Unlike the previous three films, this one here doesn't have any message about the world nor does it talk about the evil German but instead just delivers a pretty good mystery.