Sherlock Holmes Faces Death (Roy William Neill director, Universal 1943)

Sherlock Holmes Faces Death is the sixth film in the Basil Rathbone/Nigel Bruce series of Sherlock Holmes films. Made in 1943, it is a loose adaptation by screenwriter Bertram Millhauser of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Holmes 1893 story "The Adventure of the Musgrave Ritual." Its three immediate predecessors in the film series were World War II spy adventures with Holmes and Dr. Watson as characters, but this one marks a return to the pure mystery film form. Though several characters are military men and there are frequent mentions of the war, it is not the focus of the story.

Sherlock Holmes Faces Death dispensed with the Nazis and had Sherlock using his powers of deduction to solve crimes committed by devious criminals. This film captured an almost Gothic atmosphere and the script implied an acceptance of the supernatural, for the first four lines of the Musgrave ritual—"Who first shall find it, were better dead; who next shall find it, perils his head; the last to find it, defies dark powers; and brings good fortune to Hurlstone Towers"—take on the air of prophecy when it comes true. Scenarist Bertram Millhauser wove a number of great classic mystery elements together—the dark stormy night, secluded manor, hidden passages, and the old chestnut of the clock striking 13—into an engrossing and sprightly paced film. ~SilverScenesBlog