ThiefHott Too much of everything

MoPoshy Absolutely brilliant

Kidskycom It's funny watching the elements come together in this complicated scam. On one hand, the set-up isn't quite as complex as it seems, but there's an easy sense of fun in every exchange.

Arianna Moses Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

Leofwine_draca This entry in the Rathbone/Holmes canon has all the typical elements present and correct, and carries on the wartime theme by being set at a home for war wounded officers. Fans of the actor - or, indeed the author - will find it passes the time amiably enough as I did, even if there's no way that you can say this is a classic of the series. There are no real stand-out performances from the supporting cast members, and even the villain of the film is a lacklustre one.Once again it's down to Rathbone and Bruce to salvage the film as best they can, with able comic relief from Dennis Hoey as Inspector Lestrade who brightens up the film every time he's on screen. Rathbone gives a typically stirring speech in the closing stages of this film (a propaganda-tinged one, no less) although Bruce doesn't have any real moments to shine in this film - he's fine, but Hoey gets all the best jokes.The setting, an isolated mansion, is a familiar one, and atmospheric too. There's even a lightning strike which causes a suit of armour to crash to the ground. The mystery, involving the 'Musgrave Ritual' is directly based on one of the Conan Doyle stories. The typical twists and clues are all there and rather easy to spot. The film includes every mystery aspect possible - the room locked from the inside, the whodunit, the string of grisly murders, etc. - and as such it's a solid addition to the 'old dark house' sub-genre of movie-making.

LeonLouisRicci Finally, After Three WWII Tainted Holmes Films Universal Advisedly went the Direction Fans were Hoping, with the Moody, Atmospheric, Dank Dungeons, Ghostly Mansions, and Eccentric Characters that the Doyle Enthusiasts were Waiting for, this Movie Delivered Holmes to the Creepy Environs where He seemed so at Ease.This is a Neat Little Murder Mystery with Many a Set Piece that Impress, like the Chess Board, the Cellar, the Funeral, and the Musgrave Mansion Itself, Populated with Weary War Vets and a Family Cursed by Generations of Evilness.It is One of the Better in the Series and Paved the Way for a Few More Very Good Films to Follow. Rathbone and Bruce Never Waiver in Their Character Portrayals and here are Sharply Dialoged and have Much to do. There are some Very Clever Monologues and Exchanges in and around the Mansion and the Pub.Holmes is as Cruel as Usual to His Faithful Companion...Watson: "Simple Holmes a Child could figure it out." Holmes: "Not your Child Watson."

utgard14 Sherlock Holmes (Basil Rathbone) and Dr. Watson (Nigel Bruce) investigate murders at Musgrave Manor, an estate being used as a convalescent home for soldiers suffering from combat fatigue during WW2. Fourth in Universal's marvelous Sherlock Holmes series is a highly enjoyable murder mystery within a gloomy old mansion. This one's just loaded with atmosphere. Great wind and lightning effects, nice use of shadows, and some cool sets. Good supporting cast includes lovely Hillary Brooke, Dennis Hoey, Halliwell Hobbes, and Milburn Stone of Gunsmoke fame, who at this point was a contract player at Universal. A very good entry in the series.

Robert J. Maxwell 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.