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.