Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce played Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson in a remarkable fourteen films in only seven years. The first two The Hound of the Baskervilles and The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - both 1939 - were made for 20th Century-Fox. The franchise then moved to Universal Studios, where the duo would resume the roles from 1942 to 1946, and again on the radio for several years during World War II. Universal put Holmes and Watson into all kinds of situations not originally dreamt up by Sr. Arthur Conan Doyle, including bringing them forward into the modern age to fight Nazis, and later, enemy agents in Washington D.C. Sherlock Holmes Faces Death (1943), adapted for the screen by Bertram Millhauser from the Doyle story The Musgrave Ritual, might have placed Holmes and Watson in modern times, but at least it put them back to work solving civilian mysteries. This was not Millhauser's first Holmes film; he also wrote the screenplay for Sherlock Holmes [1932] starring Clive Brook.

Sherlock Holmes Faces Death was directed by Roy William Neill, who had also taken over producing duties from Howard Benedict, just as the film went into production. Benedict had overseen the weaker Holmes films and Neill's influence can be seen on the screen. As David Stuart Davies wrote, "[H]e returned Holmes and Watson to the kind of complex problem and rich atmosphere that make Doyle's tales so satisfying. A happy side effect of this revitalization was the demise of Rathbone's 'windswept' hairstyle, leaving his sharp, refined features properly emphasized and Paget-like once again."

In the cast along with Rathbone and Bruce was Dennis Hoey as Inspector Lestrade; Hillary Brooke, Universal's all-purpose leading lady; Peter Lawford in the small role of a sailor in a pub scene; and Milburn Stone (known best to audiences as Doc on the television series Gunsmoke) as Captain Vickery, the love interest for Sally Musgrave (Brooke). Stone's short stature caused minor difficulties on the set. "Everybody in the picture was taller than me," the actor recalled. "There was this shot where Basil and I had to walk across the room together. He walked on the floor, but they built a special platform for me, so I'd look taller. I had a love scene with Hillary Brooke which was even worse. We were sitting on the sofa and I looked almost like a midget next to her. The property man supplied me with some pillows to prop me up."

The film was released on September 17, 1943, with The New York Times reporting, "Universal, which likes to shoot the works on a bloody tale, has done just that in Sherlock Holmes Faces Death...Corpses and clues accumulate. Secret panels open and close, butlers and housekeepers lurk at keyholes, carrion ravens pluck at rumble-seat coverings, old family rituals are read amid thunder-and-lightning effects, unsteady old men knit in rockers and pretend to sleep, and because the camera apparently must have been quite heavy, it quite often catches only feet, not the person on them, creeping through the hallways. But through it all, Mr. Holmes moves with absolutely mathematical precision and the clipped peremptory tones of Basil Rathbone; and Dr. Watson, or rather Nigel Bruce, less brainy than brave, carries on nobly. Dr. Watson, when it's all over, can't understand why the heroine tore up the old land-grant with all its town's and poor workmen's homes. 'The days of grab and greed are over,' remarks that remarkable man, Mr. Holmes. It gives one new confidence that he should think so."

A few months after Sherlock Holmes Faces Death was released, Rathbone and Bruce would reprise their roles as Holmes and Watson, this time for the traditional Hollywood Christmas Parade. Dressed in all their Victorian finery, Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson faced – not death – but fans lined up along Hollywood Boulevard as the pair waved to the crowd while riding in a horse-drawn carriage. Once again, Holmes and Watson met the modern age.

Producer: Roy William Neill
Director: Roy William Neill
Screenplay: Bertram Millhauser; Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (story)
Cinematography: Charles Van Enger
Art Direction: John B. Goodman, Harold McArthur
Film Editing: Fred Feitshans
Cast: Basil Rathbone (Sherlock Holmes), Nigel Bruce (Doctor Watson), Dennis Hoey (Lestrade), Arthur Margetson (Doctor Sexton), Hillary Brooke (Sally Musgrave), Halliwell Hobbes (Brunton), Minna Phillips (Mrs. Howells), Milburn Stone (Captain Vickery), Gavin Muir (Phillip Musgrave), Gerald Hamer (Langford), Vernon Downing (Clavering), Olaf Hytten (Captain MacIntosh), Frederic Worlock (Geoffrey Musgrave).
BW-68m.

by Lorraine LoBianco

SOURCES:
Davies, David Stuart, Starring Sherlock Holmes
Haydock, Ron, Deerstalker!: Holmes and Watson on Screen
T.S. "Sherlock Holmes Faces Death (1943): At the Palace." The New York Times, 8 Oct. 1943.
http://www.imdb.com/