SHERLOCK HOLMES FACES DEATH while stalking an egomaniacal murderer in an ancient English manor house.

Basil Rathbone & Nigel Bruce return again as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's beloved creations, Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. This time they become involved in an Old Dark House murder mystery, investigating crimes at the decrepit stately home-turned-convalescent hospital where Watson is looking after four officer patients. The film is fun, including elements such as a hidden crypt, a bloodthirsty raven and an antique ritual of the beleaguered Musgrave family intertwined with an unusual chess game. There is perhaps a bit too much plot--the old clock tower that strikes 13 is never explained--but this never gets in the way of enjoying the picture.

To say that Rathbone & Bruce remain perfect in their roles is but to state the obvious; by this point in the series the old pros were working together like the gears in an antique clock. They are given fine support by elderly Halliwell Hobbes as the manor's eccentric butler and Minna Phillips in the role of the Musgrave's sinister housekeeper. Dennis Hoey is back as the dogged, but inept, Lestrade of Scotland Yard. Milburn Stone has a minor part as an American captain suspected of being the killer.

Other small roles handled well are essayed by Frederick Worlock, Gavin Muir & Hillary Brooke as the unfortunate Musgraves; Gerald Hamer, Vernon Downing & Olaf Hytten as the invalided officers; and Arthur Margetson as Watson's hospital assistant.

Movie mavens will recognize Norma Varden as the barmaid at The Rat and Raven; seaman Peter Lawford as one of her clientele; and dear Mary Gordon making her brief obligatory appearance as Mrs. Hudson, all uncredited.

Based very loosely on Conan Doyle's short story The Musgrave Ritual, the film follows SHERLOCK HOLMES IN WASHINGTON (1943) and precedes SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE SPIDER WOMAN (1944).

Oh I do like this one, this is what I want from my Sherlock Holmes, a sneaky little murder mystery to be solved all set inside a rickety old manor that oozes foreboding as our protagonists walk up the path. A manor that has secret chambers, creaking floorboards, creaking servants, the mystery basement, and of course the impending glee of knowing Holmes & Watson are thrust into a dastardly murder mystery in this creepy place.

The cast are up to the usual standard we have come to expect in the series, the plot is simply effective with a few delightful sequences thrown in for good measure, and the film's running time is just about perfect.

Love it, now anyone for a game of human chess? 9/10

This is a very entertaining Sherlock Holmes film with some of the best - maybe THE best - camera-work I've seen in the Basil Rathbone-Nigel Bruce series.

The photography was better than the story, which was disappointing only in that it was too easy to spot the killer. Heck, even I found it no problem, so it must have been too easy.

The characters were interesting and all quite different. Some were mental patients who had suffered from World War II. Miburn Stone played the lone American and I didn't recognize the man who went on to play "Doc" in the long- running hit TV series "Gunsmoke." However, his voice sounded familiar.