Review: Sherlock Holmes and the Masks of Death

Set just before WWI, an elderly Sherlock Holmes (Peter Cushing) and Dr. Watson (Sir John Mills) investigate two mysteries that might actually be related. One involves the murders of several homeless beggars, the other being the mysterious disappearance of a German Prince. Holmes also reacquaints himself with ‘The Woman’, AKA Irene Adler (Anne Baxter), a woman from Holmes’ past who proves to be completely inscrutable. Gordon Jackson (as a police inspector), Ray Milland (the Home Secretary) and Anton Diffring (as the shadowy Graf Udo Von Felseck) play the figures who bring Holmes’ attention to the two cases.

 

Peter Cushing is my favourite Sherlock Holmes, and this 1984 TV movie from Hammer veterans Roy Ward Baker (“Scars of Dracula”, “The Vampire Lovers”, “The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires”) and writer Anthony Hinds (“Dracula Has Risen From the Grave”, “Taste the Blood of Dracula”, “Scars of Dracula”) proved not only his final go-round in the part, but also his final TV appearance ever. He did make a couple of big screen appearances however, before his death in 1994. Cushing had previously played Holmes in Hammer’s top-notch “The Hound of the Baskervilles” in the late 50s, and then played Holmes on TV in the 60s. Here the very thin-looking 71 year-old veteran character actor plays an elderly but still brilliant Holmes. If the Christopher Lee TV movies were a touch too long, this one’s probably a bit too short. However, Cushing is pitch-perfect, and the mystery is interesting enough.

 

It’s just great to see all of these familiar faces at a later stage in their lives and careers – Cushing, Sir John Mills, Anne Baxter, Ray Milland, Gordon Jackson, and veteran villain Anton Diffring. You won’t see much of Milland, Diffring, and especially Jackson, but all three are in fine form nonetheless, though Diffring might be a tad stiff for some. Cushing’s Holmes is a bit more humble and cuddly than some might like, but like with the Christopher Lee TV movies (“Incident at Victoria Falls”, “Sherlock Holmes and the Leading Lady”), this is an elderly Sherlock Holmes. I had zero problems instantly accepting him in the part of the master sleuth. John Mills proves to be an excellent Watson too, even if his role is mostly confined to narrating the film. Anyone who saw her in “All About Eve” will note how apt Anne Baxter’s casting is as the inscrutable Irene Adler.

 

A nice time to be had for Holmes aficionados, with Peter Cushing a perfect elderly Holmes, and the Hammer pairing of director Baker and writer Hinds offering up a sometimes atmospheric and creepy story. Jolly good fun, if not terribly exemplary, but worth it to see Cushing in his final go-round as the master sleuth.

 

Rating: B-

 

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