Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

Let's be realistic.

It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

This lame entry does a terrible disservice to the great detective..for example..when Sally rushes to find Holmes at the pub to tell him her brother Phillip is missing, Holmes response: "did you check his room?"...really. Why did it take so long for Holmes to realize the Musgrave Ritual was chess terms???..why did he play the chess game with humans.was it really necessary? Why did Holmes dig he broken needle fragment out of Phillip Musgraves's head? Don't they do autopsies on murder victims in England? Why did Dr. Sexton leave the Crown Grant down in the crypt? Why didn't the Musgrave's claim the land ages ago? "Oh, I'd rather stay poor, and let two generations down the road claim the land"...????? Why did Sally throw away a fortune??? Is there a law in England that states when you inherit land you have to evict the former tenants?!?!?...the whole movie is filled with idiotic nonsense....

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."

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.

After Universal had 'used' Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson in three consecutive films as an audience magnet for their wartime flag wavers (and with increasingly poor box office results), the master sleuth finally is back in his 'natural' crime element; in contemporary England this time (no more Victorian nostalgia as in the first two movies with Basil Rathbone produced by 20th Century-Fox), but still in a rather creepy atmosphere: an old manor in Northumberland, which has been turned into a rest home for shell-shocked soldiers - and when the daughter of the house falls in love with one of them (and an American on top of it all!), her brothers clearly object to her marrying him; and are both murdered within a few days...This movie really's got the 'creepy old house' feeling about it, Holmes investigates again with his usual methods; and there isn't even any Moriarty involved - so this is a real good, clean, suspenseful and clever whodunit, which keeps the watchful viewer's eye and mind busy constantly if he wants to guess the culprit in the end before Holmes catches him in an old dark vault underneath the building - or is HE the one who's caught?? Very entertaining, well played and directed, a real enjoyment for classic whodunit fans!