Am a huge fan of Sherlock Holmes and get a lot of enjoyment out of Arthur Conan Doyle's stories. Also love Basil Rathbone's and especially Jeremy Brett's interpretations to death. So would naturally see any Sherlock Holmes adaptation that comes my way, regardless of its reception.Furthermore, interest in seeing early films based on Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories and wanting to see as many adaptations of any Sherlock Holmes stories as possible sparked my interest in seeing 'The Masks of Death', especially one with such a great idea with Sherlock Holmes in his twilight retirement years.There are better Sherlock Holmes-related films/adaptations certainly than 'The Masks of Death', the best of the Jeremy Brett adaptations and films of Basil Rathone fit under this category. It's also not among the very worst, although one of the lesser ones overall, being much better than any of the Matt Frewer films (particularly 'The Sign of Four') and also much better than the abominable Peter Cook 'The Hound of the Baskervilles'.By all means, 'The Masks of Death' is not without imperfections. The story is not always focused, with a few too many abrupt shifts and characters coming and going. Some of the pace could have been tighter.Ray Milland to me also seemed ill at ease and out of place, ill health showing and not gelling with the period.However, 'The Masks of Death' looks handsome in period detail and is filmed nicely if not lavishly. Roy Ward Baker's direction gets the best out of the cast and keeps the mystery interesting, while the writing is intelligent, literate and probes though.While not perfect in execution, the story is intriguing with a quiet nostalgia and subtle tension. Most of the pacing is swift. The ending is chilling. Peter Cushing is an excellent Holmes and shares a charming chemistry with John Mills' equally good Watson. A legendary literary partnership done justice. Anne Baxter's Irene Adler beguiles. Cast is fine on the whole, with the only reservation being Milland. Overall, well done. 7/10 Bethany Cox

This original Sherlock Holmes case (from a story by Anthony Hinds under his John Elder alias) also marks Peter Cushing's last starring role – he had first played the fastidious Baker Street detective in Hammer's 1959 version of THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES, reprised in two TV series in 1964 and 1968 (during the course of which he eventually relinquished the part to Douglas Wilmer). His inseparable sidekick, Dr. John Watson, was interpreted by the likes of Andre' Morell, Nigel Stock and, here, Sir John Mills. Incidentally, given the actors' age, the film starts off with Holmes (typically and, in spite of Cushing's frail look, he is made to don a couple of disguises throughout) in retirement, his adventures being recounted to reporter Susan Penhaligon – whose appearance is relegated to this brief prologue, never subsequently picked up! Seeing the cast at work, one gets the feeling he is visiting a veterans' retirement home: supporting the leads, among others, are Ray Milland and Anne Baxter (both of whom would be dead within 2 years), Anton Diffring and Gordon Jackson! Anyway, the main narrative – set on the eve of WWI – seems to incorporate two unrelated mysteries (mildly thrilling but not really horrific, as I had been led to believe!) but which, unsurprisingly, are found to be connected: the first involves a number of corpses discovered bearing the titular countenance, the second the alleged kidnapping of the young heir to the German throne. The main setting, then, is Diffring's county manor – where Holmes runs into an old nemesis, Baxter, one of the very few who had ever managed to outwit him! – but the climax takes place in an underground lair, with our heroes incongruously resorting to shooting their way out of trouble! All in all, the film is an adequate (and pleasingly old-fashioned) time-passer, its biggest reward undoubtedly emerging Cushing's always delightful turn as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's master sleuth. Even so, the sheer fact that so many of its participants – Cushing, Diffring, Milland, Penhaligon, Ward Baker and Elder – had previously excelled in the horror genre makes the surprising lack of it here seem doubly disappointing.

A now retired Holmes (Peter Cushing) is called on one last time to assist Scotland Yard with a strange case, that they can shed no light on. Three bodies have been found, one in the Thames and two others in Whitechapel, all bearing a hideous look of fear on their faces, but all showing no signs of cause of death. Holmes is intrigued enough to take the case and with Watson (John Mills) in tow he sets out to solve it. However before he can, he is called on by the Home Secretary (Ray Milland) and a stranger who wants to keep his identity to himself, their plea is for assistance in the case of a missing German envoy, his disappearance, they claim could cause the outbreak of War between England and Germany. The stranger is Graf Udo Von Felseck (Anton Diffring) a German diplomat close to the Kaiser, Holmes impresses Von Felseck as he deduces both his name and his political affiliation. Holmes takes the case and soon finds himself mixed up with a plot to kill millions, he also gets involved with "That Woman" again, one Irene Adler.(Anne Baxter) Pretty decent TV movie from Tyburn films, with a good intricate plot and a fantastic cast, Cushing even this late in his career shows he still had the mental and physical agility to take on the role.

Above all else, this TV movie was most welcome for giving Peter Cushing a chance to end his acting career on a high note and in one of his most celebrated roles (he appeared in one more film after this one but this was to be the last lead role of his long career). He'd first played Sherlock Holmes twenty-five years previously in a Hammer movie, and then in a 1968 BBC television series. Here, he revisits the character in a later stage of life and, accordingly, this time his rendition of the great detective is less agile and prone to moments of impatience and tetchiness. Cushing is just one of a number of senior actors in the cast, many of them sadly fast-approaching the end of their careers... Anne Baxter, Gordon Jackson, Anton Diffring... Ray Milland also sadly was not in great health at the time and it shows. Nevertheless, all give very good performances as one would expect from such distinguished names. The piece is nicely filmed with good location work and the music is okay too but unfortunately everything is let down by the plot. Much of the narrative involves Holmes and Watson investigating a supposed kidnapping which ultimately proves to be nothing more than a red-herring, conceived to keep Holmes distracted from another more important matter. One can't help wondering if it would have been easier for the villains to have simply assassinated Holmes if they were so worried about him bringing them to justice. And once this duplicity is discovered, the characters involved just vanish from the action and the story suddenly shifts to a climax that is, in itself rather unsatisfying. Why do Holmes and Watson, two ageing men, risk their lives in flushing the villains out of their lair when the police apparently have the whole place surrounded anyway?It was a nice idea to see a more elderly Holmes in action for once and even better to have Peter Cushing playing him once again, and it's a shame that plans for a proposed follow-up never came to fruition, because a better story might have worked wonders. A good attempt that just doesnt quite come off.