The Masks of Death

Two seemingly unrelated cases and the salvation of the British Empire from a world war—albeit temporarily, by principle. Although it's almost at retirement home levels, the collaboration between Cushing, whose sharp features could be used for opening envelopes, and Mills, who looks like he fell out of James Mason’s belly, works quite well. Sherlock, as usual, gets exasperated by women, engages in disguises akin to Inspector Clouseau, and in the end, in collaboration with a future CI5 chief, manages to move some unpleasant events to Belgian soil. By the way, it’s odd that Cowley looks the same here as he did at the end of the seventies. When you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth. So he must be Highlander... (02/03/2023)

Peter Cushing, like his colleague Christopher Lee protrayed the famous detective and it's not bad. A retired Sherlock complies with a request for help with an investigation into mysterious deaths, which he has to interrupt at the request of the Home Secretary, who wants him to find a prominent young German man, and gradually the detective discovers that the cases have much in common. On top of that, he meets the ever-handsome Irene Adler, who once cheated him during an investigation, but he is not going to let it happen a second time. The sometimes darker, albeit nocturnal district could certainly have been used even more, but this is a whodunit, and not horror film, which, by contrast, is one of the best stories: “The Hound of the Baskervilles”. The acting is enjoyable, Cushing never disappoints, yet I'll give it 3.5*. The shorter running time is more than likeable, the TV visuals, on the other hand, not so much... (08/05/2024)