Schlockarama: VHS/DVD Grindhouse

Fans of Sherlock Holmes wondered for years why Arthur Conan Doyle never had his great detective solve the greatest crime of his time...the Whitechapel Ripper Murders! In 1979 America's most effective modern horror director, and Florida filmmaker, Bob Clark gave us the Sherlock Holmes case that everyone had wanted for years.
The story concerns Holmes taking on the case of Jack the Ripper. It leads him to a cover up that involves a deranged physician, Freemasons,and the Royal Family. If this all sounds familiar its probably because you have seen it, read it,read it again and seen it again all before. The first Holmes film to pit the great detective against ol' Spring Heeled Jack was 1965's A Study In Terror starring John Neville (of Baron Munchausen fame), then there was the 1976 non-fiction novel Jack The Ripper:The Final Solution by Stephen Knight which first introduced the Royal Family cover up theory, which in turn inspired Alan Moore's celebrated graphic novel From Hell. From Hell was made into a film and there is no denying that while based on the graphic novel it borrows heavily from Murder By Decree. But Murder By Decree handled the whole thing far better than the Hughes Brother's film. Although it bogs it's self down with a subplot involving radicals.

Murder By Decree is chock full of great actors. Christopher Plummer plays Holmes and James Mason plays his trusty sidekick Watson. With the exception of the PBS TV series Plummer and Mason are hands down the best versions of Conan Doyle's sleuths. The chemistry they have is amazing. Plummer perhaps plays Holmes far calmer than one is used to. The frentic Attention Deficit Disorder Holmes played by Jeremy Brett in the TV series was far more faithful to Doyle but Brett lacked the cool aristocratic presence Holmes should have at all times. Basil Rathbone captured that perfectly as does Plummer here. Holmes even gets in disguise in a nod to Doyle's penchant for having the detective don makeup and accents to slip in somewhere unnoticed. James Mason as Watson is a pure delight. Gone is the bumbling Watson of the Rathbone films and for the first time cinema saw a Watson as a worthy sidekick to Holmes. Mason's Watson figures out clues and is always ready for a duel. The comedic rapport between Holmes and Watson is also a treat. The best scene is when Watson is trying to skewer his final pea with a fork and Holmes agitated by the act smashes it. Donald Sutherland makes a cameo as medium who sees the face of the Ripper in a vision and real life and David Hemmings(the lead in Argento's Profondo Rosso) plays a possibly corrupt cop.

Bob Clarks direction is at times mediocre and other times epic. Most of the film is shot like a Hammer Film. In other words really good muscular direction that gets the point across but lacks in lush cinematic scope. But it actually works for the dingy grey shit pile of Bob Clarks 1888 London. The back alleys are pretty much how you imagine them to be in that era, foggy and bleak grey. Somewhere towards the end Clark ups the ante and for the tense courtroom finale and emotional epilogue he comes close to showing what with a higher budget and bigger scope this film really could have been. Being a horror director Clark excelled when showing the Ripper murders. Never going hardcore on the gore he left it to his trusty slasher POV trick he so perfectly used on Black Christmas and Deathdream. The Rippers final murder which is seen only through a fogged up window is one of the most disturbing and harrowing death scenes in any Jack The Ripper film to date. From Hell may have been gorier but it comes nowhere near the level of unease of this scene or when Holmes discovers the shocking ritual.

Murder By Decree has been called the greatest Sherlock Holmes film ever made and while it has some shortcomings it is without a doubt the best of the screen adaptations. With a foggy creepy London,a perfect team in Mason and Plummer, and murders aplenty this is for Holmes and horror fans alike a must see.