Murder By Decree (Ws)

Starring:Christopher Plummer, James Mason, David Hemmings, Susan Clark, Anthony Quayle, John Gielgud, Frank Finlay, Donald Sutherland, GeneviÃ¨ve Bujold, Chris Wiggins, Tedde Moore, Peter Jonfield, Roy Lansford, Catherine Kessler, Ron Pember, June Brown, Ken Jones, Terry Duggan, Hilary Sesta, Anthony May
Director: Bob Clark (III)
Studio: Anchor Bay
Product Type: DVD

Amazon.com

Murder by Decree has the distinction of being not only one of the best Sherlock Holmes films, but one of the best pastiches (i.e., a Holmes fiction created by someone other than author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle) featuring the late-Victorian Era detective. Christopher Plummer is very good as Holmes, and James Mason redeems the many mishandled screen portrayals of Dr. John Watson with a rare, insightful performance. The story may not be unique in post-Doyle Holmes adventures--the private investigator pursues Jack the Ripper during the latter's reign of monstrous murders in foggy London--but the script by John Hopkins (Thunderball) is keenly intelligent, developing concentric circles of power and evil with great subtlety. Before losing himself in Porky's, director Bob Clark did a masterful job of surprising audiences with Murder by Decree, convincing viewers they were watching one kind of drama but then unleashing something very different, very unsettling. --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews:

Review of the DVD itself........2007-01-23

Since everyone with any sense knows this is a great film, I will just give my thoughts on the actual DVD.
The transfer is wonderful. Sharp, but still giving you that slightly understated sense of color vibrance you expect from English films reflecting this time period.
The sound is in mono, but there are hardly any scenes that would warrant any great speaker seperation. Yet the sound is pretty good. There were times in the outdoor scenes where the actors' lines were partially obscured, but it was forgivable.
The commentary is great. It has somewhat large gaps, but I found it insightful about the production of the film, as well as Jack the Ripper and Holmes lore.
The production stills are a nice touch, but the feature I found cool beyond anything I expected was that the script is provided on the disc in the form of a PDF file you can access on your computer. Very cool, indeed.

Holmes vs. Ripper yarn.......2007-01-10

Cool story. Well acted by good cast. Doyle fans will enjoy this treatment of the obvious "missing" story from the Holmes Canon.

As a standard-length movie, the characters aren't quite as well developed as the much longer Michael Caine Ripper mini-series done by the Beeb, but it's well worth a look.

One of those movies you take to the deserted island with you........2006-12-18

This is my favorite Sherlock Holmes movie ever. It is about Sherlock Holmes investigating the Jack the Ripper murders. Christopher Plummer and James Mason are outstanding as Holmes and Watson; their relationship is just as you would expect two old friends. Sometimes some minor squabbling but always there for each other when the chips are down. When both have been bloodied by the bad guys, they're passing their one gun back and forth between them is both amusing and very touching. Watson is the epitome of the decent citizen who staunchly supports Queen and country. Holmes is less gung ho but the movie turns when he too is caught in the riptide of social change and conspiracies. The dream cast is like a who's who of the 70s; Anthony Quayle, David Hemmings, Frank Finlay, Genevieve Bujold, Susan Clark, Donald Sutherland and even John Gielgud shows up at the end. The plot is deliciously complicated and the production wonderfully atmospheric, a Victorian England come to life. Bob Clark does a great job of directing this cast of thoroughbreds and the showdown between Holmes and the bad guy is edge of your seat stuff. I highly recommend this movie - you won't be sorry.

fantastic little known movie!.......2006-11-13

I saw this flick in the theater when it first came out. I was greatly surprised that it became such a little known sleeper. Plummer was great as Holmes. So much so I hoped that he would team up with Mason again for another adventure. Speaking of Mason, I, like many of the others reviewing this movie feel that Mason was masterful as Watson. In some ways he upstages Plummer. Another great actor contributing within this movie is Donald Sutherland.

It seems in this day and age where modern day murderers have much out done Jack the Ripper, the public is still intrigued by him. That the case was never solved and he may have been the first well publicized serial killer may have something to do with that.

This movie merges several of the most popular theories as to who the Ripper was and his possible motives into one. The names and characters were real. The story teller offers this as what could have been. Fiction yes, but good fiction based on actual events with actual persons at the time of the case.

As I stated, this movie is not well known and if you own it you will be able to share an excellent thriller with friends that never knew it existed. Lastly, I am not sure how it got rated PG but it is at times graphic and I would view this before allowing younger viewers.

Self Promotion for Producer........2006-08-15

Nothing but self-important producer yacking about how accomplished he was at an early age, as mere snipnets of what I thought was going to be a movie were shown. Very disappointing, as listing didn't indicate that this was not the full movie uninterupped!

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