Too much of everything

Surprisingly incoherent and boring

Don't listen to the negative reviews

Boring

A Study in Terror unites two of my favourite movie characters, one fictional, and one very real: Conan Doyle's super sleuth Sherlock Holmes and infamous serial killer Jack the Ripper. Although it's far from the best film to feature either character, there is still plenty of fun to be had as Holmes (John Neville, channelling Basil Rathbone) does his thing, uncovering a dastardly blackmail plot that has had dreadful consequences for Whitechapel's working girls.In merging the literary with real-life, huge liberties have clearly been taken with any facts, and avid Ripper-ologists will be able to tear a new one out of the script as historical detail quickly falls by the wayside in favour of the fanciful. Fortunately, the film is just too much fun to let factual inaccuracy spoil matters too much. The murders are nice and gruesome, there's a well staged fight scene that sees Holmes and Watson (Donald Houston) duke it out with some thugs, we get to meet Holmes' equally brilliant brother Mycroft (Robert Morley), eye candy is provided by the rather-too-attractive, soon-to-be-dead whores (who include Carry On regular Babs Windsor), and the whole mystery keeps the viewer guessing right till the end.

In 1888, a series of horrible murders are being committed in London's poor Whitechapel district. With public outcry growing and the police baffled, the world's greatest amateur detective, Sherlock Holmes, is tasked with finding the identity of Jack The Ripper …The idea of combining the fictional Sherlock Holmes from Arthur Conan Doyle's stories with the real-life murders of the notorious Jack The Ripper is a clever one. Only one of the stories was actually written prior to the murders but the time line is close enough, and the appeal of having a genius investigate perhaps the most notorious unsolved killings is pretty irresistible. Well written by brothers Derek and Donald Ford, it recreates the detail of the murders quite accurately, but also explores the social justice angle well - Holmes is at times almost sympathetic towards the Ripper as a psychotic driven to his deeds, and angry with the establishment who try to downplay the seriousness of his crimes and the squalor in which they occur. The cast are all talented British stalwarts, with Neville (The Adventures Of Baron Munchausen) a fine Holmes, Quayle good in a key part, and classic Cockney pin-up girl Windsor (the star of many of the Carry On films) at the height of her beauty. With some moody sets and good photography this is an effective if minor little thriller. The enjoyable 1979 Canadian film Murder By Decree with Christopher Plummer as Holmes is a virtual remake (Finlay even reprises his role as Inspector Lestrade) and the Holmes vs Ripper idea has also been used in several comics, books and video games.

A Study In Terror is not the only film to pit Sherlock Holmes against Jack the Ripper. Neither is it the best, falling well short of the standard set 13 years later by Bob Clark's Murder By Decree. Concluding with a memorable speech by Christopher Plummer's Holmes about "madmen wielding sceptres," his 1978 conspiracy thriller had the advantage of providing a satisfactory explanation to the conundrum: if the master sleuth really did solve the mystery of the Whitechapel murders, why are we - to this day - none the wiser? This earlier effort is a mixture of lurid exploitation piece, with Babs Windsor among the body count of murdered prostitutes doing her 'tart with a heart' acting, and stodgy social commentary, represented Anthony Quayle's po-faced pathologist denouncing the degenerate morals of the East End. The murders have something of the voyeuristic nastiness of Michael Powell's Peeping Tom, but with the self-reflexive twist of a film-making murderer. The pub scenes on the other hand do conjure up a bit of an atmosphere of bawdiness, with their raucous music hall singing.The plot, such as it is, hangs on the Ripper's surgical skills, the estranged son of a tetchy upper class type, a burly publican and a woman disfigured in an acid attack. I won't say any more, because some viewers might genuinely want to enjoy the detective story mechanics at work here. Stylistically A Study In Terror is Hammer-esquire Victorian Gothic, although the percussive incidental music has a strangely Latin American feel. At best, the film is something of a curiosity, with Donald Houston (later to star in Moonbase 3) amiable enough as Watson. It also features a cameo by Robert Morley as Sherlock's brother Mycroft Holmes, Frank Finlay as Inspector Lestrade and a brief appearance by a very young (not yet Dame) Judi Dench as Anthony Quayle's soup kitchen running daughter.

I'm a big fan of the original Universal Sherlock Holmes series and while there have been attempts by other studios to make films based on the classic character by Arthur Conan Doyle, only Hammer Horror's take on The Hound of the Baskervilles has come close to touching the majesty of Universal's films. However, for my money, A Study in Terror is both an excellent take on Sherlock Holmes and certainly one of the best films about the great London detective outside of Universal's efforts. This film is not based on an actual story by Arthur Conan Doyle and instead we get a story in same style as Doyle's that pits Sherlock against another notable historical figure, Jack the Ripper. Sherlock Holmes becomes interested in a series of murders happening around Whitechapel with prostitutes as the victims after a parcel containing a set of surgical instruments is anonymously delivered to his address. After inspecting the case, he soon comes up with some clues and begins following the trail which leads him to the seedy underbelly of Victorian London...It seems this film was directly trying to imitate the classic Universal ones as the two lead actors are very similar to Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce. Neither is as good, of course, but John Neville gives an excellent performance as the eloquent detective, while Donald Houston is right on cue as Holmes' understudy. The film also features the good natured humour of the earlier series and that makes the film more enjoyable to watch. Director James Hill does an excellent job of creating an atmosphere for the film; the foggy streets of London are great and suitably fit the macabre storyline. The story itself is an interesting one and it plays out well also. The mystery is constantly engaging and the few murders featured are enough to spice it up. The story features enough red herrings and clues to keep the audience and Holmes guessing and the mystery elements are certainly satisfying enough. The identity of the ripper is not abundantly obvious by the end and the film's conclusion is good. Overall, I enjoyed this film very much and can certainly recommend it to my fellow Holmes fans!