Horror Thursday: MURDER BY DECREE (1979)

Title: MURDER BY DECREE (1979)

      The amazing thing about Sherlock Holmes, is not that he has been characterized in more than 238 film and tv productions, but the fact that there are so many different interpretations of the character. A different time, a different place, a different actor, a different studio, and a seemingly different world. It's astonishing that so much can do with a character that has already so much written about him. There aren't many gaps in his history (outside the 3 years he was believed dead). So where is the allure to changing things about him again? To start with, one must find a cast to fill the world of the great detective, his trusty side-kick, the fallible members of the Scotland Yark and the various dark dealers that surround them. Christopher Plummer heads the cast as the brilliant Sherlock Holmes, and is equaled by the fun trend-bucking James Mason as John Watson. The cast is filled out by such luminaries as Donald Sutherland, Sir John Gielgud.
     Murder by Decree, decides to take things in a different light, under more nuanced changes. Here, for instance, Christopher Plummer embodies his take on Holmes than more humanity ever before conceived. This isn't to say that Sherlock Holmes isn't personable, but that often his brilliance is in direct conflict with his ability to navigate most normal social situations. Which is to say, because of the way he using his brain, he doesn't realize he's coming off as an ass to a lot of people, because they should simply know better, or get smarter if they have an issue with it. In this instance though, Plummer is able to walk the line between a brilliant mind who happens to care a great deal with people, and someone on the verge of being annoyed with anyone around them. Through this though we are given my favorite sequence of the film. Decree features one of the best mash-up ideas in all of Sherlock Holmes lore. Holmes being the brilliant detective of Victorian London, is tasked with the job of solving the murders of Jack The Ripper. He is met with obstacles at every turn. From the local law enforcement, the government, as well as various shadowy figures. Far into the story, as he nears the end of things, he is forced to visit a patient in a mental hospital on the outside of town, with information that can tip the scales of the case. The patient is more than they seem, and as she breaks down her story, in drugged addled pauses, Holmes finds himself overcome with paternal grief. To that point that he physically lashes out at the doctors and guards who come into the room to question his actions. As tears fill his eyes, we begin to witness, a Sherlock Holmes who is taking a very serious stake in a case. Not for fame, or money, or pride, but do to the overpowering need to do this person justice, who, through no harm of their own, has been destroyed by events well beyond their control.  This emboldens the audience for the remainder of the film, cheering on their hero, to break through all adversity. It's a testament to both the work of  Christopher Plummer and the director. The director himself starts out as a head-scratcher, though that is the definition of Bob Clark's career. The director of the beloved A Christmas Story, the genre-defining Porky's, and the beginnings of the modern slasher in Black Christmas, Clark is always the least likely choice. Here again though, he bucks the walls put up around him, to make a rousing adventure that not only blends various genre's, but stands as one of the finest Sherlock Holmes adventure's not penned by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
**** out of *****