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 *****

Drama Tuesday: THE SEVEN-PER-CENT SOLUTION (1976)

Title: THE SEVEN-PER-CENT SOLUTION (1976)

    The world of mash-ups is a hardship when it comes to movies. Inevitably my mind always comes back to "Time After Time", in which H.G. Wells builds a time machine that Jack the Ripper steals, travels to 1979, and Wells must give chase and stop him. It's more entertaining than the ridiculous synopsis would have you believe. That film was written and directed by one Nicholas Meyer, whose previous credit was writing The Seven-Per-Cent Solution, adapted from his own novel. The setup is brilliant in and of itself. Worried about his friend and compatriot's state of mind and well being, due to cocaine addiction, Dr. Watson enlists the help of Sigmund Freud. From there they embark on one of Sherlock Homes finest adventures.
     Everything in the film works. From the inclusion of Sigmund Freud, the first rate casting, and an adventure worthy of, at the time, a high 12 million dollars. It's epic in scale, even if most of its proceedings deal with internal demons. Watson (an at first confusing Robert Duvall) finds Sherlock Holmes (Nicol Williamson, Merlin of "Excalibur") in the throws of a serious cocaine binge, ranting about his nemesis, Moriarty. It turns out that Holmes has been stalking him obessively, to take him down, once and for all. Though this Moriarty, it seems, is nothing more than an old doddering math tutor, who may or may not be harboring a dark link to Holmes past. After meeting with Sherlock's equally brilliant, if not more reclusive, older brother, Mycroft, Dr. Watson and he set forth a plan to lure Sherlock to Vienna, so he may be cured by Sigmund Freud (a brilliant Alan Arkin). The movie plays things even smarter by having Freud himself being the perfect foil for Holmes, even though he himself states he is merely using the tools that Holmes does and adapting them as his own. The cocaine usage has become a much used tool when navigating the Sherlock Holmes landscape, but none more so brilliantly than here and "The Private Life of Sherlock Homes". To see one of the most brilliant deductive minds almost reduced to rubble, is as sad as it is thrilling. It makes one care about the well being of the character, garnering a personal stake in the matter. Thankfully director Herbert Ross and Meyer never try and play it for laughs, more so showing the dark side of addiction and the crippling blow it can cause.
      Seeing as how this is an adventure tale, the film isn't solely fixated on the treatment of the addiction, but also a rousing case that has to be solved. Enter Vanessa Redgrave as Lola Deveraux, another patient of Freud's, who first relapses, and then goes missing. Seeing Holmes, Watson, and Freud launch into a case together is thrilling in all the right ways. The deductive minds all combine, bringing something to the table, and propelling things forward at the briskest of paces. The dialogue sparkles as Freud and Holmes match wits, and Watson gets to be much more than a joke several times. The film also features 2 of my favorite usages of a train ever committed to celluloid. One is a sword fight that takes place both inside, and on top of said train. The other......a train chase. It. Is. Awesome. Just when I think I have seen it all in a movie, I see a film of yesteryear with a scene that makes me ask, "why the hell didn't anyone tell me about this?" Whomever had to sit down with the producers of the film, and get the scene passed, is officially my hero. It's more entertaining than the entirety of "Unstoppable", without a doubt. To see an entire boxcar dismantled while the train is moving, to catch up with another train, is a thing of wonder.
       Here is a film that wants to be remembered. It doesn't beg, it doesn't plead, it merely wants that of you, then gives you numerous reasons to do so. It's light, it's fun, always engaging, at times a serious study of one of literature's greatest creations, and day I say it "a rip-snorting good time". The Seven-Per-Cent Solution invariably gets passed over, because it was made in a time, where all studios were taking big chances. This is right during the independent movement of the 70's, where the films being made where trying to change the language of cinema. So a film hearkening back to characters of old, the child in all of us, well it isn't hard to deduce what was to become of it. Thankfully, not all films are lost, and with the technology of today, films once passed by, can be celebrated and championed again. Here's to hoping, this classic, gets its moment again, and often.
**** out of *****