A Study in Terror Movie Review

If you think of Sherlock Holmes, usually you think of Basil Rathbone or Jeremy Brett. Although Holmes has been played by many other fine actors it's the afore mentioned two that people usually remember, Rathbone's classic black and white thrillers and Brett's television series. In 1965 a new actor played Holmes, his name was John Neville who is more well known today as Baron Munchausen and as the Well Manicured man in The X Files. Sherlock Holmes is a terrific character but he can be a bit of a know-all, Neville knows this and when deducting and detecting he is one step away from winking at the camera. He also puts Holmes across as a bit of an action man involved in several fight scenes. Donald Houston is a terrific Dr. Watson completely in awe of his genius friend. The rest of the cast are a well seasoned bunch of old pro's familiar to anyone who knows their British films.

London is in turmoil, Jack the Ripper has begun his reign of terror and only Sherlock Holmes can stop him. Holmes receives a surgeon's kit with the scalpel missing. Holmes, being a bit of a genius deducts it is probably a scalpel that is responsible for the cutting up of the Whitechapel prostitutes. Along with Dr. Watson he ventures into Whitechapel and uncovers lots of sinister goings-on involving the aristocracy. Jack the Ripper has been the inspiration for countless films, some good, some bad but A Study in Terror brings the real life character up against the world's most famous fictional detective. Does it pull it off, you damn right it does.

Only one real criticism, it would have been nice for Fremantle to use the terrific box art from the Australian release which used one of the film's original release posters instead of a boring old photo, never mind. However it's nice to see the film available on DVD.