A Study in Terror (1965)

User Rating:

6.6/10   

Director:

James Hill

Writers:

Arthur Conan Doyle (characters)
Donald Ford (original story and screenplay) ...

Release Date:

2 November 1966 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Horror | Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

Sherlock Holmes meets Jack the Ripper! Here comes the original caped crusader!

Plot:

Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson join the hunt for the notorious serial killer, Jack The Ripper.

Plot Keywords:

Sherlock Holmes | Jack The Ripper | Serial Killer | Murder | Detective

Cast

John Neville	...	Sherlock Holmes
Donald Houston	...	Doctor John Watson
John Fraser	...	Lord Carfax
Anthony Quayle	...	Doctor Murray
Barbara Windsor	...	Annie Chapman
Adrienne Corri	...	Angela Osborne
Frank Finlay	...	Inspector Lestrade
Judi Dench	...	Sally Young
Charles Régnier	...	Joseph Beck (as Charles Regnier)
Cecil Parker	...	Prime Minister
Georgia Brown	...	Singer
Barry Jones	...	Duke of Shires
Robert Morley	...	Mycroft Holmes
Dudley Foster	...	Home Secretary
Peter Carsten	...	Max Steiner

Also Known As:

Fog

Runtime:

95 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Australia:M | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | UK:15

Filming Locations:

Osterley Park House, Isleworth, Middlesex, England, UK

Company:

Compton Films

Trivia:

Thorley Walters was offered Dr.Watson.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: In 1888 they sing "Guide Me O Thou Great Redeemer" to the tune "Cwm Rhondda" which was not composed until about 1905, and had its first public performance in 1907.

Quotes:

Duke of Shires: Where did you get this case?
Sherlock Holmes: I believe it to have come from a White Chapel pawn shop, sir.
Duke of Shires: A Pawn shop. No more than I predicted for him...
Sherlock Holmes: For whom, sir?
Duke of Shires: My eldest son, Michael.
Sherlock Holmes: Do you know of his present address?
Duke of Shires: He is dead.
Sherlock Holmes: Oh, of what accident or sickness, your grace?
Duke of Shires: Disobedience. From the day he left this house against my wishes, he has been dead, sir.
Sherlock Holmes: You mean disowned, your grace.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Murder by Decree (1979)

A delight for Sherlockians, a frustration for Ripperologists

I am both a fan of Sherlock Holmes and an interested observer of the case of Jack the Ripper. This film, with excellent show-saving performances by John Neville, Anthony Quayle, Robert Morley and the whole cast, was clearly written by a Sherlockian rather than a Ripperologist. A lot of Holmes's lines are lifted from stories in the original cannon. The fictional story here (where Holmes encounters Jack the Ripper) is good and basic, and I prefer the simplicity of its solution to the complexity of that in "Murder by Decree", the other Holmes-Ripper film, made in 1979. The research, however, on the Jack the Ripper crimes was clearly lousy, if not non-existent: From the first five seconds of the film, with Mary-Anne Nichols (nicknamed "Polly", but would The Times call her that?) having a knife stuck through her neck and seconds later a fat woman discovering her, when in reality, Nichols had her throat cut and her uterus torn out, two hours before she was discovered by two men. The "dear boss" letter is anything but complete here, there is no mention of the other letters or reasonable explanation for why the Ripper sent it. The writing on the wall for murder three is absent. Still, if you don't mind historical inaccuracies, this film is definitely worth watching. It has my approval.