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Binding : DVDEAN : 5030697008466Label : Fremantle Home EntertainmentManufacturer : Fremantle Home EntertainmentPublisher : Fremantle Home EntertainmentRelease date : 2005-03-28Title : A Study In Terror [1965]Actor : ArrayAudience rating : Suitable for 15 years and overFormat : PALLanguages : ArrayNumber of items : 1Original release date : 1965-01-01Region code : 0Running time : 94Studio : Fremantle Home EntertainmentTheatrical releaseDate : 1965 Far inferior to Bob Clark's later Murder By Decree (1979), this first cinematic attempt to pit Sherlock Holmes against Jack the Ripper is a reasonably exciting horror thriller in its own right, but is let down by an unimaginitive plot and the rather too broad playing of the lead actors. Compared to the deadly straight team of Peter Cushing and Andre Morell, Holmes and Watson in the Hammer version of The Hound of the Baskervilles made just a few years earlier, John Neville and Donald Houston play the central roles with their tongues firmly in their cheeks. Houston in particular goes the Nigel Bruce route in his playing of Watson, his flamboyant pomposity unsuited to the grim subject matter of the story. Robert Morley, too, goes for overt comedy with his Mycroft Holmes, the first time the character had ever appeared on screen, as does Cecil Parker as Lord Salisbury, whose performance lacks the chilly menace of John Gielgud's turn as the same man in Murder By Decree. The best performance in the movie comes from Anthony Quayle in the small role of Doctor Murray; by this point in his career a veteran of well-regarded war epics like Ice Cold in Alex and The Guns of Navarone, he's the biggest star in the film and justly steals every scene he's in. Also featuring small, early supporting roles for curent British TV `golden girls' like Judi Dench and Barbara Windsor, a jazzy score, and a couple of surprisingly bloody deaths, A Study In Terror is a long way from being the definitive `Holmes vs. the Ripper' story, but is a decent enough way to pass an hour and a half.
A study in terror revolves around Sherlock Holmes up against the infamous Jack the Ripper in the backstreets of Victorian London. A cast of well-known stars including Anthony Quayle, Robert Morley, Frank Finley and stage actor John Neville as the notorious sleuth. The harsh colour and ghostly music adds to the gritty realism of the period. Another similar and maybe more sophisticated movie is Murder by Decree which deals with pretty much the same plot but delves deeper into the workings of the Masonic conspiracies. A good transfer onto DVD including the original theatrical trailer makes this a recommended purchase.