Murder by Decree has the distinction of being not only one of the best Sherlock Holmes films, but one of the best pastiches (i.e., a Holmes fiction created by someone other than author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle) featuring the late-Victorian Era detective. Christopher Plummer is very good as Holmes, and James Mason redeems the many mishandled screen portrayals of Dr. John Watson with a rare, insightful performance. The story may not be unique in post-Doyle Holmes adventures--the private investigator pursues Jack the Ripper during the latter's reign of monstrous murders in foggy London--but the script by John Hopkins (Thunderball) is keenly intelligent, developing concentric circles of power and evil with great subtlety. Before losing himself in Porky's, director Bob Clark did a masterful job of surprising audiences with Murder by Decree, convincing viewers they were watching one kind of drama but then unleashing something very different, very unsettling. --Tom Keogh
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 4.0 / 5.0
Sherlock Holmes takes on the Ripper Killings:
"Murder By Decree" is a 1979 film that posits the theory that the Ripper killings was a conspiracy. This is also the movie that predated "From Hell", another Ripper movie starring Johnny Depp and Heather Graham. Both are well-made movies, though I felt that the script and acting in "Murder By Decree" was far superior than "From Hell". In "Murder By Decree", Sherlock Holmes, the gentleman sleuth is called upon by some Whitechapel merchants to solve the Ripper murders. Here Holmes is played impeccably by... more info
Perhaps The Best Non-Doyle Based Holmes film:
So it isn't the most original idea out there for Sherlock Holmes to attempt to solve the case of the infamous murders committed by Jack The Ripper. At least one other film (A Study In Terror) and several books have (had) been written along those lines so the storyline could have been predictable. Yet Murder By Decree rises above what could have been a tired and predictable story to deliver perhaps the best non-Doyle based Holmes film. It is a must-see for fans of Holmes and does supply an interesting... more info
Murder most splendid:
Perhaps a bit dated by today's special effects standards, but this 1979 film is a wonderfully scripted Jack the Ripper tale with all sorts of clever twists and turns. Good acting by all with Christopher Plummer taking the spotlight as Sherlock Holmes on the trail of the madman at the behest of a group of Whitechapel business owners. More of a "why" than "who is Jack" type movie, it cleverly lays out a theory that is now widely embraced by folks who have studied the crimes. Great cinematography, convincing... more info
"Forget it, Sherlock. It's Whitechapel":
This was the first Jack the Ripper movie to get the details of the crimes correct. A great cast, but given the sophisticated script this could have been even better, instead it looks more like a TV movie than a Victorian "Chinatown." Still, Mason's bufoonish Watson is one of the funniest and Bujuld's scene still packs a wallop as does Plummer's summing up at the end. (As was noted on the commentary track for "The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes", it's an amusing gaffe that Holmes wears his deerstalker... more info
