© 2008 William Ahearn
We all have a favorite actor for playing Sherlock Holmes as we all have a favorite playing Ebenezer Scrooge or James Bond. It’s usually a generational thing, as they say these days, and my favorites are, respectively, Basil Rathbone, Alistair Sim and Sean Connery.
The 1965 “A Study in Terror” stars John Neville as Holmes, Donald Houston as Watson and Robert Morely plays Mycroft, Sherlock’s smarter brother. Anthony Quayle and Judi Dench also appear in the film.
As much as this is a meeting of England’s two famous franchises – one fictional and on the side of the crown, the other real life and completely demented – it’s Sherlock’s show all the way. Although the real names of victims are used, they are shown – with moderately graphic violence – being slashed instead of strangled as a means of death. Obviously, some liberties needed to be taken as Jack the Ripper was never caught, yet we can’t have the world’s most famous consulting detective with an unclosed case.
The case does not remain open and who Jack the Ripper is in the film isn’t something that I’m going to debate with the Baker Street Irregulars or Jack the Ripper buffs. A nice investigative fantasy especially if you’re Holmes fan or a student of the Jack the Ripper case.