Murder by Decree
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Image:Juwes1.jpg Murder by Decree is a 1979 Anglo-Canadian film that presents a largely different version of Sherlock Holmes from the Rathbone days, with the aesthete still prevailing yet tinged with a humanity and emotional apathy. Sherlock Holmes investigates London's most infamous case, Jack the Ripper. As he investigates, he finds that the Ripper has friends in high places. James Mason's Dr. Watson is also a departure, as what appears in the beginning as a take on cinema's famous bumbling Nigel Bruce soon shows his level head and scientific and medical training to be valuable assets.
The film is largely based upon author Stephen Knight's discredited royal conspiracy theory.
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The film
It is England in the autumn of 1888 and Victoria of the United Kingdom still rules over the British Empire. Sherlock Holmes (Christopher Plummer) the legendary private detective and his loyal companion and chronicler, the earnest Dr. Watson (James Mason), are enjoying an opulent first night at the opera in London’s fashionable West End.
Meanwhile, in the squalid jungle of the East End of London, a prostitute is being horribly murdered. The dreaded killer, commonly known as Jack the Ripper for the gruesome manner in which he mutilates the bodies of his victims, has struck again. The sickly miasma of fear is as palpable as the autumn fogs which envelop the slums. The forces of law and order seem powerless to stop the savage butchery.
Holmes is approached by shadowy figures to take on the case. Although Police Inspectors Foxborough (David Hemmings) and Inspector Lestrade (Frank Finlay) more than welcome his assistance, Sir Charles Warren (Anthony Quayle), the Commissioner of Police from Scotland Yard, actively does not.
The master criminologist is guided in his pursuit of justice, through the seamy Victorian era underworld, to the psychic Robert Lees (Donald Sutherland) who fearfully points him in another direction. Holmes and Watson, constantly in danger for their lives and liberty, become not only the grand masters but also the pawns in this lethal game of hide and seek.
They search out and are found by the hapless Mary Jane Kelly (Susan Clark), a girl of the streets, whose only crime is the knowledge of a fatal secret, which she will protect at all costs. She in turn leads them to Annie Crook (Geneviève Bujold), a servant who made the mistake of marrying above her station, whom even the illustrious detective cannot protect from herself.
The hunters and the hunted stealthily move through the mist-shrouded maze of Whitechapel’s cobblestone streets where every shadow instills fear. Watson is violently attacked by, and Holmes at last comes face to face with, the Ripper.
As he inexorably unravels the mystery, Holmes crosses swords with Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury (John Gielgud), the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, and finds himself threatened by the macabre power of a secret society and the all-pervasive, long reaching might of the Establishment. He is challenged by no ordinary murderer but one with influential and determined friends and what he has to stop – if he can – is Murder by Decree.
Cast:
- Sherlock Holmes – Christopher Plummer
- Dr. Watson – James Mason
- Robert Lees – Donald Sutherland
- Annie Crook – Geneviève Bujold
- Inspector Foxborough – David Hemmings
- Mary Kelly – Susan Clark
- Sir Charles Warren – Anthony Quayle
- Lord Salisbury – Sir John Gielgud
- Inspector Lestrade – Frank Finlay
- Dr. Hardy – Chris Wiggins
- Mrs. Lees – Tedde Moore
- William Slade – Peter Jonfield
- Sir Thomas Spivey – Roy Lansford
- Carrie – Catherine Kessler
- Henry Matthews – Geoffrey Russell
- Makins – Roy Pember
- Elizabeth Stride – June Brown
- Catherine Eddowes – Hilary Sesta
Sherlock versus the Ripper
The idea of Sherlock Holmes tackling the Ripper case is hardly a new idea now, nor was it in 1978 when Bob Clark (Co-producer, story and director) started piecing together his story for Murder by Decree. This is first and foremost a Ripper film rather than a Holmes film as Holmes simply provides the vehicle for telling the story. We had last seen Holmes tackle the Ripper in the 1965 film A Study in Terror which featured John Neville as Holmes and based on an Ellery Queen novel.
In an odd twist, two actors from the previous film, one as the same character, would also appear in the new one. That version, as satisfying as it was, didn’t actually take into account much of the popular Ripper mythology that had sprung up around the unsolved case. The basic premise behind Murder by Decree can actually be traced directly to a 1973 BBC documentary titled simply Jack the Ripper that first introduced the suspects and their motives as used in the film.
“I first came up with the idea of the film when I heard about that very first theory printed by a British journalist saying the Duke of Clarence was the killer. I thought, what an incredible notion for a movie. That theory was soon discredited and the theories that we’re following are much later ones. I really didn’t want to make a film to prove any history, I’m not trying to prove anything. I’m just doing a “what if” history. That’s why I brought Sherlock Holmes into it, who is a semi-fictional character. He’s not real, but so many think he is. By bringing him into the story, we’re saying in effect that we’re not claiming this is fact.”
“The relationship between the two men appealed to me deeply. This is a passionate and caring Holmes; I wanted to get through his traditional reserve. I have aimed for a humanizing of the characters.”
“First of all, we were looking for two men who really do have a relationship between them. Although I loved the Basil Rathbone – Nigel Bruce teaming, what I didn’t like was Holmes continually patronizing Watson without really enjoying him as much as he should. James has created a much more intelligent Watson, still a bit of a fustian old soldier type, because the movie Watson is invariably that image. But James is not stupid, his character has got a good sense of humor. He’s pretty quick on the uptake; yet he remains a step behind Holmes at all times naturally. But he has center stage himself several times, he does some pretty good sleuthing on his own and he’s never befuddled or patronized by Holmes. He’s much more perceptive, which I think is a necessary updating.”