The
prospect of Sherlock Holmes matching wits with Jack the Ripper is a grand idea. Add in the fact that it stars Christopher Plummer
as Holmes, James Mason as Dr. Watson, and it was directed by the great Bob Clark,
and you certainly have my curiosity. Too
bad the execution is muddled and the whole thing is overlong to a fault. Still, the performances are strong across the board,
and there are stretches where you can see the promise the premise held.
Clark
had an amazingly diverse filmography, directing everything from Deathdream to Porky’s
to A Christmas Story. His horror roots
are definitely on display during the early scenes of the Ripper stalking his
victims. (The first-person POV shots are
quite similar to the ones found in Clark’s Black Christmas.) Once Holmes proclaims, “The game’s afoot!”,
the movie hits many speed bumps along the way.
Some
scenes are more successful than others. My
favorite detour involved Donald Sutherland’s amusing extended cameo as a
clairvoyant who may have knowledge of the killer’s identity. Ultimately, there are just too many subplots
and unnecessary moving parts that gum up the works. Genevieve Bujold’s long nuthouse scene in particular,
stops the movie on a dime. Holmes’ big
deduction scene is also longwinded and goes on way too long.
Even
when things are getting severely bogged down, Plummer and Mason are so good
that their scenes remain watchable. Plummer
cuts a dashing figure as Holmes, underplaying the role ever so slightly. Unfortunately, he’s not much of an action
hero though as he gets knocked flat on his ass and/or out cold no less than
three times in the movie, allowing the killer to escape each time.
As
a Clark fan, I was disappointed I didn’t like this one as much as I had
hoped. Then again, for a director with
such an eclectic filmography, it’s only natural to expect some near misses. I mean, they all can’t be Rhinestone. Maybe if Clark let Jack the Ripper into the
editing booth and he cut the movie to ribbons, getting it to ninety minutes, it
would’ve worked. At
two-hours-and-change, it’s just too slow moving to ever catch fire.
AKA: Sherlock Holmes and Saucy Jack. AKA:
Sherlock Holmes: Murder by
Decree.
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