I own both the British and American versions of the novelization of A Study in Terror, attributed to Ellery Queen, but I never saw the 1965 movie until last weekend at the annual summer film festival of the Illustrious Clients of Indianapolis. And it was much better than I expected.
Some of the Sherlockian aspects of the film were a shade off, Jack-the-Ripper’s victims were much too well dressed for Victorian era prostitutes, and the soundtrack was a bit jarring. But the plot and the acting (with a cast including Judi Dench and Anthony Quayle, with John Neville as Holmes) was a good one. While the Ripper’s identity didn’t surprise me, the motive did.
The other full-length film, a 1983 made-for-TV version of The Sign of Four starring Ian Richardson, was also well worth watching. Richardson is an excellent Holmes, although a bit too jovial for my taste. The screenplay, which took more liberties with the novel than I would have liked, was by Cincinnati native Charles Edward Pogue. He wrote an excellent version of The Hound of the Baskervilles, also starring Richardson. Along with other members of the Tankerville Club, I met Pogue in 1987 at the staging of a Sherlockian play he wrote.
Read about Pogue’s Hound here: https://bakerstreetbeat.blogspot.com/2015/08/a-tv-hound-worth-watching.html
Read about his play, The Ebony Age, here: https://bakerstreetbeat.blogspot.com/2013/06/the-ebony-ape-of-sherlock-holmes.html
In addition to the films, the Illustrious Clients screened a fun episode of the classic TV program Alfred Hitchcock Presents. Called “My Dear Watson,” it presented a decidedly different take on a post-Reichenbach Holmes.
Although none of these productions was perfect, watching them with an enthusiastic crowd of about 40 Sherlockians made for a fun afternoon.
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