Sherlock Holmes and the Deadly Necklace is a fine vehicle for Christopher Lee investigating weird murders in foggy London , packing an exciting deal of outstanding surprises with great lots of fun . After an intriguingly mysterious opening in a typically foggy London , the Great Detective Holmes (Christopher Lee) and Doctor Watson (Thorley Walters) are bogged down in a surprising and intriguing adventure by attempting to solve the case of the robbing of Cleopatra's necklace, found by archaeologists in Egypt . Sherlock finds plot and counter-plot , a real challenge for Holmes 's razor intellect , but his uncanny insights and deep observations are put to a test . Holmes helped by his colleague Doctor Watson discover a twisted plot and soon uncover that the nasty professor Moriarty is behind it all.
Passable Sherlock Holmes but neither excellent , nor notable , but acceptable , including evocative settings , thrills , plot twists , suspense , unanswered mysteries , secret undergrounds and an outstanding villain : Doctor Moriarty . As Holmes and Watson set out to investigate and doing battle with an old nemesis , over an ancient necklace attributed to Cleopatra .The atmospheric doings involve Egyptian tombs , a spectacular heist on a van , among others , in this rather tired and no excessively brilliant Sherlock Holmes mystery . A genuine ripping yarn with suspense , thrilling events and simple intrigue about stealing , murders , auction and red herrings . Pretty stale stuff , though Christopher Lee turns out to be a decent Holmes . It is all a bit elementary and no great challenge for Holmes's brain or even ours for the matter . This is a suspenseful and intriguing film in Arthur Conan wake , but very freely based on his splendid novels , in fact, it seems to be more similar to the usual ¨Krimi¨ mystery , that's why it was produced by the powerful and prolific Artur Brauner , an expert producer of this German sub-genre . Of course , Holmes solves the mystery at the end , including a surprising twist . Displaying functional settings , as well as appropriate and evocative cinematography . Sir Christopher Lee gives a nice acting as the immortal Sherlock Holmes , Lee starred in at least six Sir Arthur Conan Doyle shot renditions or related filmed productions. They are : Hound of Baskerville (1959) in which he played Baskerville himself , The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (1970) as Sherlock's brother : Mycroft , Sherlock Holmes and the prima donna (1991) as Holmes , Incident in the Victoria Falls (1992) as Sherlock . Lee's interpretation is pretty good but far from Basil Rathbone who played magnificently as an intelligent , obstinate , broody , pipesmoking sleuth , considered to be the best and most authentic Sherlock Holmes , as his acting is similar to subsequent actors as Peter Cushing and Jeremy Brett for TV or Nicol Williamson (Seven-per-cent-solution) or Christopher Plummer (Murder by decree) . Here Holmes/Christopher Lee is accompanied by notorious secondaries , though no too much known , such as : Hans Söhnker as Prof. Moriarty , Hans Nielsen , Senta Berger , Ivan Desny , Wolfgang Lukschy and Leon Askin .
It displays an atmospheric and adequate cinematography in black and white, shot on location in Dublin, County Dublin, Ireland ,London, England, UK and Spandau, Berlin, Germany . Sherlock Holmes und das Halsband des Todes(1962) was professionally directed by Terence Fisher , and inferior than precendent Hound of Baskerville (1959). Fisher was an expert on terror genre for Hammer production , his best films were the following ones : "So Long at the Fair", Portrait from Life (1948), "Dracula", ¨The Revenge of Frankenstein¨ (1958), ¨The mommy¨ (1959), The Stranglers of Bombay (1959), "Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll", ¨The brides of Drácula¨ (1960), "Curse of the Werewolf", ¨The phantom of opera¨(1962), "The Gorgon", "The Earth Dies Sceaming", "Dracula ,Prince of Darkness" and "Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed".
