Sherlock Holmes and the Deadly Necklace

There are several criminal aspects to this sub-krimi German co-production, first among them being the fact that the filmmakers neglected to get Christopher Lee and Thorley Walters in to loop their own dialogue. It's somewhat jarring to watch an actor with so readily identifiable a voice as Mr Lee speaking, yet the words come out of his mouth spoken by what sounds like a Transatlantic drawl. Or an American dubbing artiste doing a poor Lee imitation.

If one can get past this surreal experience however there is fun to be had. Lee and Walters are ideally cast as Holmes and Watson, at times certain shots looked like Sidney Paget illustrations come to life. Hans Sohnker does a creditable job projecting a sinister air as Moriarty, despite the handicap of dubbing even more atrocious than that of the English-speaking cast. He's no Eric Porter or even George Zucco, but better than some lesser efforts. The direction, however, co-credited to the masterly Terence Fisher of many a Hammer classic fame, is somewhat workmanlike. Perhaps Fisher's heart wasn'tin it, or he was held back by his Teutonic cohort, but it's not in the same league as his and Lee's earlier essaying of "The Hound of the Baskervilles".

The supporting cast are more than adequate, with the lovely Senta Berger in an early role adding some class and beauty to a female cast of East End slatterns played by burly hausfraus. It really is a shame though that Lee's icily incisive portrayal of the great detective, perfect for the role in every way, was only seen in this film and a couple of early '90s productions. Still, there's always the consolation of being the only actor (so far as i know) to have played bot Sherlock and Mycroft Holmes, as well as Sir Henry Baskerville. That's got to count for something.

By the way, i saw this under the title "Sherlock Holmes and the Deadly Necklace" (somewhat reminiscent of the Basil Rathbone series, the middling entries of which it is on a par). The alternate title of "The Valley of Fear" is somewhat misleading, as apart from characters such as Holmes, Watson and Professor Moriarty this film has very little in common with the Conan Doyle novel of the same name. However, for a Holmes fan wanting a diverting hour and a half on a rainy afternoon, this more than does the trick.

It was always obvious, even before watching it, that this Sherlock Holmes movie wouldn't be as terrific and compelling as "The Hound of the Baskervillers" (the other Holmes movie directed by Terence Fisher and starring Christopher Lee – although not in the titular role), but I honestly didn't expect it to be *this* disappointing. The most major problems are noticeable on the surface already: an international co-production with two directors, a lesser interesting plot outline (at least in comparison with most of Doyle's stories), issues during the post-production phase and English-speaking actors whose voices are dubbed… in English! Yup, especially if you're a fan of the aforementioned Hammer film or – like myself – swear by the brilliant old Sherlock Holmes movie series starring Basil Rathbone, you might consider skipping this one or least lower your expectations drastically. Still, "S.H. and the Deadly Necklace" isn't entirely without merit, neither. Surely a lot of fans desperately crave to see the almighty Christopher Lee depict the greatest and most intelligent fictional detective who ever lived? Even though he doesn't sound like himself, Lee's charisma and impressive posture is exactly right for the character. With his inborn aura of superiority and stern grimaces, Lee is like a natural born Sherlock Holmes and it's regrettable that he was only offered to play the role once and in such lackluster conditions. Lee also receives excellent support from Thorley Walters (well cast as Dr. Watson) as well as a couple of lesser known performers. The film definitely also benefices from the masterful art direction and enchanting black-and-white cinematography, respectively courtesy of Paul Markwitz and Richard Angst. Last but not least there are some memorable moments to enjoy, including Watson's uncomfortable encounter with a prostitute and the multiple disguises of Sherlock Holmes. Sadly these aspects are merely just footnotes in an overall tedious, suspense-free and incoherent mystery/thriller.

Most of the joint efforts between European countries that speak different languages are awful. Usually it is two directors with two different points of view that are only made worse by the language barriers, and the end result is edited together mish-mash of the best scenes from each director. By comparision, while this movie is a bit rough and choppy, it gets to all the points and ends well.

Christopher Lee is excellent as Sherlock Holmes. Until recently (Jeremy Brett, Robert Downey, Jr., and Cumberbatch) most Sherlock Holmes movies were low budget. Basil Rathbone was great as Sherlock Holmes, but his movies usually had no props and very little action besides the great acting and the great stories. It was all low budget.

Professor Moriarty has an outstanding home office which is full of excellent Egyptian artifacts and serpent memorabilia. Moriarty is now a world known archaeologist as the cover for his crime syndicate. I thought that was a creative twist that made Moriarty a lot more interesting. While Hans Söhnker, playing Moriarty, was not as nefarious as George Zucco, Lionel Atwill, or Henry Daniell; he was no slouch either.

Thorley Waters as Dr. Watson tries hard to look and act like Nigel Bruce. Compared to Nigel Bruce, Waters is very wooden. His performance is a bit creepy. There are a couple of scenes were Waters is literally recreating remarks and gestures that are straight from Nigel Bruce. As a big fan of Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce, seeing Waters mimicking Nigel Bruce was a bit too much. I give Waters credit for good intentions, but he is way short of the Dr. Watson that Nigel Bruce was.

Overall, the story is better than a lot of other movies that are not based on original Sir Arthur Conan Doyle stories. It has some good ideas, some good acting, and some good action. I appreciate that the actors did their best to create a united artistic effort between two nations that were bitter enemies during World War II.

"Sherlock Holmes and the Deadly Necklace" is, among the twenty- something films by Terence Fisher that I have seen, one of his less accomplished works. A bit better than the boring "Night of the Big Heat", this is a production with motivations I don't fully understand: for a start I do not know why they decided to make a Sherlock Holmes movie starring Christophe Lee in German (although there is an English language version, the official version is in German, which is the one I opted to watch), with Lee's real voice absent in all versions. Then I cannot reason why in 1962, with moneys coming from German, French and Italian production companies, they decided to shoot an adventure movie in black and white. The decision seems even more uninspired given the uneven quality of Richard Angst's cinematography, ranging from attractive expressionistic images (as the scene where Holmes saves his life using a police whistle) to flat compositions (as the Baker Street apartment). Maybe the budget was low, but they had several names in the cast that were not highly expensive, but neither cheap to hire. And thirdly there is not a well-defined concept of what they wanted to do: producers, composer, writer and director seem to point into different directions. The German producers probably assumed it as one of the many cheap detective movies they were making by the dozen, composer Martin Slavin opted for a playful score, writer Curt Siodmak kept loyal to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's three main creations (Holmes, his nemesis Moriarty and his mate Dr. Watson) and Fisher… well, he had to keep everything going. However it would be unfair to deny that there are a few hints that suggest the intention of making some kind of photo-novel or a black-ink-on-cheap-white-paper comic book, and that would explain why the filmmakers could not care less what language characters spoke, the anachronisms (the more obvious being ladies' hair styles), Slavin's jingling-jangling cues, extensive use of maquettes, and a few disheveled art direction and wardrobe decisions, starting with the key prop, a very ugly and cheap looking necklace that supposedly once adorned Queen Cleopatra's neck. I am also sure that Lee never wore an uglier costume in his entire long career than the horrendous checkered suit he wears in the countryside sequence. The actor does his best as Doyle's creation (obviously not imagining the estrangement that dubbing would produce, resulting in an involuntary Brechtian effect of rejection to his participation in the movie), so we tend to go for the villains, played with gusto by Hans Söhnker as Moriarty and Leon Askin as his chauffeur-assistant Charles. But what we see is what we get, so we better not complain. We are warned very early into the film that we are going to watch a rather sloppy product, when the same shot of a longshoreman working on dock is repeated twice within minutes. Compared to this, Fisher's next project starring Pat Boone is a masterpiece.

To my knowledge there are currently two versions of this available. One of them has been dubbed by Americans and the other is for German speakers only. Should neither of these options appeal please be assured that you are not missing much.

Christopher Lee has the unique distinction of being the only actor to have played both Sherlock and Mycroft Holmes. He had the great misfortune to be totally miscast as Mycroft in Billy Wilder's equally unfortunate 'Private Life of Sherlock Holmes' and is served no better as Sherlock in this Euro mishmash directed by Terence Fisher with additional scenes by someone named Frank Winterstein.

This is essentially a 'Krimi' in all but name and it is really only the cast that makes it bearable. Lee at least has a lighter touch that he usually exhibits and scene-stealer Thorley Waters as Dr. Watson has his customary twinkle. Ever dependable Hans Neilsen plays the man from the Yard and the much-respected, much-honoured Hans Soenker is an urbane Moriarty. Both Ivan Desny and Senta Berger have utterly thankless roles. Berger of course is utterly ravishing and it would not be long before Hollywood came to call.

Cinematography is by veteran Richard Angst. The direction is pedestrian whilst the score by Martin Slavin is atrocious.

Should you be a 'Holmesian' you will find this opus less than satisfactory. Should you not be then this is hardly likely to prompt you to become one!