Sherlock Holmes and the Deadly Necklace (1962)

Available on a superb DVD (although not in wide-screen format, alas), "Sherlock Holmes and the Deadly Necklace" is actually quite watchable and far from the "badly edited, deplorable hodge-podge of nonsense" decried by Christopher Lee, despite the fact that his own performance was "one of the best things I've ever done!" Actually, Lee is by no means the saving grace of this Sherlockian entry. That honor belongs equally to the lovely Senta Berger (and she looks especially enticing here in her form-hugging Vera Mugge costumes) and that delightful oaf of a villain, Leon Askin. Hans Sohnker's dapper Moriarty also has the edge on Lee, who admittedly is robbed of his voice (as is Thorley Walters as a conventional, bumbling Dr Watson). Although I noticed a tip of the hat in the credits to "The Valley of Fear", the script bears not the slightest relationship to that novel at all, but the play holds the interest and is actually quite ably staged and expensively set.

very difficult to watch German Holmes film.Christopher Lee is excellent in a role he wanted to play throughout his life (returning to it late in a couple mini-series) - this despite the fact that his voice was unnecessarily dubbed by someone else. He plays the great detective as an intense young crime-fighter with wit and chutzpa.The problems are the script and direction. The story is too convoluted, in a manner familiar to anyone who has suffered through other German mysteries of the same period, such as the Dr. Mabuse films. This was a Germany still dealing with the fact that they had a murderously criminal government only two decades previous - consequently there is considerable suspicion of the police in these films, evil seems omnipresent, the moral center is hard to find. A similar atmosphere, for completely different reasons, crept into British popular culture only in the 1970s, appearing in a British Sherlock Holmes film only in "Murder by Decree." But the German film also suffers from the evident fact that the director can't decide whether he wants to make a Sherlock Holmes film or a Sherlock Holmes parody - there are all sorts of misfired jokes and bits poking fun at a "Sherlock Holmes superhero" image that doesn't really exist - a problem for other directors who have tried spoofing the detective, including the great Billy Wilder. The fact is, Doyle was careful NOT to make his hero an 'Uebermensch,' just a closet Nietzschean - a common romantic British type of the day.Finally, all existing prints I know of are in shoddy condition.Worth a view, especially for Holmes fans, but sub-par for this sub-genre of mystery film.

An informant with a blade in his back leads Sherlock Holmes (Christopher Lee) and aide Doctor Watson (Thorley Walters) to the Hare and Eagle Pub, and on to the trail of the "Deadly Necklace", once belonging to Cleopatra, and now in the possession of Holmes' arch-enemy Professor Moriarty (Hans Sohnker). Along the way, Holmes is admonished by Inspector Cooper (Hans Nielsen) of Scotland Yard not to get involved in official business of the agency. I found this to be a rather tedious film, even with the neat diversions of Christopher Lee in various disguises in his portrayal of the Holmes character. He eventually rescues the Cleopatra necklace from a glass encased mummy's coffin guarded by a snake, and delivers it just in time to an auction house, much to the chagrin of Moriarty. There's a bit of the "Italian Job" flavor to the film in a sequence where Watson bumps into the car of Moriarty's chauffeur. It's a difficult film to follow, with a dead body or two along the way. Repeat viewings are probably in order, but I found the first take to be somewhat laborious, and not interesting enough to indulge in once again. View it if you're a serious Sherlock Holmes fan, otherwise you can let this one pass.

Terence, Fisher has most certainly produced a fine Sherlock Holmes movie. Christopher Lee, seen by many as THE Sherlock Holmes does a fine bit of acting and Thorley Walters plays a bit bumbling but convincing Watson. (You would not know him, when you have seen him as Watson in THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES' SMARTER BROTHER) The music is brilliant and the atmosphere is very much what a Holmesian fan would be expecting. Unfortunatly the film has a few blunders as well. The most eyecatching would be the Deerstalker and Inverness which Holmes are wearing in the country. They would be most suitable for any comic Holmes where all the other costumes are very adequate, I must say. The idea of the police being of the opinion that Holmes has no right to investigate, as uttered by Inspector Cooper in the beginning is utter nonsense to anyone who has ever read the cannon. And last but not least - the time! The time warp has already been done in the Universal Series with Rathbone/Bruce and I do not like it there either. But here it is most silly. Watson is said to be driving a car in 1918 where Holes is supposed to be close on sixty! Lee does not look that old, does he. Still a very nice and old fashioned Sherlock Holmes movie. 7 out of 10.