Review by James Layton
Sherlock Holmes and the Deadly Necklace is a 1962 black and white film directed by Hammer Films regular, Terence Fisher and starring Christopher Lee in his only appearance as Holmes. Not to brag, but I have read every Sherlock Holmes story and novel written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, but don’t worry, I’m not going to be reviewing this film from the strict “they changed it from the book” perspective. The story is very loosely based on “Valley of Fear” but is drastically re-written to give it more suspense. The “mystery” aspect that most people associate with Sherlock Holmes takes a back seat in this film to show off Holmes abilities to disguise himself, go undercover, diffuse traps, and dodge weapons. It helped to keep the film moving, which given an 86 minute runtime, felt refreshing compared to today’s lengths. The biggest distraction over the course of the movie was the soundtrack. The music felt very “of its time” and out of place in a period piece. Watching it today, I could guess when it was made by the soundtrack alone. I do wish it had a more traditional score to prevent the film from being dated.
The star of the show is definitely Christopher Lee. His take on Sherlock is a cocky, uncompromising man of principle, much to the chagrin of the people around him. This portrayal of Holmes is not new, but was one of the more faithful representations when it came out. Additionally, Lee has the tall, thin build of a perfect Sherlock. Plus, the scenes where Sherlock is undercover allows Lee to show off a greater acting range than some of his other roles have granted. Watson is mainly present for comedic purposes which saddens me a bit as there are plenty of ways to inject humor without making Holmes hang out with buffoons. Some of the jokes involving Watson left me shaking my head. Trying to avoid spoilers, I will just say that the acting of the villain and supporting characters was solid, especially the mastermind behind the crime.
The technical aspects were impressive. I watched it on a Blu-ray disc. The picture was crisp and clean looking for such an old film. Apparently, the scan was in 2K from a German negative. The audio track is available in both German and English. When I started the film, it defaulted to German and it felt strange watching a Sherlock story in anything other than English. I switched the audio track to English and noticed a slight drop in quality.
The special features included an audio commentary by film writers Kim Newman and Barry Forshaw, an interview with the director, Tony Dalton on Terence Fisher, and a trailer. The interview with the director included more than just discussion of the Sherlock Holmes film and covered “Curse of Frankenstein, the Mummy, the Christopher Lee Dracula movies, and “The Hound of the Baskervilles”.
Overall, the quality of the Blu-ray disc was good and I couldn’t find any defects. The movie itself was a fun watch, somewhat dated but still very enjoyable. I would recommend it as long as the viewer did not have a bias against black and white (which is a perspective I just don’t understand) and I consider it a must see for any fan of Christopher Lee or the Hammer films.