skjam

Sherlock Holmes and the Deadly Necklace (1962) dir. Terence Fisher

What comes from Benghazi?

Early in the morning, a group of children and a fisherman find a body floating in the Thames, prominently displaying the name of a recently docked ship, the Thyasia. As the passengers disembark from the ship, one of them bumps into a waiting Professor Moriarty (Hans Söhnker). This is observed by two loafers, one wearing an eyepatch. He directs the other to follow Moriarty's automobile.

At 221b Baker Street, Doctor Watson (Thorley Walters) and Mrs. Hudson (Edith Schultze-Westrum) banter while waiting for Sherlock Holmes (Christopher Lee) to return for dinner. The one-eyed man from earlier is in distress in the street, so Watson brings him in for medical aid, only to discover it's actually Holmes. Holmes chides Watson for falling for this, only to have another man be in distress in the same street. This is the fellow Holmes had sent to follow Moriarty. He's dying of an odd hiltless dagger in his back, and manages to utter a cryptic word and make a strange gesture before passing on.

Holmes brings in Inspector Cooper (Hans Nielsen) of Scotland Yard, who reminds Holmes that as a civilian, he should not be meddling in police business unless invited to do so. He also doesn't believe in Holmes' wild theories that respected archaeologist Moriarty is a criminal mastermind. Holmes and Watson are forced to follow up the investigation on their own.

At the Hare and Eagle public house, our detectives overhear just enough of the conversation between Moriarty and one of his henchmen to learn that a man named Peter Blackburn (Wolfgang Lukschy) who lives in Hertfordshire is the target.

At Mr. Blackburn's house, he's become increasingly paranoid, but won't explain why to his wife Ellen (Senta Berger) or friend Paul King (Ivan Desny). Can Holmes arrive in time to save him? (No.)

It seems that some six years before the story starts, Moriarty was on an Egyptian expedition that found a tomb alleged to be that of Queen Cleopatra. He'd engaged three men to steal a fabulous necklace that was part of the treasure in the tomb. Two were caught and sentenced to prison, while Blackburn rabbited back to England with the necklace. Moriarty has decided that now is the time to reclaim his prize, so had the prisoners broken out--only for the two to quarrel on the ship back, resulting in that first body.

This 1962 movie was a German production, though it had a British star and director, and was largely shot on location in London and Ireland. Evidently, the Doyle estate interfered greatly with the production, causing at least some of the issues with the screenplay. It was dubbed into German, then re-dubbed into English for international release, but without asking Christopher Lee to reprise his voice.

Good: Christopher Lee makes an imposing Sherlock Holmes and his physical acting is impressive. He gets to do a couple of disguises--watch how his body language changes.

There's some witty dialogue, and a couple of nice set pieces--one of the murders is an actual mystery that requires actual thought from Sherlock, and a heist plan looks nifty. Leon Askin puts in a creepy but sometimes pathetic performance as Charles, chauffeur and hitman for the professor.

Watson is a bit dim, but is shown to be able to follow basic clues to reach a mostly correct conclusion.

Less good: The dubbing is often mismatched in volume and tone, and Mr. Lee's actual voice is much missed. The plotting and flow is choppy in places.

Political: It's briefly suggested that Cleopatra's necklace be returned to the Egyptian government (after all it was illegally removed from that country), but this is immediately dismissed by the police in favor of auctioning it off to the highest bidder, with a nice finder's fee going to Holmes.

The "Many Lives of Sherlock Holmes" DVD I watched this on had a poor print of the movie, but did also have some remarks by Christopher Lee as himself on his love of the Sherlock Holmes books.

Overall: This is low-quality Holmes, the sort of thing that in my youth non-network TV stations would show on weekend afternoons while the network channels had sports events. It's not actively bad, but I'd mostly recommend it to people filling in their Sherlock Holmes or Christopher Lee movie checklists.

The Kennel Murder Case (1933) dir. Michael Curtiz

With October over, let's take a look at a non-horror film!

Among amateur detective Philo Vance's (William Powell) many interests is his Scottie terrier, Captain. He's entered the purebred canine in the Long Island Kennel Club's dog show. Captain fails to make it into the finals. Vance is philosophical about this, but wealthy boor Archer Coe is disappointed. He'd hoped to lord it over Vance in competition. Archer is much less pleased to be competing against the dog of Sir Thomas MacDonald, love interest of his niece Hilda Lake (Mary Astor). If Hilda gets married, Archer will have to relinquish control of her considerable estate.

But these aren't the only people with a grudge against Archer Coe. His brother Brisbane also hated him for...reasons that are never specified but certainly could turn fratricidal. Archer's Chinese cook Liang is actually an expert on Chinese porcelain, and had helped Archer assemble one of the world's finest collections of that art form through means less than honorable. Liang was angered to learn that Archer planned to sell said collection to a museum in Milan. Eduardo Grassi, the museum's agent, was infuriated when Archer suddenly backed out of the deal because Grassi had been sparking Doris Delafield, Archer's next door neighbor and mistress, who was also dumped. Raymond Wrede, Archer's secretary, also wants to marry Hilda but Archer did not approve, and butler Gamble has a criminal past that Archer might have been blackmailing him over.

So it's no surprise to the audience when bodies start piling up; first Sir Thomas' terrier, then Archer Coe. Archer is found dead in a room locked from the inside, a pistol in his hand. It sure looks like suicide...until Philo Vance suggests the coroner look a little closer. Some alibis are disproven, but the pieces of the puzzle don't seem to fit together until the very end of the film. (And one question is never answered.)

Good: William Powell puts in a fine performance as Philo Vance, thankfully toned down a bit from the books. The mystery is a fun little puzzle box. Etienne Girardot is a delight as the irascible coroner Dr. Doremus, who like Dr. McCoy of Star Trek likes to remind people "I'm a doctor, not a fill in the blank." The cast as a whole is good, and the adorable Captain is kept to a few key scenes.

Less good: Like many series with an amateur detective, the police and district attorney are incompetents who would never be able to solve a mystery without Philo Vance holding their hand the entire time.

Content notes: Violence against dogs. Archer Coe turns out to be one of those people who might admire Chinese art, but is ethnically prejudiced against actual Chinese people who he no longer needs. (James Lee's portrayal of Liang is relatively nuanced for the time period of the movie.)

Overall, this is a fun old movie that I'd recommend to mystery buffs who enjoy cultured amateur detectives.

Blood Lance: A Medieval Noir by Jeri Westerson

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Disclosure: I received this book through a Goodreads giveaway on the premise that I would review it. Also, I read an Advanced Reading Copy, and there may be small changes between it and the final product.

This is the fifth Crispin Guest novel, featuring a disgraced knight of the Fourteenth Century who takes up a career of detection, earning the nickname "Tracker." I have not read the previous volumes.

Guest happens to witness a man falling from a bridge into the Thames. By the time he reaches the man, the fallen person is already dead--and he didn't drown. The dead man was an armourer, who it would appear owned a piece of the Lance of Longinius, a relic that supposedly pierced the side of Jesus Christ, and grants victory in battle. The lance has since gone missing, and multiple parties are working at crosspurposes to find it. Two of these are old friends of Crispin's, but are they his friends now?

All this is set against political maneuverings in the English court, as soon-to-be adult King Richard's favorite is losing his grip on power. The climax of the novel is an exciting trial by combat, with the actual solution of the mystery for a coda.

The noir elements are quite obvious; the morally ambiguous but still upright protagonist, everyone having secrets and many of those unpleasant, miserable weather and darkness (at least at the beginning, authorities who can't be trusted and the detective's falling for a woman too close to the case.

ONe tricky element of the story is the Spear. This is, apparently, not the first time Crispin Guest has come into contact with a supposed holy object. And while it's left ambiguous whether or not the Spear actually has any powers, (Guest himself is a skeptic) the coincidences keep piling up. Towards the end, at least one character believes that these are not coincidences, and that artifacts seek out Crispin for a purpose as yet unknown.

It's a good read by itself, and I would certainly be willing to look up other volumes in the series.



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