DeuceWild_77 Engaging mystery / crime film that could have been out of the Hammer Films' lot, "A Study in Terror" joins for the first time, the literary world of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle presented here by his most famous creations: Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Watson, Inspector Lestrade of Scotland Yard and Mrs. Hudson, the landlady of the house in 221B Baker Street, into the real case of the infamous serial-killer from Whitechapel, Jack the Ripper."A Study in Terror" delivers a perfect moody atmosphere surrounding the splendid invocation of the Victorian Era, in terms of production design and the art department, captured by the brilliant use of the adequate, dominant colours, courtesy of the cinematography in Eastmancolor, enhancing the sinister tone and giving the needed Gothic & grotesque feel to the whole. Another section for praising is the eerie orchestration by John Scott, here in his first feature film score.The screenplay is well structured and imaginative and the direction makes good decisions in the staging of the scenes, even if as a low point, some of the minor performances were directed too campy and the singing moments feel out of place and a bit odd.John Neville's portrayal of the great Sleuth, isn't the best in terms of on-screen presence, neither delivered a 'scene-stealer' mannered performance like the previous renditions of the character played by such thespians as Basil Rathbone or Peter Cushing, but it's still efficient. He's obviously astute & meticulous, obstinate, daring & intimidating and he can make use of his physical strength when it needed. Donald Houston is less bumbling as Watson, distancing himself a bit from Nigel Bruce's early incarnation as the buffoon sidekick in the Basil Rathbone's Sherlock Holmes movies, but isn't as well regarded as André Morell's more capable and active performance playing the character in the superb, "The Hound of the Baskervilles" ('59) from Hammer Films.The rest of the cast list is filled with competent English actors from that period, such as Anthony Quayle and Frank Finlay as Inspector Lestrade of Scotland Yard (Finlay will reprise his role in the similar themed, "Murder by Decree", released 14 years later, which also featured Quayle in another part); Barbara Windsor and Adrienne Corri as two of the ill- fated prostitutes; Robert Morley as Mycroft, Sherlock Holmes' older brother; John Fraser and an early appearance on-screen by future 'Dame' Judi Dench.In short, "A Study in Terror" is a great entry for both, the Sherlock Holmes' and Jack the Ripper's 'film canon', it looks visually stunning to its low budget and even if it wasn't targeted to the 'thinking man' in terms of seriousness and intricate plot, it's surely an entertaining and thrilling piece of work and one of the very best of this genre.

Leofwine_draca This engaging Holmes vs. Jack the Ripper movie is a great little film, with a plot twisting and turning as our intrepid heroes uncover clues and yet still staying simple enough to be easy viewing. The Victorian setting is portrayed well as a brutal, violent time and the sleazy aspects of living in Whitechapel (the filth, the grime, the homeless, the prostitutes) are dealt with unflinchingly. Indeed these times are a lot more realistic than the glossy look of the later television movie JACK THE RIPPER with Michael Caine, as they truly reflect the squalor of one of London's most notorious quarters.The mystery elements move along nicely with a new clue dropping into the case about every ten minutes; things never get boring. Thankfully the murders are dealt with in a sensationalist manner, and the horror of the situation is played to the hilt. There's even a gruesome throat slitting that wouldn't be out of place in a sleazy Italian giallo. Ignore the critics, these scenes make the film better. The producers were obviously going for a mainstream audience and so included a couple of exciting fight scenes in as an extra bonus, and the climax takes place in a burning room, with Holmes and the Ripper battling it out while timber collapses around them. It's definitely a lot of fun.What the film benefits most from is an impressive cast which contains loads of familiar faces from British stage, television and film. Every major role is played by a notable actor, such as Frank Finlay who makes a weasely Inspector Lestrade (he looks the part, but is far less obnoxious than his literary counterpart - he actually helps Holmes here!). Donald Houston is a good Watson, and there's far less of the buffoon in him here than in other portrayals. His banter with Holmes is kept light and so we get plenty of much-needed comic relief into the situation. John Neville is well-cast as the great detective himself, and puts in a highly accurate performance, even if he isn't particularly charismatic; he conveys Holmes' genius and mannerisms excellent. Robert Morley enjoys himself in a light role as Mycroft Holmes, while the prostitutes who get the sharp end of a knife are played by such popular actresses as Adrienne Corri, Barbara Windsor (thankfully dying an early death), and Judi Dench.A STUDY IN TERROR may not be a masterpiece, but it's a film well above average for the genre and manages to mix and match (successfully might I add) plenty of different components which come together in a pleasing brew. From me, it definitely gets the thumbs up.

gavin6942 Sherlock Holmes (John Neville) and Dr. Watson join the hunt for the notorious serial killer, Jack the Ripper.Between this movie and "Murder by Decree", this is the superior film. More dark humor, a better Holmes, and much more of a horror aesthetic. One could argue it is not a horror film, but I would strongly disagree... early on, we see a man in black gloves (but no face) shove a dagger through the skull of a victim. Another is stabbed and left discarded in a tub. This is very much on the periphery of the giallo or slasher film.There is some similarity between this and "From Hell", also. Which of those two is better, that is hard to say. They are different animals. This one has more of the humor (albeit dark), but "From Hell" is the more grisly picture. They both have some of the royalty aspects, though this one invents the names of the royals rather than uses the actual suspects.I would recommend this film rather highly.

chaos-rampant Thirteen years before Christopher Plummer would don the deerskin cap and rail against Jack the Ripper, this small b-movie directed by one James Hill preoccupied itself with the same subject matter, not failing to combine a traditional Sherlockian murder mystery with then contemporary horror inclinations. Indeed A STUDY IN TERROR leaps across the screen with a pre-credits murder scene that finds a prostitute with a knife jammed through her neck and the gruesomest is yet to come.It is obvious director James Hill opted for a more visceral approach. In hindsight we can recognize what through the years and through a constant succession of films has been defined as clear genre typing: the slasher. That succession of films leads infallibly back to Hitchcock's pivotal frightfest, PSYCHO.Indeed A STUDY IN TERROR, perhaps indirectly, homages the most iconic scene in Hitchcock's movie and by extension one of the most iconic scenes in movie history. Jack the Ripper's knife slashes through the water he has submerged a poor gal in the same fashion the murderer's knife slashes through the air in the famous shower scene. We get no 'money shot' but the visceral impact is the same. James Hill goes one further and has a stream of blood following each slash of the knife. This is sixties Brit horror territory of course and the bright red blood reflects that. It looks like someone stole the kind of recipe for fake blood Hammer kept stashed away in their little vault of horrors.The visceral impact of the knife slashing the water combined with the flowing blood offer the next clue as to the movie's identity. Indeed what would such a clear combination of the visceral with the stylized bring to mind but Italian horror? Later on a certain scene is shot through the killer's POV (what better slasher trademark can you think?) in a sleazy bedroom suffused with red lights, as a prostitute undresses on the bed. Hill cuts away before the violent conclusion but I was still waiting for the knife-wielding black-gloved hand to appear. In that light, some might say slasher, I will say giallo, the Italian craze that took Europe by storm in the late sixties with its mix of stylish horror and whodunit plots.I'm a big horror fan so I'm naturally more enthusiastic about the horrorish aspects of A STUDY IN TERROR but traditional Holmes afficionados need not be afraid. What horror exists is only a means of violent punctuation to an otherwise excellent murder mystery that is the central element of the movie. John Neville turns in a great Holmes that makes up for Donald Houston's average Dr. Watson, the production values are good, the empty streets of Whitechapel, London are sufficiently foggy and the plot remains suspenseful and offers quite a few potential suspects for the viewer to ruminate over.Overall A STUDY IN TERROR is an unexpected success both as a Sherlock Holmes-meets-Jack the Ripper murder mystery and a horror/thriller film of sorts.