Cheap Murder by Decree (DVD) (Christopher Plummer, James Mason) (Bob Clark (III)) Price

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Customer Reviews of Murder by Decree

My favorite Sherlock Holmes movie.
Personally, I can't take seriously the old Basil Rathbone Sherlock Holmes movies -- although Rathbone was a competent Holmes -- because Nigel Bruce played Dr. Watson as a buffoon. In the books, Watson was an educated, intelligent man and the fact that Holmes' thoroughly surpassed him helped indicate Holmes' genius. In my opinion, it is essential for Watson to be portrayed correctly for a Sherlock Holmes movie to be correctly done. In the recent TV series David Burke played Watson to perfection and thereby enhanced Jeremy Brett's reputation as an outstanding Holmes. In Murder by Decree Christopher Plummer is the best Holmes of all with able support from James Mason as Watson. The movie, in which Holmes solves the Jack the Ripper murders, is outstanding in virtually every respect. In my opinion, this is the best Sherlock Holmes movie ever made -- and a great movie regardless of genre. I can't understand why this outstanding movie isn't available on DVD yet, but it's so good that I recommend it in whatever format is available.

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My favorite Sherlock Holmes movie.
Personally, I can't take seriously the old Basil Rathbone Sherlock Holmes movies -- although Rathbone was a competent Holmes -- because Nigel Bruce played Dr. Watson as a buffoon. In the books, Watson was an educated, intelligent man and the fact that Holmes' thoroughly surpassed him helped indicate Holmes' genius. In my opinion, it is essential for Watson to be portrayed correctly for a Sherlock Holmes movie to be correctly done. In the recent TV series David Burke played Watson to perfection and thereby enhanced Jeremy Brett's reputation as an outstanding Holmes. In Murder by Decree Christopher Plummer is the best Holmes of all with able support from James Mason as Watson. The movie, in which Holmes solves the Jack the Ripper murders, is outstanding in virtually every respect. In my opinion, this is the best Sherlock Holmes movie ever made -- and a great movie regardless of genre. I can't understand why this outstanding movie isn't available on DVD yet, but it's so good that I recommend it in whatever format is available.

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Sherlock Holmes vs. Jack the Ripper
MURDER BY DECREE (1978): Whilst investigating a series of murders committed by 'Jack the Ripper' in Victorian London, Sherlock Holmes (Christopher Plummer) and Dr. Watson (James Mason) uncover a Masonic conspiracy which leads them to the very heart of the British Establishment.

During the summer of 1973, the BBC ran a six-part documentary series entitled "Jack the Ripper" (also known as "The Ripper File"), in which two popular fictional detectives (played by Stratford Johns and Frank Windsor) investigated the 'true' identity of Jack the Ripper, using all the evidence available to them at the time. Their conclusions formed the basis of Bob Clark's all-star period thriller MURDER BY DECREE, which condenses vast amounts of information into a single digestible screenplay. A British/Canadian co-production, the film's lavish recreation of Victorian London (extravagant opera houses, cobbled streets and miles of gloomy Whitechapel alleyways populated by hundreds of costumed extras) belies its modest $4m budget, and for once, the starry supporting cast - including Anthony Quayle, David Hemmings, John Gielgud and Donald Sutherland - seem perfectly suited to their individual roles. For the most part, Clark subordinates his deceptively simple visual style to a wealth of evidence which constitutes the heart and soul of John Hopkins' detailed screenplay. In particular, director and writer outline the political and class divisions which prevailed in England at the time of the Ripper murders, exacerbating a number of problems surrounding the police investigation and leading to all manner of conspiracy theories which persist to this day. However, the script contains a number of memorable character touches (the episode of the 'errant pea' is most prized by the movie's many fans) which prevents the narrative from becoming bogged down in a series of facts and figures. Plummer and Mason are ideally suited to the roles of Holmes and Watson, though Genevieve Bujold almost steals the film during a heartbreaking sequence in a lonely asylum where Holmes discovers the key to the unfolding mystery. You may not agree with the film's conclusions (the same evidence was re-evaluated by author Stephen Knight in his popular non-fiction account 'Jack the Ripper The Final Solution' [1976] and David Wickes' excellent TV movie JACK THE RIPPER [1988] starring Michael Caine), but MURDER BY DECREE is generally ackowledged as one of the best Ripper/Holmes movies ever made. Incidentally, the film was given a PG rating at a time when the MPAA was allowing some extraordinarily vivid material to go unchecked within this particular category, and while MURDER BY DECREE doesn't revel in violence, it conveys the grislier aspects of the Ripper's crimes with enough borderline potency to warrant a PG-13 these days.

Unusually for an Anchor Bay release, their disc is region 1 only, and the movie runs 123m 19s (not including the distributor logos which open the video print and weren't part of the original film). The image is letterboxed at 1.85:1 (anamorphically enhanced) for the first time on home video, and picture quality is solid. Sound format is 2.0 mono. Closed captions are included, though this reviewer wishes that 'open' captions - accessible to all via the menu - would become the norm for DVD rather than the exception. Extras include a wide-ranging audio commentary by director Clark, detailed biographies of the film's major personnel, a trailer, and several photo galleries which cover both the production and the advertising materials.