Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		2.5
Overall		3.0

Sherlock Holmes and the Deadly Necklace Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman June 25, 2021

Note: This film is available on Blu-ray as part of The Eurocrypt of Christopher Lee Collection.

According to the typically semi-reliable IMDb, Christopher Lee amassed an almost astounding 282 acting credits over the course of his long and venerable career. If many younger viewers tend to understandably associate him with films like The Lord of the Rings: The Motion Picture Trilogy and/or Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones, and if somewhat more seasoned audience members may link him to his long run of so-called "Hammer Horror" outings which account for over twenty of those acting credits and include films like The Curse of Frankenstein, there is obviously by dint of the sheer number included on the IMDb's list a veritable glut of roles with which even diehard Lee fans may not be all that familiar. Severin Films has come to the rescue of Lee fans on the hunt for some rarer titles featuring the actor, amassing five feature films and all the surviving episodes of Lee's anthology series Theatre Macabre, along with a treasure trove of supplementary material.

It's not often that a lover of flop Broadway musicals is able to get a momentary charge out of a commentary track on a Blu-ray disc, but that's exactly what happened when this inveterate fan of less than successful stage properties listened to the fun conversation between Kim Newman and Barry Forshaw that adorns this release as a supplement. The pair mention a recurring fact that comes up with regard to some of the other films in Severin's Christopher Lee set, namely that this particular film has been well nigh impossible to find over the years, and it remains one of the more, well, mysterious entries in the Sherlock Holmes cinematic canon.

But then the two start to get into the production history of Sherlock Holmes and the Deadly Necklace, recounting how executive producer Wolf Brauner had already "rebooted" another venerable character with The Return of Dr. Mabuse and various follow ups, and wanted to do the same with regard to Arthur Conan Doyle's famous detective, albeit with a certain "Mabuse-ian" twist in that he wanted his Holmes film to actually center on Holmes' arch-nemesis, Professor Moriarty (Newman and Forshaw take a brief detour through the pronunciation of the surname). It's here that things take a kind of odd but delightful detour, as the two relay the intransigence of Conan Doyle's heirs, who controlled his estate and licensed his characters, and how Brauner's initial plans hit a substantial roadblock because the rights to the two Holmes stories overtly dealing with Moriarty had already been licensed to, as Newman puts it, "that Sherlock Holmes musical".

The reference must be to a very little remembered musical called Baker Street, which opened in 1965 and managed to limp through most of the rest of the year based largely on its impressive physical production (set designer Oliver Smith took home the only Tony Award given to the effort), though it had an interesting cast which included Fritz Weaver as Holmes, Inga Swenson as Irene Adler, and Martin Gabel (Mr. Arlene Francis, for you trivia buffs) as Moriarty. Baker Street has entered the annals of Broadway trivia generally for a number of reasons, not the least of which is it was one of the few musicals that the venerable Harold Prince directed where he wasn't part of the producing team, as well as the fact that it offered the first Great White Way jobs for the likes of Christopher Walken and Tommy Tune. It also rather incredibly provided Richard Burton with his one and only charting "hit", a cover version of the show's ballad, A Married Man. Aside from the fact that Burton talks the song rather than singing it, the fact that Burton's only hit single is about the joys of being married is kind of ironic, considering his personal history.

The upshot is that screenwriter Curt Siodmak was consigned to using stories that had only mentioned Moriarty in passing, though even those Conan Doyle offerings are rather radically tweaked in the film, as is gotten into in the commentary. This is nonetheless a film at least as much about the dastardly professor, who is on the hunt for priceless jewels, as it is about the famous sleuth, and that gives this enterprise a bit of an unusual flavor. Lee's Holmes is arguably hobbled by the fact that the English language version is dubbed without the benefit of using its stars' actual voices, as well as some perhaps unfortunate makeup applied to Lee's nose. Thorley Walters' take on Watson is clearly in the Nigel Bruce mold, as is mentioned repeatedly in the commentary, but Hans Söhnker's Moriarty is rather bracing, offering a kind of imperious dandy who frankly gets the best of Holmes on more than one occasion in the film.

Sherlock Holmes and the Deadly Necklace Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Sherlock Holmes and the Deadly Necklace is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Severin Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.66:1. The back cover of the keepcase insert states this is "scanned in 2K from the German negative", while verbiage in a larger font above proclaims this to be "the first authorized U.S. disc release of Lee's only movie performance as Holmes", a description that is actually perhaps unintentionally discounted in the commentary, which names other properties where Lee played the venerable character. This is another great looking transfer of a rather rare Lee film, and it preserves enough fine detail that, as the commentary briefly mentions, you can clearly see the putty and powder affixed to Lee's nose for perhaps questionable reasons. Fine detail also tends to be excellent on things like the fabrics worn by various characters, including the almost hilariously loudly checked getup Lee wears in one memorable scene. Grain resolves without any issues.

Sherlock Holmes and the Deadly Necklace Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Perhaps surprisingly, Newman and Forshaw recommend watching the film with the German DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono track, rather than the English dub, also in DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono. As disconcerting as hearing Christopher Lee in German might be, that may pale in comparison to hearing him in English without his real voice, but even putting aside weird production decisions like that, the English track is noticeably thinner sounding, with pretty boxy dialogue and not much energy in the amplitude department. Interestingly, the the two tracks sometimes have different music. Optional English subtitles are available for either the German language or English language versions.

Sherlock Holmes and the Deadly Necklace Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Audio Commentary with Film Writers Kim Newman & Barry Forshaw has quite a bit more than references to flop musicals in this very enjoyable discussion.


• Tony Dalton Interviews Terence Fisher (HD; 12:35) is an archival audio interview that plays to stills and snippets from various films. This has some fidelity issues but is quite interesting.


• Tony Dalton on Terence Fisher (HD; 26:48) is an engaging remembrance by Dalton conducted via Zoom due to the pandemic.


• Trailer (HD; 3:11)

Sherlock Holmes and the Deadly Necklace Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Kim Newman and Barry Forshaw discuss fairly early in their analysis that Sherlock Holmes and the Deadly Necklace has a number of "issues", probably aside and apart from the disastrous decision to offer its English dub without the real voices of its two leading English speaking actors. The emphasis on Moriarty is rather interesting, though, and while it's probably unavoidable that the entirety of Lee's performance isn't available, he makes for a striking physical presence as Holmes, to the point that it's almost hilarious when it's assumed that rather simplistic disguises keep him from being recognized. Technical merits are solid and the supplementary package very enjoyable. Recommended.