Murder by Decree
1979
Director: Bob Clark
Stars: Christopher Plummer, James Mason, David Hemmings
Reviewed by Brian M. Sammons
It amazes me how many horror fans these days have never heard, let alone seen, this 1979 British-Canadian movie. I mean come on, it’s Sherlock Holmes vs. Jack the Ripper. It has Christopher Plummer, James Mason, and Donald Sutherland. It’s directed by Bob (Black Christmas, Children Shouldn’t Play With Dead Things, and oddly Porky’s and A Christmas Story) Clark. Yet for many this has slipped under the radar. Well it’s time to change that, so grab your deerstalker hat, your leather apron, and let’s jump into it.
Long before Alan More wrote From Hell and ever longer before the Johnny Depp From Hell movie, there was this. The two have a very similar plot, both heavily influenced by the book Jack the Ripper: The Final Solution, by Stephen Knight. Only in this story you get the added coolness of everyone’s favorite British Victorian detective, Sherlock Holmes, and his ever present and faithful companion, Dr. John Watson, matching wits with what is probably the world’s most infamous serial killer. If you’re not familiar with the particulars of this famous theory on the identity and the motive of Saucy Jack, I’m not going to give away any of the particulars here. Suffice to say that it’s a cracking good mystery.
As for other elements of the film, I don’t think I have ever seen Christopher Plummer or James Mason act poorly. Even if they are in a not as good film, their very presence raises the bar of quality by more than a few notches. And then there is Bob Clark’s ever-dependable direction. Whether he’s making a goofball sex comedy, a family-friendly holiday movie, or something dark and disturbing (my favorite), he always brings the goods and makes something memorable. Okay, I am no, no, no fan of his Baby Geniuses, but no one is perfect.
I feel that I should point out that, surprisingly, this movie is rated PG. Now it is 70s PG, so it has more balls than most PG-13 films today. Hell, Jaws, also from this time, is rated PG, too. If you’re a gorehound looking for lots of the red stuff, you might be disappointed here. But if you like a well-made, well-acted film first and foremost, you will get that here.
Let’s get to those extras on this new DVD from Umbrella Entertainment.
Okay, that was fun. Yeah, sadly this disc is a bare bones as they come. Now part of that is they never did “extras” back in the day, another reason is, as I said, a lot of folks have forgotten or never heard about this one. I’m happy it’s just out on disc after so long after so long being unavailable, but something, anything extra would have been nice here. Oh well…
I love Murder by Decree, I always have and I’m just happy to see it out on disc after so long being out of print. Now you don’t have to pay $50 for it on eBay or something. You can get it for substantially less and new from Umbrella Entertainment, and I can easily recommend it.
