Prostitutes are being savagely killed in the Whitechapel area of London, Holmes (John Neville) is on the trail of Jack the Ripper. Following the clues he narrows down his suspects, among them, a police surgeon, a missing heir and a disfigured prostitute. On the face of it combining literatures greatest detective. Sherlock Holmes and the most infamous serial killer Jack the Ripper into one movie is a great idea. Of course if you're a stickler for Doyle's canon, you might not agree, I'm somewhere in the middle. The film itself manages to keep the viewer guessing right until the end, it also benefits from a very strong cast, including Anthony Quayle as the police surgeon, Dr Murray, Frank Finlay as Lestrade, both of these also starred in the other and frankly much better Holmes/Ripper movie, Murder by Decree, even Judi Dench turns up in a minor role, as does Babs Windsor as a lady on the evening, typecast again eh?. If I have a problem with the film its Neville, he's not bad, he sort of looks the part, but he's quite lacking in charisma.
Review of A Study in Terror
