Genie und Schnauze

Sherlock Holmes is the greatest detective to live. Unfortunately he is only a creation of Dr Watson who is the true great detective. Forced to give life to his creation Watson hires actor Reginald Kincaid to play the part in real life. However when the pair are asked to investigate the theft of £5 note printing plates they find themselves up against Moriarty and in greater danger than they expected.

It sounds like a terrible idea – other films that have messed with the Holmes story have not done well – but this comes off quite nicely. The switch of characters is funny in itself and there are plenty of nice jokes and set pieces. The plot itself is full of holes and never grips as a mystery for one minute - but it is more than sufficient to support a comedy spoof. The real enjoyment comes not from the plot however but from another factor.

The two main actors are superb and it's their class that lifts the film well above the material. Caine is excellent and is visibly enjoying himself while Kingsley also looks at ease with his co-star. Support from Jeffrey Jones and Paul Freeman is good, but really the lead duo make the film work so well.

Overall, it is not a good mystery and it is not what you'd call hilarious – but the casting helps raise the bar a bit to create an enjoyable lightweight film.

WITHOUT A CLUE

Aspect ratio: 1.85:1

Sound format: Dolby Stereo

'Sherlock Holmes' turns out to be a ham actor (Michael Caine), hired by brilliant detective Dr. John Watson (Ben Kingsley) to play a character whose adventures are dramatized by Watson and published in a popular weekly magazine. But the two men are forced to set aside their differences when Prof. Moriarty (Paul Freeman) hatches a fiendish plot to destabilize the British Empire.

An unexpected gem. Thom Eberhardt's clever revision of Holmesian lore foregoes puns and sight gags for character-based comedy, and a wonderful cast of experienced British thesps plays it with just the right degree of reverence and mockery (Caine and Kingsley, in particular, make a formidable comic team). However, the script - by Gary Murphy and Larry Strawther - is entirely faithful to the spirit of Arthur Conan Doyle's most famous creation: Despite Holmes' incompetence and Watson's escalating outrage, the central mystery is genuinely skillful and engrossing, the clues are delightfully outlandish, and the Victorian atmosphere is conveyed with elegant simplicity, thanks to stylish art direction (by Brian Ackland-Snow) and costume design (by Judy Moorcroft). However, the writers aren't afraid to poke gentle fun at the established conventions, particularly Holmes'/Watson's uncanny ability to draw conclusions from even the most obscure scraps of evidence, and the climax manages to combine warm-hearted comedy and genuine thrills during a final showdown with Moriarty in an abandoned theatre. Highly recommended.

The premise is so clever. Sherlock Holmes never really existed. It was Dr. Watson (Ben Kingsley) who had been solving these cases all along, and simply hired bumbling actor Reginald Kincaid (Michael Caine) to play the fake Sherlock Holmes.

To those who are hard-core Holmes fans, this film will be cherished. Sadly, the VHS is out of print in the USA (I bought mine used at a flea market), and DVDs are available only in Europe.

(UPDATE: The film has been released on DVD in the USA, but in Pan & Scan.)

Also, the film received hardly any promotion in the USA. But it is lavishly directed, cleverly written, and magnificently cast.

Everything about this film deserves exclamation points!

Track it down any way you can, and prepare to laugh out loud.

This is one of Michael Caine's funniest performances and he and Ben Kingsley worked quite well together. The supporting cast is top-notch as well. Jeffry Jones as LeStrade is very good and Peter Cook has a fine supporting turn. As for the premise-that Holmes was a front for Watson, given the fact that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was himself a physician and that he grew so sick of Holmes he tried to kill him off, I suspect he would have enjoyed the whole thing enormously. Twists and turns throughout, as a good mystery should and enough comedy to keep you laughing. Some interesting twists at the end. Poor LeStrade! Recommended.

"Without A Clue" might be called "Without A Trace," as it sunk upon its 1988 release much like a set of five-pound-note engravings at the bottom of Lake Windemere. Hopefully the new DVD release, albeit pan-and-scan, will give people another chance to catch this terrific send-up of fiction's most celebrated detective.

This is the film that dares reveal Sherlock Holmes is a fraud, an out-of-work actor named Reginald Kincaid (Michael Caine) pulled out of the gutter by a desperate crime-solving doctor named Watson (Ben Kingsley) who needed to produce someone to play the part of this invention of his. Dr. Watson, you see, didn't want the initial notoriety of his sleuthing successes. He desired admission to a medical college that would frown on such things. Now he wishes he wasn't so successful in playing Kincaid off as Holmes; Kincaid's a drunken womanizing blaggard grown too big for his britches, whining that Watson doesn't treat him at all times with the respect his borrowed robes command.

"I am the one the public really cares about," Kincaid/Holmes sniffs.

"Are we talking of the same man who once declared the late Colonel Howard had been bludgeoned to death by a blunt EXCREMENT?"

"Is it my fault if you have such poor handwriting?"

The lines aren't all polished gems, but they complement a pair of nice comic performances by Caine and Kingsley that keep spirits merry as the game goes afoot.

Also well-done is the understated late Victorian period detail and some strategic nods to the Holmes canon like the presence of Mrs. Hudson the housekeeper and the Baker Street Irregulars, all of whom are in on the Kincaid/Holmes secret. There's choice digs at Holmes' notoriety throughout, like a fellow who gives some meaningless eyewitness testimony to Holmes before a rapt hometown crowd who break into applause when Holmes tells Watson: "Make a note of it." Watson's slow burns here and elsewhere reward repeat viewings.

With Henry Mancini doing the score and director Thom Eberhardt effectively working in a light Ealing tone, this film plays like some great lost Peter Sellers comedy, except Sellers would never share the screen so easily with another as Caine and Kingsley do here. Eberhardt also did good work in another film that went past too many people, "Year Of The Comet;" it's a shame we didn't see more of him.

This would be a classic if the mystery at the heart of the story was more developed, and there are a pair of unnecessary killings that distract momentarily from the light tone. I'm not wild about all the supporting performances, but Jeffrey Jones is a very funny Lestrade as he chases Holmes around an abandoned house on his hands and knees, Watson having told his partner first to do his usual sleuthing routine so Watson himself can root around unobserved. Lysette Anthony is sexy and effective as the potential romantic interest, inspiring Holmes to try and solve the case without Watson, as well as look in keyholes when he's not supposed to.

He's less successful attempting elementary deduction when he spies a man he takes for a reporter just back from the subcontinent.

"I'm a barrister and I've never been to India in my life," the man answers.

"But you do read the Times."

"Of course."

"Aha!"

You don't need to be an Arthur Conan Doyle fan to enjoy "Without A Clue," though it helps. This is the best kind of parody, no less riotous and cutting from being a work of true love.