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I really enjoyed this little fantasy film about the supposed treatment Sherlock Holmes received for his cocaine addiction from Dr. Freud. This is awfully strange, having a real-life and fictional character interact together, but the writers were able to make it work.

Up front I should let you know that I am a huge Sherlock Holmes fan--having read all the stories several times. In most of my reviews for Holmes movies, I am very critical because they take such liberties with the stories--and almost always ruin the stories. At first, I was reticent to see this story because of this--after all, it's NOT based on a Conan Doyle story and the last such film I saw (THE PRIVATE LIFE OF SHERLOCK HOLMES) was terrible in places because it took too many liberties with the character (especially at the end of the film). However, despite my reservations I saw the film and am glad I did.

At first it did bother me, as the film did SEEM to contradict many of the Holmes stories. However, through the course of the film, they were able to explain away all these differences very well--in particular, Holmes' hatred for Professor Moriarty. Additionally, having the fictional character be psychoanalyzed actually was pretty cool--though Freud's analysis almost always took months or years, not a few quick sessions.

Up until the last 10 or 15 minutes of the film, I was very pleased with the movie but then the film had a serious flaw that knocked off a point. The sword fighting scene at the end (interesting, by the way, in a Freudian sense) was totally unnecessary and totally distracting. It was like another writer took an intelligent script and added a macho idiot fight scene for no discernible reason. Had it been me, I would have had Holmes simply shoot the guy--not pad it out for no apparent reason. Additionally, while it was integrated into the story later, the whole tennis match sequence seemed contrived and silly. Still, with so much to like, both these scenes can be overlooked.

An excellent film for Holmes lovers. Additionally, psychology teachers and therapists will also appreciate the inclusion of Freud.

By the way, Charles Gray plays Holmes' brother, Mycroft in this film. A decade later, he played this same character in the Jeremy Brett series as well.

Sherlock Holmes falls into a maisma of self-pity and paranoia through his repeated and continued use of a seven percent solution of cocaine. His faithful Watson and brother Mycroft concoct a scheme for him to go to Austria to meet Sigmund Freud, who can help him with his drug addiction. This is a brilliant film in many ways, and also a flawed film. The film is decidedly fresh with its coupling of Holmes and Freud, and its script which explains many of Holmes's character traits through a psychological examination of his character. The script by Nicholas Meyer is first-rate. The direction by Herbert Ross is also very good as it blends humour with mystery, as well as an introductory course in Freudian psychology. Nicol Williamson is a wonderful Holmes. He is precise, calculating, ego-maniacal, and blessed with just a tint of "real" madness. Williamson also is very adept at plowing through the dialogue with witty zeal. Arkin does almost as well as Freud. Arkin plays off Williamson very nicely and adds his own subtle kind of humour. The scene the two men share upon their first meeting is one of perfection of timing. The rest of the cast, however, is a bit weak, or serves as nothing more than scenery. Robert Duvall has to be one of the worst Watsons I have ever seen on screen before. He is so bland in the role, TOO stiff upper lip and his British affectation of speech sounds just like someone trying to imitate a Britisher. He also limps far too much. Joel Grey is wasted in his small role, as is Vanessa Redgrave(looking stunning if nothing else). Samatha Eggar is there just two or three minutes for absolutely nothing). Laurence Olivier does a nice job as a different Moriarity than we are used to, and character Jeremy Kemp is adequate as a wealthy Prussian villain. The next best thing for me in terms of acting after Williamson and Arkin has to be Charles Gray as brother Mycroft(a role he would reprise in the Granada Sherlock Holmes series with Jeremy Brett). Gray was a wildly under-appreciated actor. He gives a wonderfully eccentric performance. The film has a great climatic ending, a rollicking musical score, and some tense, suspenseful action. It also makes the most famous character in all of fiction a little more human to all of us. Good stuff!

Dr. Watson (Robert Duvall) prepares a scheme to Sherlock (Nicol Williamson) meets Sigmund Freud (Alan Arkin) in Vienna to cure his drugs addiction . Besides , the trio will resolve an abducting of a famous actress damsel (Vanessa Redgrave) , rescuing her from villains still being beset by his dastardly and devilish rival . Holmes excursion brings the famed Victorian sleuth towards Austria , as Holmes along Freud will solve unanswered mysteries and Sherlock undergoes some risked experiences to resolve the cases using even his habitual disguise .

It is a nice Holmes film with gripping London and Vienna setting . A genuine ripping yarn and very intriguing . The movie blends suspense , thriller , detective action , cloak and dagger , mystery and being enough interesting . Packs an exciting amount of surprises with great lots of entertainment . This is a classy and effective romp with a strongly casting . Nicol Williamson as whimsical detective is top-notch , he's in cracking form . He makes an unique perspective on his life , revealing a complex personality . He's finely matched in battle of wits with Freud . The stars have a splendid fight aboard a train towards the end ; plus , Holmes tries to battle his arch-enemy Moriarty but with an amazing final surprise . Although Basil Rathbone will be forever identified as Holmes ; however , here Nicol Williamson is also played as an intelligent , cunning , broody and impetuous pipesmoking sleuth but addicted to cocaine , his interpretation is likeness to Christopher Plummer (Murder by decree) or Peter Cushing and Jeremy Brett in television . While Dr. Watson isn't a bumbling and botcher pal generally represented by Nigel Bruce , but a clever and astute partner magnificently incarnated by Robert Duvall .

Screenwriter Nicholas Meyer provides the original plot , creating the basis for this particularly storyline . After this film , source novelist-screenwriter Meyer realized a similar operation , uniting H.G.Wells with Jack the Ripper in the movie ¨Time after the time¨ , as he became a film director himself , in his another picture connected with Victorian England. Excellent sets by production designer Ken Adam in his fourth of seven collaborations to director Herbert Ross . The film boasts a beautiful cinematography by Oswald Morris and a haunting score by John Addison . The motion picture sparkles with polish and wit and the ending results to be as exciting as moving and being well directed by Herbert Ross .

While the Seven Percent Solution may not appeal all fans of the legendary detective, it nevertheless gives us an interesting variation of the Conan Doyle character.

In order to cure his friend of his cocaine addiction, Dr. Watson (Robert Duvall) and brother Mycroft create a ruse to get Holmes to Vienna where Holmes(Nicol Williamson) meets Dr. Sigmund Freud (Alan Arkin). Arkin's Dr. Freud shows his own skills as a detective in a plot involving a kidnapped singer (Vanessa Redgrave).

Holmes and Freud work very well togeather. Freud points out that as a doctor he uses many of the same skills that Holmes uses in fighting crime, and in one scene demonstrates the same powers of observation and reasoning, while being careful not to upstage the great detective. There is not much mystery here, but the chemistry between Holmes and Freud keeps the movie interesting.

The clever twist concerns Holmes' archenemy Prof. Moriaity. Here we see Moriarty not as the villian, but as a timid schoolteacher harassed by Holmes because of a dark event in the lives of Sherlock and Mycroft.

This is a movie that is good fun. The only problem is that Dr. Watson isn't used very well. Freud makes a much better partner to Holmes.

I remember seeing trailers for this film at the time it was released. I was interested in seeing it, having read the Meyer novel, but never did until May of 2006 when it showed up on cable. I guess what happened is that it came and went so fast back in 1976 that I never got around to it. And viewing it now, I can understand why it didn't last. Nicol Williamson, as good an actor as he is, just doesn't feel right as Holmes. Was Robert Duvall forced on the producers because he was a hot property? Otherwise, why cast an American for a quintessentially English role (Watson) with a phony plummy-British accent? Olivier and Arkin do nicely, although Larry is under-used (as is the lovely Samantha Eggar). The problem is with the script and pacing. It's not serious enough to be a thriller, and not funny enough to be a comedy. At almost 2 hours it's far too long for the content. The chase scene, "cold turkey" sequence, and other sections could easily have been trimmed. The weird "horse attack" sequence is meaningless, and provides the biggest laugh of all: the appearance of horse trainers running around in some of the long shots. This film would be OK for a long rainy evening, but you'll be tempted to use your fast-forward button!

From the opening to the closing credits, filled with illustrations that originally accompanied Doyle's stories in the Strand, the details of the movie are painstakingly accurate when compared to those in the canon. This is one non-canonical Holmes story that exists in the same world as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes.

The movie takes the liberty of assuming that all of Dr. Watson's accounts of Sherlock Holmes are true, except for one. That would be "The Final Problem", in which the great detective supposedly dies at the hands of his arch-enemy Professor Moriarty. The movie suggests that this story is merely a cover up for a period in time in which Holmes was getting help with his cocaine addiction from none other than famous psychiatrist Sigmund Freud.

The settings and characters ring true to both Doyle's mysteries and the Sydney Paget illustrations that accompanied them. Sherlock Holmes' deerstalker and cloak, though never mentioned by Doyle, look more like Paget's illustrations than ever before, more rugged than in most film interpretations. American actor Robet Duvall, despite sometimes struggling with the British accent, portrays Watson as an intellectually and physically fit comrade for Holmes, not a bumbler. Laurence Olivier's Prof. Moriarty matches the vision of Doyle and Paget rather than the cliché mustache twirler of other movies. Only now, Moriarty isn't really a criminal mastermind. He's Holmes' childhood math tutor.

Alan Arkin depicts Freud as a man of intelligence, insight, and above all, honor.

The inclusion of lesser known characters like Mycroft Holmes and Toby is a plus. There are also references, both direct and sly, to canonical Holmes stories.

While Nicol Williamson's performance as Sherlock Holmes lacks the vigor and spark of Basil Rathbone or Christopher Plummer, Williamson succeeds in showing Holmes as a troubled individual rather than a god. The movie mixes drama, subtle humor, mystery, and even action, finally showing Holmes as the capable fighter he was in the canon. The end of the film strays from the books in order to explore the uncharted territory of Holmes' childhood, providing a deeply moving climax.

This may come truer to Sir Arthur's original vision than any other pastiche written for film so far, largely thanks to the efforts of writer/director Nicholas Meyer. It's obvious in every scene that Meyer has a great love for the writings of Arthur Conan Doyle.

I resent tampering with success, and if you compare this opus to the Granada Television series with Jeremy Brett as Holmes you will see what I mean. I am not impressed with clever take-offs on beloved characters of literature; or real life for that matter. Now you know how I feel.

This film, then, in my opinion, has a silly plot; too many underdeveloped characterizations; and depends too much on Holmes' drug addiction and the invention with Sigmund Freud. Its pace is too fast, and that I must blame on Mr. Williamson and his director; and many of the very fine actors are woefully underused or ignored. Surely these experienced thespians were not cowed by this unusually manic portrayal of Sherlock Holmes, but it seems so. Alan Arkin seems to struggle against odds for his time on camera.

I will grant that it is interesting, that Mr. Williamson is a great presence, and that the scenery is wonderful. Other than that, I submit that it is a disappointing waste of time. So, let's move on.

Sherlockians will no doubt grouse, but this is certainly the best Sherlock Holmes tale outside the "canon" and one of the best Holmes films ever. Although Conan Doyle never really combined his characters with historical figures, it's a great device. Alan Arkin gives one of his wonderful performances, employing one of his all purpose accents, and initially very understated. Holmes helps bring out heroic qualities you don't suspect in Sigmund Freud, pace, Anna Freud. Nicol Williamson looks and moves like Holmes, truly "hawk-like". Robert Duval is one of the best Watsons ever, outside of the BBC. Some characterizations of Watson make it hard to believe that he could possibly be a doctor, or even any kind of useful member of society. But this Watson is believable as a person, doctor and friend. The plot line also provides an answer as to who Holmes really is, and what makes him tick. Not THE answer, but an answer. A lot of fun, and very well done. Great period color. Don't go all serious, and you'll have a good time. Nice use of the cimbalom in the score during action sequences. Gives it that "Hungarian" flavor.

The movie's wit ended with the opening credits. From the narration in the beginning to the "chance encounter" at the end, everything else was just downright silly. When it does abandon its outright attempts at humor, you aren't sure whether the movie was still trying to be funny in its seriousness or whether the actors really were just unintentionally embarrassing themselves.

Not being a hundred per cent faithful to the book should not be a problem, except to make things more visual and much simpler the script called for dumbed down clues that make Toby the bloodhound seem like far better at detecting than Holmes. It was just so annoying and painful to watch.

This odd idea teams Nicol Williamson and Robert Duvall as Holmes and Watson and uses the idea that Holmes is neurotic and drug-addicted because of what happened to him as a child. Enter Dr Freud (Alan Arkin), plus a woman in distress (Vanessa Redgrave).

Duvall attempts a British accent but fails miserably (probably why he has hardly anything to say within this movie). Williamson and Arkin are great and there is a lot of pleasure to be had from their interpretations of these great characters. Laurence Olivier, however, as Moriarty is dreadful and clearly just turning in a performance by numbers for the cheque.

One last item of interest for musical fans is that this film has the first appearance of Stephen Sondheim's song 'I Never Do Anything Twice', later used in the revue Side by Side. Here it is incidental to the plot, but memorable.

Ever since Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote those immortal words "quick Watson the needle", people have been interpreting that to mean that Sherlock Holmes is a drug addict. That's the point in which Dr. Watson decides that his old friend has been abusing long enough and needs a cure. And there's this new doctor in Vienna named Sigmund Freud who is breaking new grounds with mental health therapy. That is the basis of The Seven-Per-Cent Solution where the fictional world of Holmes and the and real world of Freud meet and essentially mate.

The Baker Street purists are like highbrow Trekkies, for them Holmes is an absolutely real character. In fact I just saw the John Mills-Leslie Banks film Cottage To Let where one of the characters, a young cockney lad proclaims that for him "Sherlock Holmes was the greatest person whoever lived". He's so real that within the time that Conan Doyle wrote his stories you can graft Holmes almost at any point within that time as a character as was done in this film.

Robert Duvall as Dr. Watson has left Baker Street to resume his medical practice and soon enough gets a summons from Mrs. Hudson the landlady at Baker Street to come running. Holmes's craving for cocaine has gotten out of hand and she's at her wits end.

Nicol Williamson plays Sherlock Holmes and he's going through some bad withdrawal, keeps raving about one Professor Moriarty as the root of all evil in the British Empire. Appealing to his inability to pass up a mystery and his obsession with the Professor who is a teacher of mathematics at some English public school, Duvall tricks Holmes into a trip to Vienna to see Dr. Freud.

Alan Arkin plays Freud and the scenes between Dr. Freud and patient Holmes are something else. At the time Freud was using hypnotic techniques which up to that time were just parlor game tricks or used for more sinister purposes to get at the root of Holmes narcotic dependency. Later on when a mystery surrounding another of Arkin's addicted patients Vanessa Redgrave surfaces it is Williamson the teacher and Arkin the pupil when they start playing Holmes's ballpark.

The greatest mind in Vienna also suffered cruelly from the anti-Semitism of his time. Freud's 'duel' on the tennis court with Baron Jeremy Kemp is a classic and as it turns out Kemp is the root of the mystery involving Redgrave.

The Seven-Per-Cent Solution received two Oscar nominations for Best Costume Design and for adapted Screenplay. The recreation of the London and Vienna of the 1890s is marvelous and the final climax with the locomotive chase with Holmes, Freud, and Watson chasing down the villains is well staged.

By the way, though his role is brief Laurence Olivier plays Moriarty and it turns out he did a worse sin to Sherlock Holmes than be the head of all the crime in the British Empire.

The DVD release of "The Seven-Per-Cent Solution" was in the early days of DVD production, which you can tell because it doesn't even have a menu separate from the chapters. (You'd almost think I was talking about the early days of film and/or sound pictures; it was only 10 years ago!) The original DVD edition was quite limited and is now out of print without another scheduled release. The OOP DVD edition (if you can find it) now runs as high as $100 to $150 at second-hand retail stores and $75 to $100 on online auctions. (I think Amazon marketplace sellers have copies starting at $120.) So the question is whether the movie itself justifies the equivalent of buying a new Blu-Ray player. Maybe, maybe not. And, in case you don't know, the story itself is not by Arthur Conan Doyle.

To shell out $100+ for an entertainment flick of this sort is probably for hardcore Sherlock Holmes fans. This is not quite the deep suspense film I was expecting with a much more intellectual slant. "Seven Per-cent" is instead a fun mystery-thriller very much in the style of 1970's period pieces set anywhere between the 17th and early 20th centuries, such as "The Great Train Robbery", "Murder on the Orient Express", "The Three Musketeers", "The Count of Monte Cristo", etc. (These movies invariably starred either Sean Connery or Richard Chamberlain.) Seems like trains and sword-fighting were the staples of this era of film-making, and in "Seven Per-cent" you get both.

The performance that really saves this film is Nicol Williamson as Sherlock Holmes. He provides a nervous-angst to the character that is rarely seen by the likes of Basil Rathbone and Jeremy Brett. And yet, after having seen Williamson's take on the immortal sleuth, you wonder if this is closer to what Arthur Conan Doyle had in mind. Holmes is somewhat of an intellectual recluse, and Williamson breathes life into this somewhat darker side of Holmes. Holmes was a great sleuth but not necessarily the easiest person with which to get on. The story begins with Holmes suffering from cocaine addiction, making him positively insufferable. His closest associate, Dr Watson (Robert Duvall), resolves to relocate Holmes to Vienna, Austria, for treatment at the hands of none-other than Sigmund Freud (Alan Arkin). Through interesting misdirection, Watson gets Holmes to Freud. Toward the end of his treatment, Holmes becomes enmeshed in another case involving Freud and one of his patients.

The movie then literally moves at full-speed ahead with chases, brothels, sword fights, and the obligatory train sequence. However, unlike the first segment involving Holmes' treatment, the second act is never quite fully explained. Not unlike movies today, long action sequences take over the film and the underlying plot is not very well explained. This is certainly an enjoyable movie but far from being one of the best Sherlock Holmes films. The recent offering starring Robert Downey Jr has a bit more depth than this film made 35 years earlier, although Downey's character is 180-degrees from Doyle's. But that said, you almost can't beat Williamson's performance which has to rank as one of the best portrayals of England's greatest detective. If the studios re-released it on DVD, a new price of $15 to $20 seems a lot more elementary.

Refreshing, original take on the Holmes Canon. I've heard the main actor was miscast but seeing him running around frenetically in a ratty smoking robe, issuing Sherlock's famous speech about Moriarty (which DOES sound paranoid when you think about it), he gives a true, spontaneous version which is lacking in other Holmes departures. While Holmes meets Jack the ripper in 2 other movies, his character never comes alive as in this movie. Even Peter Cushing as Sherlock in "Hound of the Baskervilles" can't compete. Robert Duvall seems wasted as Watson who has only 6 lines in the movie. Lawrence Olivier is a twin for Moriarty, but strangely doesn't look younger in a 30 year flashback. My only complaint is that upon repeated viewings the climactic train chase seems overlong. I think Conan Doyle would be proud: though he might have been mildly addicted to cocaine and broken his addiction, and thus has Watson proclaiming the same for Holmes, ("he cured himself"), the movie (and novel it's based on) fills a dramatic gap. And Holmes is more a hero for it, battling inner and outer foes (his addiction as well as a mystery).

Nicol Williamson plays Holmes in this adaptation of Nicolas Meyer's novel, which suggests that Sherlock's 'disappearance' in 1891 was due to a cocaine addiction. What's more, he has the detective travelling to Vienna to visit Siggy Freud (Alan Arkin) in the hope of finding a cure. The pair subsequently work together to solve a case. Moriarty, played by Lawrence Olivier also makes an appearance, allowing Freud is to psycho analyse Holmes' paranoid obsession with his nemesis

Williamson was mostly a stage actor, one with a somewhat troublesome reputation but here he's terrific, right up there with the Peter Cushing interpretation of the famous detective. Arkin is excellent , too, his New York Jewish accent being just the ticket. Robert Duvall as Watson is a disaster not of his own making. - the script gives him nothing and the tortuous accent only buttons him further. The first part of the story in which Holmes battles the demon drug is excellent and contains some very scary dream sequences. The second part in which Vanessa Redgrave features as a damsel in distress is more conventional and turns into a romp. The only flaw in the film are the steam engines used for the chase through 'Austria' - they are are British. The first is a Black 5, and the second a '6' class from the Eastern region. Neither were ever exported. Tsk

Sadly, this film is inaccurate to the novels, with a ridiculous plot which doesn't have much faith to any of the novels that Conan Doyle wrote. Also a wasted potential with actors like Robert Duvall, Alan Arkin and Laurence Olivier (playing Professor Moriarty), and a schmaltzy, mocking, turgid, stereotypical, prejudiced, chauvinistic, whimsy, stale, boisterous, juvenile, mediocre, anarchic, chaotic, disastrous and dull flop. Sherlock Holmes is completely off his head about Moriarty and his troubles with cocaine and it was ridiculous to feature Sigmund Freud in it. Not to mention the finding that Sherlock's mother was having an affair with Professor Moriarty at the end. It is just plain nonsense.

This film, directed by Thom Eberhard from a script by Nicholas Meyer presents Sherlock Holmes in a new perspective. The discovery of Cocaine in the 19th century originally seemed like a perfect drug and many doctors perceived it as an ideal cure for everything. Even Freud used it extensively and prescribed it for his patients until he became dependent on it. There are those who say that the same thing happened to Conan Doyle, who eventually kicked the habit, but used in as a part of the Character of Sherlock Holmes, at least in the earlier stories, who claimed that the boredom that set in when his mind was not occupied on a case was only relieved by a seven percent solution of the drug that he would inject himself with.

In this film it is realized that he has begun to be overly effected by the drug as he sees incidents of his youth in a distorted view, until Watson is forced to trick him into going to Vienna to see Sigmund Freud. Nicol Williamson is a very sympathetic Holmes, and Robert Duvall, surprisingly essays a very likable Dr. Watson. Laurence Olivier ha a small role as James Moriarity, who is no villain but a former tutor of the brothers Holmes, who had had an affair with their mother years before, and had been hounded by Holmes since. Alan Arkin is an excellent Freud, and the film is a great adventure and touching drama, as Holmes, in the middle of his cure, once again brings his great intellect to bear on a baffling case.

The Seven-Per-Cent Solution is an excellent film for Sherlockians but also the fans of Williamson and Arkin who are excellent in this film as Holmes and Freud, respectively. Also, the contribution of Duvall as Watson cannot be over-emphasized. Toby was a very good dog as always.

Director Herbert Ross enjoyed several commercial successes but never really gained the respect of the industry (perhaps it was all those seemingly-undemanding Neil Simon comedies?). So gathering a top-drawer cast like this must have been quite a boost for Ross, and the delicious possibilities behind a meeting of Master Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Sigmund Freud were endless. Unfortunately, Ross' crack comic timing gets lost in the woodwork in his quest to make the film more formidable, and the results are sedate in the very worst way. In 1891 England, paranoid, cocaine-addicted Sherlock Holmes is rescued by John Watson, who arranges a Viennese meeting between Holmes and Freud, who gets Sherlock through a tough detox; Freud then assists Holmes and Dr. Watson on a kidnapping case, and proves to be as adept at sleuthing as he is a hypnotist. Alan Arkin is totally miscast as Freud, giving what may be his least convincing performance ever (he approaches the part like a giddy kid playing dress-up, and his over-enunciation is theatrical and phony); Nicol Williamson is serviceable as Holmes, but all his sweating and shaking is a terrible drag on the action. This is really Robert Duvall's picture, giving us a more robust Watson, and yet Duvall's narration seems to be there just to fill in the gaps. Herbert Ross only gets inventive during one sequence (a series of cocaine-withdrawal nightmares), and even then he carries out the montage for far too long, so that the audience quickly becomes indifferent. There's a lot of talent here, but the results are stodgy and plodding, with an ugly art direction and uninteresting character chatter. * from ****