Sherlock Holmes attaque l'Orient-Express

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.