Murder by Decree

 

(1979)
Directed by Bob Clark
Screenplay by John Hopkins
Starring Christopher Plummer, James Mason, David Hemmings, Frank Finlay, Anthony Quayle, Donald Sutherland, Genevieve Bujold, John Gielgud
IMDB Entry

Bob Clark directed one genuine movie classic:  A Christmas Story. But before that, he was trying to find his place in Hollywood and he went to a perennial movie character: Sherlock Holmes. The result was Murder by Decree.

We meet Holmes (Christopher Plummer) and Watson (James Mason), who are called in by the police (a tad reluctantly) to solve the Whitechapel murders (i.e., the  Jack the Ripper case). Several prostitutes have been killed and Holmes senses something in it that more than just a madman. The fact that the police have destroyed evidence makes it seem fishy. The key to the case is Annie Crook (Genevieve Bujold) who is very difficult to track down, though Holmes finds her in a mental institution.

The murders turn out to be a plot that has reaches into the highest part of British government.

This has been common grounds for mysteries linking Holmes to the Ripper and some have speculated that one of the princes might actually have been the killer. 

I did find the ending just too much exposition, and, really, there is no reason to murder the victims.* But the cast is stacked with some of the top British actors of the time and it's fun to watch them work. Genevieve Bujold is especially good as Annie, who was caught up in the machinations and driven to madness.

Milestone: This is my 900th post.

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*(highlight to reveal) One of the victims has had a baby from a royal prince, but it wouldn't be the first time someone on the throne had illegitimate children, and it would at most be an embarrassment, not a threat.