A vicious killer dubbed Jack the Ripper is killing prostitutes in the Whitechapel section of London. Sherlock Holmes (John Neville) and his friend Dr. Watson (Donald Houston) are discussing the murders when a package arrives addressed to Holmes and post marked from Whitechapel. Inside is a box containing surgical instruments. One of the knives is missing. Upon investigating the box Holmes discovers that it had been in a pawn shop and once belonged to the elder son of a duke.
The owner turns out to be Michael Osborne (John Cairney), the eldest son of the Duke of Shires (Barry Jones). The duke tells Holmes that he disowned his son when he wanted to become a doctor, something the pompous Duke called the trades. Dr. Watson was not pleased being called a tradesman.
On their way out Holmes and Watson meet the Duke’s other son, Lord Edward Carfax (John Fraser). Holmes then tracks down the pawn shop in Whitechapel where he learns that a woman, Angela Osborne (Adrienne Corri) pawned the instruments. The address she left was for a hostel and soup kitchen in Whitechapel. The soup kitchen is run by Dr. Murray (Anthony Quayle).
Holmes next visits the police morgue and Inspector Lestrade (Frank Finlay) to examine the latest victim, Annie Chapman (Barbara Windsor). The police surgeon turns out to also be the owner of the soup kitchen, Dr. Murray. Holmes goes undercover and delves into the comings and goings of the soup kitchen.
His investigation uncovers that Michael married a prostitute and Edward was paying blackmail to a bar owner, Max Steiner (Peter Carsten) to keep that information from his father. Edward had been worried about his father’s state of health.
By now Holmes is fully drawn into the case even before his brother Mycroft (Robert Morley) shows up to try to convince him to get involved. Holmes has no problem following the clues but can he stop the maniac before he himself comes into the crosshairs of Jack the Ripper?
“A Study in Terror” was released in 1965 and was directed by James Hill. It is a British horror thriller. The film is based on the characters created by Arthur Conan Doyle. The film stars John Neville as Sherlock Holmes and Donald Houston as Dr. Watson.
At first, seeing Neville as Sherlock Holmes was a bit of a letdown. He seemed a little ridiculous and out of place, however, the more the film progressed the better he got. I especially enjoyed the word fight between Sherlock and Mycroft. It was like watching two pompous know-it-alls one-upping each other. The merging of the two themes was done well and real Jack the Ripper facts were woven in with some standard Sherlock Holmes tropes. Of course, liberties were taken on both sides. It ended up being a rather enjoyable movie.
Other than a 1922 silent short called “The Bruce-Partington Plans”, this is the first film that had Sherlock Holmes’ brother Mycroft as a character. Whether or not the short survives is unknown.
This is the first film to pit Sherlock Holmes against Jack the Ripper. Since then only one other film “Murder by Decree” 1979 had the same characters together on film. One other movie “From Hell” 2001 had a similar concept. In that film Jack the Ripper was pursued by a brilliant and psychic detective named Inspector Fred Abberline, played by Johnny Depp.