“Murder by Decree” is a mystery thriller with an all-star cast. Christopher Plummer stars as Sherlock Holmes, investigating the real life mystery of the Jack the Ripper murders. The story involves a high-level conspiracy and cover up which is extremely far-fetched and a world away from the probable solution to the Whitechapel murders, but it does make for an excellent and exciting story.

 The director Bob Clark has had a long career, but most of it has been unremarkable. However he shows here a talent for creating suspense and eeriness, utilising the legendary London fog to good effect when depicting the murders. These scenes are shot from a low angle, so the hansom cab being used seems to loom out of the mist. The slow motion adds to the eeriness, and the cab door opens onto a dark interior, the women entering this darkness only to be thrown out covered in blood. This depiction portrays the horror of the murders without needing to be graphic. This film has surprisingly little blood. Throughout the movie it is touches like these scenes that create an atmosphere of suspense and dread.

Christopher Plummer leads the cast as Sherlock Holmes. It is an interesting depiction and I have heard comments on this film that Homes is not true to the original stories, but in spite of being a Sherlock Holmes fan myself I do not think it really matters here. Plummer depicts a softer and kinder Holmes, but still conveys the authority and intellect necessary for the character. He is complemented by James Mason as Doctor Watson, who effortlessly portrays a proper English gentleman, also more than capable of keeping up with Holmes. The two actors seamlessly depict friends of long standing, comfortable with each other and used to the other’s habits and foibles. Honestly it was a pleasure to watch them both.

There are lots of familiar faces in this movie aside from the leads. Frank Finlay plays Inspector Lestrade, and David Hemmings plays Inspector Foxborough. Sadly Finlay did not have a lot to do in the role, though he was excellent when on screen. Hemmings had a larger role as the sneaky inspector Foxborough – I feel I can label the character sneaky without it being much of a spoiler as his behaviour was suspicious from the outset. When I first watched the movie many years ago I thought ‘that guy is up to something’ and he was.

Anthony Quayle appears as Sir Charles Warren, chief commissioner of the Metropolitan Police at the time of the Jack the Ripper murders. Warren was most notorious during the murders for his decision to paint over the so-called Goulston street graffito before any investigation into it had been made or even a photograph taken. Quayle portrays the military-experienced man with a fairly standard British ‘stiff upper lip’ attitude, but it was a small role and probably not that unlikely that the character’s bearing would have been similar. His imperious overruling of Holmes and others when he orders the writing on the wall to be covered up is Quayle portraying a man who, from what history tells us, did not lightly take orders or even advice from anyone. (Warren’s offered explanation is that the words would incite violence against the Jewish residents, and he was possibly correct in this, though the film offers a very different explanation.) John Gielgud plays Lord Salisbury, the prime minister at the time of the murders. Again, this is a short role, and you would have to say Gielgud was playing Gielgud, but honestly, he was always great and it is always a pleasure to watch him work. The scene between Gielgud, Plummer and Quayle near the end was outstanding direction and acting from all parties.

Donald Sutherland appears as psychic Robert Lees. This man approached police telling them that he knew the identity of Jack the Ripper, but was dismissed as a madman. A story circulated later that he had in fact led police to the house of a physician with ties to the royal family. The story related that the surgeon had been incarcerated in an asylum under an alias. While this story was found to be a hoax, the movie uses it as truthful, and Lees speaks to Holmes about what he has seen in visions and in reality. Sutherland was great in this role, depicting Lees as a sickly looking individual with a distant, almost absent attitude, as if he was lost in vision rather than in the real world.

A big shout out needs to go to Genevieve Bujold. She is in one scene only as Annie Crook, a woman in an asylum who allegedly was at the centre of the mystery. She might not have been insane when she was forcibly incarcerated but she was mentally very unwell by the time she spoke to Holmes and Watson. It is a superb scene and she does a superb job, relating what she remembers in bits and pieces. She is an extraordinary actress.

The biggest problem with this movie in my opinion is the plot. Basically it takes a highly unlikely scenario for Jack the Ripper and paints a story that is convoluted, with many twists and turns, but ultimately extremely far-fetched. I think if you are going to merge Sherlock Holmes with this crime it was probably necessary to invent a conspiracy and a reason for the killings, a link between the victims and so on, even though it is highly unlikely there was an motive beyond a deranged man’s desire to cut up women. Holmes needs a mystery, and it had to have suspects, motives, and clues, in order to give him something to solve.

“Murder by Decree” is an entertaining and suspenseful movie which successfully meshes a real life murder mystery with a fictional detective. The direction exhibited suspense, dread, and real horror in the appalling murders. The cast, both known and unknown, were all fabulous. In my opinion this is a movie well worth watching.