Sherlock Holmes solves the mystery of the identity of Jack the Ripper.
Although suffering from a somewhat predictable script, the film is lifted by an excellent cast, which features many household names from the contemporary British stage and screen (both small and large).
In spite of, or perhaps because of, its limited budget, the sets capture the intimate shabbiness of London's East End in the 1880s and the photography has a menacing quality, not easily captured in colour.
Whilst any subtlety is sacrificed from the outset with the first of a number of gory (and historically inaccurate) set piece murders, these are perhaps to be expected, given the subject matter.
Comparison with "Murder By Decree" (1979), in which Sherlock Holmes again discovers the identity of the Ripper, albeit a different one, is inevitable. Whilst undoubtedly enjoying a bigger budget and benefitting from a more imaginative script, "Murder By Decree" has a certain remoteness about it, particularly in those scenes set in the squalid East End back streets, where the claustrophobic atmosphere of the earlier film is lacking.
Although very much a second feature and very thin on historic detail, "A Study In Terror" is, nevertheless, a respectable addition to the Holmes canon.
Although suffering from a somewhat predictable script, the film is lifted by an excellent cast, which features many household names from the contemporary British stage and screen (both small and large).
In spite of, or perhaps because of, its limited budget, the sets capture the intimate shabbiness of London's East End in the 1880s and the photography has a menacing quality, not easily captured in colour.
Whilst any subtlety is sacrificed from the outset with the first of a number of gory (and historically inaccurate) set piece murders, these are perhaps to be expected, given the subject matter.
Comparison with "Murder By Decree" (1979), in which Sherlock Holmes again discovers the identity of the Ripper, albeit a different one, is inevitable. Whilst undoubtedly enjoying a bigger budget and benefitting from a more imaginative script, "Murder By Decree" has a certain remoteness about it, particularly in those scenes set in the squalid East End back streets, where the claustrophobic atmosphere of the earlier film is lacking.
Although very much a second feature and very thin on historic detail, "A Study In Terror" is, nevertheless, a respectable addition to the Holmes canon.