Sherlock Holmes and the Deadly Necklace (1962)

I finally got around to watching this West German/Italian/French co-produced curiosity last weekend.  Sherlock Holmes and the Deadly Necklace (1962) feels like something of a throwback to the thirties (or even earlier) in terms of its treatment of the character of Holmes.  At a time when both TV adaptations (notably the fifties Sheldon Leonard produced series starring Ronald Howard) and other Sherlockian films (Hammer's Hound of the Baskervilles (1959) for instance), were putting their stories firmly back in period, this film instead chooses to place the story in the inter-war period.  (Apparently, the producers' original intent had been to give it a contemporary setting, until this was vetoed by the Conan Doyle estate).  The fact that the film stars Christopher Lee as Holmes, (he had already played Sir Henry Baskerville in the Hammer film) and is directed by Terence Fisher (who had directed the 1959 Hound), one might have led one to expect Deadly Necklace to be patterned somewhat after this production.  Germany, however, had its own tradition of Sherlock Holmes adaptations, stretching back to the days of silent cinema.  It is into this tradition that Sherlock Holmes and the Deadly Necklace fits, playing out more as a crime thriller than a detective story, with its focus on the criminal machinations of the Mabuse-like Moriarty and dark tone tone.  Indeed, its main stylistic influence seems to have been the contemporary Edgar Wallace derived 'Krimi' films being turned out by German studios in the fifties and sixties.

The film is ostensibly based upon the Conan Doyle novel The Valley of Fear, but Curt Siodmak's (who was also responsible for writing several of the Universal monster movies of the forties - another possible influence on the film's feel) script only incorporates a few elements from the book.  The foremost of these is the 'locked room' mystery occupying the film's middle section, for the rest of the script, Siodmak mixes together a number of scenarios familiar from the Universal Basil Rathbone Holmes series: Holmes and Watson in a tavern to try and get information, Holmes dons a series of disguises to pursue his investigation, Watson acts like a buffoon to provide a distraction, etc.  The film's climax features Holmes (in disguise) involved in a heist from a security van, an element that wouldn't have been out of place in a thirties Holmes film, which often characterised Holmes as not just scientific detective, but also action hero.  The film does feature an excellent cast, led by Lee (in a false nose) as Holmes and Thorley Walters as Watson, (a role he was to essay three more times in other productions).  Lee makes an imposing and incisive Holmes, while Walters' Watson, while somewhat avuncular, is nowhere near as buffoonish as the characterisation foisted upon Nigel Bruce in the Universal films and provides a nicely human counterpoint to Lee's somewhat detached Holmes.  Unfortunately, even in the English language version of the film, both are disconcertingly dubbed by other actors, with mid-Atlantic accents.  Hans Sohnker makes an impressive Moriarty (here a professor of archeology, rather than mathematics), an urbane character combining sophisticated charm with smooth menace and clearly Holmes' intellectual equal.  Interestingly, the film ends with Moriarty having apparently outmaneuvered Holmes and gained the upper hand, (the film was intended to be the first of a series, but a sequel never emerged).  All in all, Sherlock Holmes and the Deadly Necklace is an enjoyable experience, atmospherically shot by Fisher on mainly Dublin locations, creating a grimy back streets feel.  It might not satisfy Conan Doyle purists, but it is well produced and moves along smoothly through a few plot twists to a somewhat surprising conclusion.