chaswe-28402 Toby is real, relaxed, and natural. He is good-looking, engaging, professional, and an excellent performer. This is more than could be said of the rest of the cast, otherwise distinguished though they may be, in this bewildering foray into would-be Doyle country. The film's merit is that Holmes and Freud belong in the same late Victorian era, and their supposed deductive faculties are more or less of a piece, as well as their apparent mutual enthusiasm for cocaine. The Austrian scenery and Viennese décor are captivating. Everything else is either fake or ludicrous. It is also atrociously dragged out and prolonged. There are a number of pointlessly puzzling episodes, such as a real tennis match, a risky excursion to the Spanish Riding School, an anachronistic song by Sondheim in a Viennese brothel, a railroad race, a ridiculous duel between Sherlock and Jeremy Kemp on the roof of a moving train which goes on and interminably on. These events have absolutely nothing to do with anything. It is a complete mystery why they are there.After watching a fair number of dvds during the last six months I've come to the conclusion that there are two types of film, believable and unbelievable. This movie is preposterous in all respects. An American Dr Watson with a strangulated accent only Americans would think was English, a Sherlock who is frantic and hysterical instead of icy calm and logical, and a Freud with a black beard, when it should be white or grey --- or at least of a different shape: these constitute the main protagonists. A Professor Moriarty masquerades as a geriatric Laurence Olivier, who looks unlikely to be able to mastermind a trip to the care home, let alone a network of criminals. However he is reported to have had a naughty past, and contributed to a homicide. There is also a Turkish Pasha. The thespian skills of Vanessa Redgrave depend entirely on her family connections. I can't think of anything else useful to say. The solution to this mystery is 100% insoluble. Unless somebody came up with a pot of money and the actors decided to go off and have a jolly holiday in Austria, all expenses paid. Nominated for two Oscars ? Was this the ultimate joke ?

SnoopyStyle It's 1891 London. Sherlock Holmes (Nicol Williamson) is suffering delusions from his cocaine use and convinced of Professor James Moriarty (Laurence Olivier) as a master criminal. A concerned Dr. John H. Watson (Robert Duvall) decides to create a fictional case for Sherlock to chase to Vienna where he could get treatment from experimental psychotherapist Dr. Sigmund Freud (Alan Arkin). He recruits Mycroft Holmes to force Moriarty to lead Sherlock on the chase. Sherlock arrives at Sigmund's office and is convinced to be treated by his 7% solution. As he recovers from withdrawal, Sherlock deduces Freud's patient Lola Deveraux (Vanessa Redgrave) had escaped from an abductor and recalls a memory of buried secrets.It's a compelling reimagining of the fictional characters. The journey to Vienna is a bit of Sherlock fun. His treatment slows the movie down. It would be more compelling to have Sherlock investigate the case while fully in withdrawal and the delusional snake montage can be trimmed down. The investigating trio is rather intriguing. The acting is generally excellent. The case is circuitous and sometimes muddled. The bad guys are obvious from the start. For a Sherlock Holmes mystery, it needs to be better. The final reveal isn't quite as shocking as the movie wants it to be. Otherwise, this is a great concept.

jacobs-greenwood Produced and directed by Herbert Ross, novelist Nicholas Meyer used Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's characters to write an interesting crime mystery involving Sherlock Holmes, his loyal and trusty companion Dr. Watson, and Dr. Sigmund Freud!Though the drama begins as an exploration into the destructive nature of cocaine addiction (the title refers to the concentration of cocaine Holmes self-injected), and how it almost leads to the famous detective's undoing, it devolves into a comedy adventure of sorts after Freud helps Holmes fight this weakness.The cast, which is excellent, includes Nicol Williamson as Holmes, Robert Duvall as Dr. Watson (and the film's occasional narrator), Alan Arkin as Dr. Freud, Laurence Olivier as Holmes's nemesis Professor Moriarty, plus Vanessa Redgrave, Joel Grey, and Jeremy Kemp, who figure in the mystery. Samantha Eggar appears briefly as Watson's wife, Morstan. Screenplay writer Meyer and Costume Designer Alan Barrett received their only Oscar nominations for their work on this film.Watson (Duvall) is naturally concerned that his friend, the eminent detective Sherlock Holmes (Williamson), has become a paranoid recluse that believes that Professor Moriarty (Olivier) is out to get him. In fact, it is Moriarty, who Holmes is stalking, that makes Watson aware of the detective's irrational obsession.Upon investigation, Watson discovers that Holmes is under the influence of cocaine. He'd also learned that there is some tragedy in the two's shared past beyond the fact that Moriarty was a difficult calculus instructor of Holmes's; Moriarty refused to reveal anything else. Watson decides to visit Holmes's brother Mycroft (Charles Gray) who is able to use this secret past against Moriarty to get him to lead his brother to Vienna, where Dr. Freud (Arkin) has been able to help those with similar addictions.The most incredible display of the great detective's powers of perception and deductive reasoning occurs shortly after Holmes meets Freud - merely by walking through the doctor's flat, Holmes is able to tell Freud's life story to date!After a long and arduous 'drying out' period, wrought with hallucinations, and assisted by some hypnosis from Dr. Freud, Holmes is introduced to one of the doctor's former patients, a famous actress named Lola Deveraux (Redgrave). Deveraux had been 'cured' of her cocaine addiction by Freud, but she is found in a hospital, partially under its influence again, after allegedly trying to kill herself. Holmes deduces that she'd been bound and forced into using the drug, and had actually been trying to escape.This leads the three men (Holmes, Watson, & Freud) to follow a strange little man (Joel Grey, playing Lowenstein) that fits Deveraux's brief description of her abductor. After this man leads them into a trap in which they're almost killed, Holmes realizes to late that they'd been distracted so that the perpetrator could recapture Ms. Deveraux.It turns out that the man responsible for her abduction is Baron von Leinsdorf (Kemp), who had earlier made an antisemitic comment to Freud at their club and lost a real tennis (not what you think) match to the doctor, who'd wanted satisfaction. Assisted by Deveraux, who'd dropped flowers like 'bread crumbs' enabling them to follow her, the three men capture Lowenstein and figure out that the Baron is responsible.It is at this point in the story that the film becomes a wild, cross continent chase more than anything else, with predictable results. However, one does finally learn, while Freud has Holmes under hypnosis, the root causes of the detective's cocaine addiction and the reason why Moriarty was involved in his fantasies.

ThatMOVIENut Delving into pseudo-history, Watson (Robert Duvall) gets a drug addicted and neurotic Holmes (Nichol Williamson) to see the father of psychology, Sigmund Freud (Alan Arkin) in a last ditch effort to cure him. However, Holmes must also work a case involving a shady foreign magnate and a beautiful young actress (Vanessa Redgrave), not permitting resurfacing demons to get in the way of his powers.Star Trek veteran Nicholas Meyer's Holmes tale is a fun and surprisingly smart ride. The combination of two geniuses like Holmes and Freud actually lead to some really fascinating scenes as the two size each other up, each intrigued by the other's somewhat unorthodox methods and beliefs, as well as contrast their behaviours. This is supported by the rapport between a subdued and pensive Arkin, and a maverick Williamson who can veer from pathetic and crumbling to imposing and commanding at the drop of a deerstalker. Indeed, the film explores a darker and much more human side to Holmes than most adaptations, delving into his past and the depths of his childhood that later informed his crime fighting abilities.Now this is not to say everything else is a slack: Duvall holds a decent British accent and is suitably supportive and patient as Watson, Redgrave is doe eyed and rather nervous as the troubled actress, and veteran Herbert Ross directs with a swift hand and tight pacing, taking us from the fog of London to the monuments of Vienna and even the top of speeding trains for the climax in good time. Really, complaints are fairly minor, and are simply circumstantial of this type of production: Laurence Olivier is wasted as a rather weak and whiny Moriarty, little more than a cameo, and the film could've gone even more introspective with Holmes and Freud had it not also been bound to being a moderately budgeted adventure thriller, especially in its second half.In that sense, 'Seven Per Cent' may have benefited remaining a book rather than a film, but what we got was still very good and one of my favourite film versions of Doyle's master sleuth.