Murder by Decree

Sherlock Holmes aficionados and ‘Ripperologists’ alike will no doubt be pleased with the newly restored MURDER BY DECREE – an Anglo-Canadian co-production from 1979 in which fact is merged with fiction when the world’s greatest detective attempts to hunt down one of history’s most notorious serial killers: Jack the Ripper!

The late Christopher Plummer takes on the role as Holmes who here is competently aided by his sidekick Dr. Watson (James Mason) and we’re off to a grisly start when yet another unfortunate wretch is killed and mutilated in an eerie and foggy Whitechapel – in Victorian times the East End was London’s slum district as anyone who ever read Charles Dickens (or indeed factual books on the Ripper murders) will know. Some time later, after a (quite literally riotous!) visit to the opera where devoted Royalists and the lower classes clash (this scene is in fact an important one), Sherlock Holmes receives an unexpected visit from a party of East End tradesmen concerned that the on-going spate of bloody murders is ruining their business, claiming that as the murders are only occurring in Whitechapel and the victims are lowly prostitutes forced on the streets to earn a penny the Government are not exactly doing a lot to find the culprit. Initially Holmes is rather reluctant to help and unlike his trustworthy and more sympathetic Dr. Watson, he suspects these men have another motive and may not appear to be quite all they pretend to be.

Shortly after this visit another murder is committed (the chronological order of the Ripper murders is incorrect in this film) and Sherlock finds a grape stem next to the butchered body which he recognises as a vital clue overlooked by the attending police including Inspector Lestrade (Frank Finlay) and Inspector Foxborough (David Hemmings). Sherlock is soon hot on the trail thanks to some information given to him by psychic Robert Lees (Donald Sutherland) though his investigations are hampered when the overbearing police commissioner Sir Charles Warren (Anthony Quayle) orders local police officers to wipe chalked graffiti on a wall close to the latest crime scene reading “The Juwes are not the men that will be blamed for nothing” – justifying the removal of said writing with keeping law and order and thus protecting the Jewish community from possible vigilante mob attacks. In fact the ‘Juwes’ in question does not refer to Jews but to a Masonic term (leading to various speculative books including author Stephen Knight’s ‘The Final Solution’) and whaddya know, Sir Charles is, in fact, a high-ranking freemason of the 33rd Lodge (as was the real Sir Charles Warren). Before he can say ‘’elementary, my dear Watson” Holmes finds himself embroiled in a conspiracy as thick as the London fog as multiple clues lead to a prostitute called Mary Kelly (Susan Clark), a royal cover-up, a possible political scandal and the incarceration of an unfortunate young woman called Annie Crook (Genevieve Bujold)…

Canadian director Bob Clark does a sterling job of evoking a suitably creepy atmosphere (no authentic East End locations mind you but Clink Wharf, Southwark Cathedral and its environs looked good in ’79 and you can’t go wrong with Greenwich Naval College). This is Victorian London as we like to imagine it – shrouded in fog and hansom cabs rolling by in slow motion, with the clitter-clatter of horse hooves over cobblestoned murky streets… One invariably equates the Whitechapel murders with gas lamps and pea-soupers, vividly brought to life thanks to Reginald Morris’ photography. It’s quite gory at times and the prostitutes look suitably wretched and destitute. This opus with its heavy political overtones was penned by one time top TV-writer John Hopkins who provides us with an extremely intelligent and well-written script. This, by the way, was not the first time Sherlock had been pitted against Jack the Ripper. Back in 1965 we had the rather lurid and sensationalist ‘A Study in Terror’ (adapted from a novel by Ellery Queen and starring John Neville as Holmes and a tarted up, peroxide blond Barbara Windsor as Ripper victim Annie Chapman). ‘Murder by Decree’ is, however, in an altogether different league: from the opening long shot of Tower Bridge set against a blood red sky and Paul Zaza and Carl Zittrer’s resonant and deeply atmospheric score we can surmise quite rightly that we are in for something special.

Christopher Plummer gives a subtle and telling performance matched by that of James Mason (who, at the time, was a septuagenarian). Sir John Gielgud makes a short but impactful appearance as the imposing PM Lord Salisbury – another high-ranking Freemason, Canadian Donald Sutherland is suitably eccentric as the psychic Robert Lees and fellow Canadian Genevieve Bujold delivers a fine and heartbreaking performance as the unfortunate Annie Crook – the Cleveland Street shop girl who supposedly gave birth to the child of the Duke of Clarence (then the second in line for the throne) which is how this sordid saga all started. Whether or not you go along with the film’s masonic theory is almost secondary. Fact remains that this is by far the best movie of this genre.

That said, the Bonus Material is rather on the disappointing side here and only consists of audio commentary with film journalist Kim Newman and crime fiction historian Barry Forshaw plus an interview with the prolific Mr. Newman. How about an interview with a Ripper expert? Or with London’s revered Whitechapel Society? Or a documentary about the old East End of London? Or, or, or… Such scope… and such a wasted opportunity – Studiocanal clearly sleepwalked through this one!