Last night we watched A Study in Terror, which I hadn't seen since 1965 or 66. I saw it twice back then, and my memory is that I saw it in a theater and later during the summer at a drive-in. I was happily surprised at how well it holds up and the cast is really good: John Neville and Donald Houston as Holmes and Watson, a very young Judi Dench, Adrienne Corri, John Fraser, Anthony Quayle. Barbara Windsor, Georgia Brown, and a most amusing turn from Robert Morley as Mycroft Holmes. The costumes were designed by Motley, who designed costumes around the same time for the musical Baker Street. The film reminded me of a Hammer film, and I thought the screenplay was literate and intelligent.
The victims were all shapely and attractive, with lots of cleavage. I have yet to see a Ripper movie in which the victims resembled the actual older, unattractive, and aging women he actually murdered.
Herman Cohen was one of the producers, so I spent some time trying to figure out if there were a nicely proportioned actor he was promoting, but speculation is endless. Thatch was uninterested in the film until the big fire near the ending that caught his eye and took him right to the front of the screen.
