Good movie but grossly overrated

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

I first started reading Conan Doyle's Holmes stories in the seventh grade. Shortly after that, Nicholas Meyer appeared on the scene with one of the earliest (and best) Holmes pastiches, THE SEVEN PERCENT SOLUTION." I was too young to catch the pun in the title (I thought "solution" meant solving the puzzle; instead, it refers to an actual amount Holmes used in his cocaine injections).The story's premise is that Dr. Watson, worried about Sherlock Holmes' drug addiction, leads him to Vienna on a false trail where he will embark on a cure by Dr. Sigmund Freud.The biggest problem with the movie is that Sherlock Holmes is billed fourth. But then, he is surrounded by some of the biggest stars of the day.Top-billed Alan Arkin, as Freud, gives a creditable performance. Arkin was one of those inexplicable megastars of the 1970s along with George Segal and Elliott Gould. I don't know what a Viennese accent sounds like, but I'm prepared to believe Arkin nailed it. And his Freud is by turns intellectual and funny, a rare combination.Robert Duvall, not far from "Godfather II" is an odd choice for Watson, but he gives one of the earliest respectable film Watsons. A few had paved the way (i.e., Andre Morell, Colin Blakley) but Duvall's is the first Watson shown as he was in the Holmes stories--a moderately successful London doctor, happily married and living with his wife rather than shacked up in a small apartment with another middle-aged man. He's sharp and incisive, just not as smart as Holmes (or Freud). Watson's loyalty to his friends is admirable.Holmes is played by Nicol Williamson. He's a fine actor and went on to some great things on film (such as Merlin). The excellence of his performance is exemplified by one scene, where he is pulling his "Holmes tricks" for Freud, describing how he knows all about Freud though they never met, yet with the nervous excitement of an addict in desperate need of another fix.Unfortunately, while Williamson's bona fides as an actor are never in doubt, Holmes being billed fourth in a Sherlock Holmes movie is dreadful. Perhaps stars with big names would not be drawn to a project where they would have to battle billing with (then) bankable names like Arkin and Duvall.Then there's the lady in distress, played by Vanessa Redgrave. Another big star of that bizarre time, her part is so small and weird it might well have gone to a lesser actress and let Holmes move up a notch in the billing. Though I never saw Redgrave's charm, she was a big star at the time playing a role beneath her talents.Apart from that, there's the always-blustering Jeremy Kemp. And Laurence Olivier, playing a meek part with his usual scene-stealing aplomb; though he's just a nervous little man, he's the one you watch. Joel Grey from "Cabaret" is lurking around in a most unimportant role for someone who won an Oscar four years earlier.A interesting, if small, part is played by Charles Gray as Sherlock's brother Mycroft. Though in the stories Mycroft should always be played by Robert Morley (who actually did essay the part in "A Study in Terror") but just as Watson is played in the film as a human being, so Gray eschews the fat and misanthropic Mycroft, but he does zero in on Mycroft's alleged power behind the scenes. Trivia: Gray went on to play Mycroft in the Jeremy Brett television series.So, with all the cast in place, the film plays out enjoyably, first with Holmes being analyzed by Freud, and then with Freud caught up in a tongue-in-cheek Holmes-like train chase.The only part that comes off hollow is the uncanonical ending that explains why Holmes is obsessed with Moriarty. It's rather a downer after an evening of fun and excitement with Holmes and Dr. Freud.

Nicholas Meyers' tale bring the neurotic, drug-addicted Sherlock Holmes together with the Father of Psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud, in turn-of-the-century Vienna. (Actually Prague.) It's one of those novel ideas that people have during a bull session and too many lattés. Other films have pitted Holmes against his contemporary, Jack the Ripper, but though the notion has promise it's never worked too well because, after all, Jack the Ripper got away. One pastiche had Holmes a visitor from the future. They will stop at nothing.There are pitfalls in any story that makes companions of two famous people, even if one of the characters is fictional. Mainly, giving too much weight to one or the other in the plot, inducing an imbalance that leaves one of the characters not much more than an observer. It doesn't happen here. Meyers gives both geniuses equal time. And they both complete their tasks. Holmes solves a somewhat cloudy mystery. Freud cures Holmes of his addiction AND his neurotic obsession with Professor Moriarty, played with mousy disquiet by Lawrence Olivier, whose skill hasn't declined with age.The supporting cast does well enough. Samantha Eggar, she of the elegant yet sensual features, is the wife of Doctor Watson, Robert Duvall, with a vaudeville British accent, something like Chico Marx's Italian accent. Jeremy Kemp is outstanding as the anti-Semitic Baron von Leinsdorf. He's a great German, even if he's English. He's better at being a German, usually a nasty one, than most German actors, with the exception of Otto Preminger. I revel in Kemp's pebbly complexion and haughty demeanor, though. And he's done superb work in more demanding roles, as in "The Blue Max." The German accent of Anna Quayle, as Freud's housekeeper, is as ludicrous here as it was in "Casino Royale." John Addison's musical score isn't overdone. It's apt and sometimes bumptiously comic, as during the tennis duel between Freud and von Leinsdorf. The art direction and set dressing are convincing. (Plenty of brass, scarlet carpets, and delicate green ferns.) Prague has recently been a serviceable stand in for other European cities, since it was never bombed into oblivion during the war and you can still find ancient buildings and cobblestone streets. Somebody got Freud's Vienna street address right -- Berggasse 19. The façade even LOOKS like Freud's real residence.Vanessa Redgrave appears as a kidnapped soprano who is tracked down by Holmes, Freud, and Watson. The climax has two speeding old-fashioned trains chasing one another and a saber duel atop one of the cars. Not a moment of it is to be taken seriously. Holmes solves his case, the kidnapped beauty; Freud cures his case, Sherlock Holmes

The DVD release of "The Seven-Per-Cent Solution" was in the early days of DVD production, which you can tell because it doesn't even have a menu separate from the chapters. (You'd almost think I was talking about the early days of film and/or sound pictures; it was only 10 years ago!) The original DVD edition was quite limited and is now out of print without another scheduled release. The OOP DVD edition (if you can find it) now runs as high as $100 to $150 at second-hand retail stores and $75 to $100 on online auctions. (I think Amazon marketplace sellers have copies starting at $120.) So the question is whether the movie itself justifies the equivalent of buying a new Blu-Ray player. Maybe, maybe not. And, in case you don't know, the story itself is not by Arthur Conan Doyle.To shell out $100+ for an entertainment flick of this sort is probably for hardcore Sherlock Holmes fans. This is not quite the deep suspense film I was expecting with a much more intellectual slant. "Seven Per-cent" is instead a fun mystery-thriller very much in the style of 1970's period pieces set anywhere between the 17th and early 20th centuries, such as "The Great Train Robbery", "Murder on the Orient Express", "The Three Musketeers", "The Count of Monte Cristo", etc. (These movies invariably starred either Sean Connery or Richard Chamberlain.) Seems like trains and sword-fighting were the staples of this era of film-making, and in "Seven Per-cent" you get both.The performance that really saves this film is Nicol Williamson as Sherlock Holmes. He provides a nervous-angst to the character that is rarely seen by the likes of Basil Rathbone and Jeremy Brett. And yet, after having seen Williamson's take on the immortal sleuth, you wonder if this is closer to what Arthur Conan Doyle had in mind. Holmes is somewhat of an intellectual recluse, and Williamson breathes life into this somewhat darker side of Holmes. Holmes was a great sleuth but not necessarily the easiest person with which to get on. The story begins with Holmes suffering from cocaine addiction, making him positively insufferable. His closest associate, Dr Watson (Robert Duvall), resolves to relocate Holmes to Vienna, Austria, for treatment at the hands of none-other than Sigmund Freud (Alan Arkin). Through interesting misdirection, Watson gets Holmes to Freud. Toward the end of his treatment, Holmes becomes enmeshed in another case involving Freud and one of his patients.The movie then literally moves at full-speed ahead with chases, brothels, sword fights, and the obligatory train sequence. However, unlike the first segment involving Holmes' treatment, the second act is never quite fully explained. Not unlike movies today, long action sequences take over the film and the underlying plot is not very well explained. This is certainly an enjoyable movie but far from being one of the best Sherlock Holmes films. The recent offering starring Robert Downey Jr has a bit more depth than this film made 35 years earlier, although Downey's character is 180-degrees from Doyle's. But that said, you almost can't beat Williamson's performance which has to rank as one of the best portrayals of England's greatest detective. If the studios re-released it on DVD, a new price of $15 to $20 seems a lot more elementary.

The Seven per cent solution was one of my favorite Childhood films. Nicol Williamson was to me Sherlock Holmes. He looked like Holmes and he sounded to me the way Holmes ought to sound. After Watching Basil Rathbone portray Holmes(Rathbone will always be Holmes) I saw several other Holmes but none did justice to the role like Williamson. The story is simple. Sherlock Holmes is addicted to cocaine a seven percent solution 7% Cocaine and 91% saline solution. This addiction renders Holmes mad and paranoid with certain secrets from his past coming to haunt him. Watson decides to take him to Vienna to find the one man who could Cure Holmes. Enter DR. Sigmund Freud wonderfully played by Alan Arkin HE MAKES THE MOVIE!! Holmes is sent to Vienna by remarkable Ruse concocted by Watson and Holmes older smarter brother Mycroft. Holmes meets Freud and is forced to confront his addiction and is forced to cure it. While in the middle of his cure Freud has a patient in his care disappear. Enter Holmes to find her and save her from a Criminal conspiracy the climax of the film is thrilling and exciting and it makes you wonder why Hollywood with it's new generation of filmmakers and writers and actors why can't they do this kind of film today? The Truth is they can't. This movie belongs to a era we will never see again a era in which Adventure didn't mean gore or action did not mean necessarily Blood and Guts and Shootings every five minutes. Nick Meyers Screenplay from his fantastic novel Is in my view perhaps the Greatest Sherlock Holmes ever told a masterpiece from beginning to end. And worthy of the title CLASSIC.