Product: Seven Per Cent Solution [VHS] (1976)
Rating: 5.0
One Hundred Percent Entertainment
This is one of my favorite Sherlock Holmes films, and I'm glad Universal has made it available on DVD-R in their Vault Series. I saw this in a theater in 1976, and I really liked it. Director Herbert Ross poured on the atmosphere in bringing Nicholas Meyer's bestselling novel to the screen. The script, the acting, and the production values are all terrific. Holmes purists may have problems with Meyer's speculative "rewrite" of Arthur Conan Doyle's iconic character, but I think it makes perfect sense.Nicol Williamson is a fascinating Holmes, and Alan Arkin's Sigmund Freud is delightful. But my personal fave here is Robert Duvall, whose Dr. John Watson is a pleasant surprise. Far from the chubby, jolly bumbler we usually see (Nigel Bruce, etc.), Duvall makes Watson an intelligent, watchful, capable hero. Throw in Joel Grey as a mysterious henchman, beautiful Vanessa Redgrave as a damsel in distress, and Laurence Olivier as the notorious Professor Moriarty, and the result is very clever and entertaining. If you love the Holmes stories and don't mind a loose interpretation of Doyle, you won't want to miss it.