Sherlock Holmes (Christopher Lee) and Dr Watson (Thorley Walters) investigate the theft of Cleopatra's necklace that was uncovered by archaeologists in Egypt.
The ingredients for a good movie were all here. Christopher Lee as Holmes, Thorley Walters as Dr Watson and director Terence Fisher who did a superb version of "The Hound Of The Baskervilles" in 1959 was brought in to direct. Some consider the latter to be the best ever Sherlock Holmes film. It was certainly a strong contender for this and it was one of Hammer's finest hours, but alas, this low budget German production was a disaster from the word go. The storyline wasn't worthy of Conan Doyle and the music score which varies between jazz and pop robbed the film of any atmosphere. And to make matters worse the voices of Christopher Lee and Thorley Walters were dubbed by second rate English actors because the producer didn't want to fly in Lee and Walters from Germany for just one day in order to do the dubbing. The film has some historical interest for the amount of talent involved and the art director did a first class Baker Street set, but apart from that this is a very unwatchable dud and in Lee's own words in an interview "...deadly is the word."
The ingredients for a good movie were all here. Christopher Lee as Holmes, Thorley Walters as Dr Watson and director Terence Fisher who did a superb version of "The Hound Of The Baskervilles" in 1959 was brought in to direct. Some consider the latter to be the best ever Sherlock Holmes film. It was certainly a strong contender for this and it was one of Hammer's finest hours, but alas, this low budget German production was a disaster from the word go. The storyline wasn't worthy of Conan Doyle and the music score which varies between jazz and pop robbed the film of any atmosphere. And to make matters worse the voices of Christopher Lee and Thorley Walters were dubbed by second rate English actors because the producer didn't want to fly in Lee and Walters from Germany for just one day in order to do the dubbing. The film has some historical interest for the amount of talent involved and the art director did a first class Baker Street set, but apart from that this is a very unwatchable dud and in Lee's own words in an interview "...deadly is the word."