The Seven-Per-Cent Solution (1976) User Reviews

Kicking the Habit

[BaronBl00d · 8/10 · 16 September 2001]

Sherlock Holmes falls into a maisma of self-pity and paranoia through his repeated and continued use of a seven percent solution of cocaine. His faithful Watson and brother Mycroft concoct a scheme for him to go to Austria to meet Sigmund Freud, who can help him with his drug addiction. This is a brilliant film in many ways, and also a flawed film. The film is decidedly fresh with its coupling of Holmes and Freud, and its script which explains many of Holmes's character traits through a psychological examination of his character. The script by Nicholas Meyer is first-rate. The direction by Herbert Ross is also very good as it blends humour with mystery, as well as an introductory course in Freudian psychology. Nicol Williamson is a wonderful Holmes. He is precise, calculating, ego-maniacal, and blessed with just a tint of "real" madness. Williamson also is very adept at plowing through the dialogue with witty zeal. Arkin does almost as well as Freud. Arkin plays off Williamson very nicely and adds his own subtle kind of humour. The scene the two men share upon their first meeting is one of perfection of timing. The rest of the cast, however, is a bit weak, or serves as nothing more than scenery. Robert Duvall has to be one of the worst Watsons I have ever seen on screen before. He is so bland in the role, TOO stiff upper lip and his British affectation of speech sounds just like someone trying to imitate a Britisher. He also limps far too much. Joel Grey is wasted in his small role, as is Vanessa Redgrave(looking stunning if nothing else). Samatha Eggar is there just two or three minutes for absolutely nothing). Laurence Olivier does a nice job as a different Moriarity than we are used to, and character Jeremy Kemp is adequate as a wealthy Prussian villain. The next best thing for me in terms of acting after Williamson and Arkin has to be Charles Gray as brother Mycroft(a role he would reprise in the Granada Sherlock Holmes series with Jeremy Brett). Gray was a wildly under-appreciated actor. He gives a wonderfully eccentric performance. The film has a great climatic ending, a rollicking musical score, and some tense, suspenseful action. It also makes the most famous character in all of fiction a little more human to all of us. Good stuff!

Very interesting for Sherlock Holmes fans--though NOT a perfect film

[planktonrules · 8/10 · 30 March 2008]

I really enjoyed this little fantasy film about the supposed treatment Sherlock Holmes received for his cocaine addiction from Dr. Freud. This is awfully strange, having a real-life and fictional character interact together, but the writers were able to make it work.

Up front I should let you know that I am a huge Sherlock Holmes fan--having read all the stories several times. In most of my reviews for Holmes movies, I am very critical because they take such liberties with the stories--and almost always ruin the stories. At first, I was reticent to see this story because of this--after all, it's NOT based on a Conan Doyle story and the last such film I saw (THE PRIVATE LIFE OF SHERLOCK HOLMES) was terrible in places because it took too many liberties with the character (especially at the end of the film). However, despite my reservations I saw the film and am glad I did.

At first it did bother me, as the film did SEEM to contradict many of the Holmes stories. However, through the course of the film, they were able to explain away all these differences very well--in particular, Holmes' hatred for Professor Moriarty. Additionally, having the fictional character be psychoanalyzed actually was pretty cool--though Freud's analysis almost always took months or years, not a few quick sessions.

Up until the last 10 or 15 minutes of the film, I was very pleased with the movie but then the film had a serious flaw that knocked off a point. The sword fighting scene at the end (interesting, by the way, in a Freudian sense) was totally unnecessary and totally distracting. It was like another writer took an intelligent script and added a macho idiot fight scene for no discernible reason. Had it been me, I would have had Holmes simply shoot the guy--not pad it out for no apparent reason. Additionally, while it was integrated into the story later, the whole tennis match sequence seemed contrived and silly. Still, with so much to like, both these scenes can be overlooked.

An excellent film for Holmes lovers. Additionally, psychology teachers and therapists will also appreciate the inclusion of Freud.

By the way, Charles Gray plays Holmes' brother, Mycroft in this film. A decade later, he played this same character in the Jeremy Brett series as well.

The Three Sleuths

[Ed-Shullivan · 7/10 · 17 January 2017]

This is a very intriguing adaptation of Sherlock Holmes as a drug addicted has-been whose best friend Dr. Watson convinces his good friend Holmes that there is someone who can bring Holmes back to the man and sleuth he once was. Dr. Watson convinces Holmes that the man who can save his best friend is the renowned psychiatrist, Dr. Sigmund Freud. If this were the films only plot it may have been enough of a story to satisfy an audience. However there is more to this film and to the viewers pleasure we have a crime that has occurred while Sherlock is under the care of Dr. Freud which means that these three problem solvers, Holmes (Nicol Williamson), Watson (Robert Duvall) and now the famous Dr. Freud (Alan Arkin) are connected at the hip to each other as they try and solve who kidnapped one of Dr. Freud's other patients, a woman named Lola Deveraux under his care who also suffered from an addiction to cocaine and who has appeared to have relapsed.

Once Holmes is on the case he quickly assesses that the beautiful redhead Lola Deveraux (Vanessa Redgrave) did not relapse onto a dependency on to cocaine but was forced to take the drug under duress. As in any good mystery we the audience want to know asap who the bad guy(s) are and Miss Deveraux is able to provide Sherlock and his two partners with a description of a short man with pot marks on his face. This suspect appears to be following the detectives and a chase ensues in which the suspect is captured and identified as a guy named Lowenstein (Joel Grey). With some strong arm tactics Lowenstein spills the beans who kidnapped Miss Deverauz and why they did it in the first place.

The chase continues through the countryside and the vehicle of choice for transportation of the kidnapped victim is a private train, so Holmes, Watson and Dr. Freud decide to hijack a second train and the chase in on baby. The last 30 minutes of the film were the best as the two trains were shown in many different angles continuing through the countryside and the cinematography was awe inspiring. Kudos to the director Herbert Ross (known also for Goodbye, Mr. Chips, Play It Again Sam, The Turning Point, The Goodbye Girl, Steel Magnolias and many other Oscar nominated films) for his great use of the camera lens that allows the viewer some panoramic views of the countryside as if we were on the train with the sleuths.

The ending provides some closure for Sherlock Holmes himself with the assistance of Dr. Freud and the audience is left with a happy ending. This is a 1970's film that holds up pretty well even some 40 years later.

I give this film a solid 7 out of 10 rating.

Imaginative variation on the Holmes legend

[debraj1 · 13 January 2002]

While the Seven Percent Solution may not appeal all fans of the legendary detective, it nevertheless gives us an interesting variation of the Conan Doyle character.

In order to cure his friend of his cocaine addiction, Dr. Watson (Robert Duvall) and brother Mycroft create a ruse to get Holmes to Vienna where Holmes(Nicol Williamson) meets Dr. Sigmund Freud (Alan Arkin). Arkin's Dr. Freud shows his own skills as a detective in a plot involving a kidnapped singer (Vanessa Redgrave).

Holmes and Freud work very well togeather. Freud points out that as a doctor he uses many of the same skills that Holmes uses in fighting crime, and in one scene demonstrates the same powers of observation and reasoning, while being careful not to upstage the great detective. There is not much mystery here, but the chemistry between Holmes and Freud keeps the movie interesting.

The clever twist concerns Holmes' archenemy Prof. Moriaity. Here we see Moriarty not as the villian, but as a timid schoolteacher harassed by Holmes because of a dark event in the lives of Sherlock and Mycroft.

This is a movie that is good fun. The only problem is that Dr. Watson isn't used very well. Freud makes a much better partner to Holmes.

Agreeable and charming Holmes film with continuous suspense and intrigue

[ma-cortes · 7/10 · 10 January 2006]

Dr. Watson (Robert Duvall) prepares a scheme to Sherlock (Nicol Williamson) meets Sigmund Freud (Alan Arkin) in Vienna to cure his drugs addiction . Besides , the trio will resolve an abducting of a famous actress damsel (Vanessa Redgrave) , rescuing her from villains still being beset by his dastardly and devilish rival . Holmes excursion brings the famed Victorian sleuth towards Austria , as Holmes along Freud will solve unanswered mysteries and Sherlock undergoes some risked experiences to resolve the cases using even his habitual disguise .

It is a nice Holmes film with gripping London and Vienna setting . A genuine ripping yarn and very intriguing . The movie blends suspense , thriller , detective action , cloak and dagger , mystery and being enough interesting . Packs an exciting amount of surprises with great lots of entertainment . This is a classy and effective romp with a strongly casting . Nicol Williamson as whimsical detective is top-notch , he's in cracking form . He makes an unique perspective on his life , revealing a complex personality . He's finely matched in battle of wits with Freud . The stars have a splendid fight aboard a train towards the end ; plus , Holmes tries to battle his arch-enemy Moriarty but with an amazing final surprise . Although Basil Rathbone will be forever identified as Holmes ; however , here Nicol Williamson is also played as an intelligent , cunning , broody and impetuous pipesmoking sleuth but addicted to cocaine , his interpretation is likeness to Christopher Plummer (Murder by decree) or Peter Cushing and Jeremy Brett in television . While Dr. Watson isn't a bumbling and botcher pal generally represented by Nigel Bruce , but a clever and astute partner magnificently incarnated by Robert Duvall .

Screenwriter Nicholas Meyer provides the original plot , creating the basis for this particularly storyline . After this film , source novelist-screenwriter Meyer realized a similar operation , uniting H.G.Wells with Jack the Ripper in the movie ¨Time after the time¨ , as he became a film director himself , in his another picture connected with Victorian England. Excellent sets by production designer Ken Adam in his fourth of seven collaborations to director Herbert Ross . The film boasts a beautiful cinematography by Oswald Morris and a haunting score by John Addison . The motion picture sparkles with polish and wit and the ending results to be as exciting as moving and being well directed by Herbert Ross .

Solid idea, uneven execution

[funkyfry · 6/10 · 5 March 2007]

The film-makers have spun a unique film from an original concept by Nick Meyer (author/director of "Time After Time", which combined the forces of H.G. Wells and Jack the Ripper), but there are some problems with the directing that I feel bring the film down below its potential.

The story finds Sherlock Holmes (Nicol Williamson) during his "lost" years when he was believed to be dead, but was in actuality (as this movie shows, anyway) deep in the throes of addiction to cocaine, the "7 percent solution" of the title. Industrious Dr. Watson (Robert Duvall) and Holmes' brother Microft (Charles Gray) scheme to induce Holmes to travel to Vienna, where they make Holmes believe that the evil Dr. Moriarty (Laurence Olivier) is traveling. In fact the real reason Microft and Watson are luring Holmes to Vienna is so that he can be treated by the celebrated Dr. Freud (Alan Arkin). While in Vienna Holmes undergoes a harrowing cure, solves a mystery involving a prostitute (Vanessa Redgrave), and also lends a few ideas concerning dream analysis to young Dr. Freud.

With such an original concept and such an outstanding cast, you would expect a film that is more than just slightly above average -- but you would probably be disappointed. The script is fine and the performances are excellent. In particular Williamson distinguishes himself with his convincingly manic energy in the early scenes where he is shown obsessing over Prof. Moriarty (who, in the film, may only be a harmless schoolteacher from the Holmes brothers' past). Redgrave isn't given much to do and seems a non-presence. Arkin lends some very nice touches with a surprisingly under-stated performance. Duvall as Watson is a little bit hard to take.... he's convincing as a human being, which is more than can be said for some cinematic Watsons, but he doesn't seem to project much off the screen, it feels hollow somehow, like an impersonation more than a performance. Olivier is good in his moments on screen, making us wonder if Moriarty truly is as harmless as Watson thinks he is just long enough to get the plot underway.

What really brings the film down a notch, IMHO, is the direction by Herbert Ross. Every time the action gets intense we're treated to very tight angle shots that look like they were taken by a hand-held camera. Presumably this was done (especially in the sequences depicting Holmes' cure and the scene where they are trapped in a large room where they are attacked by horses) to give the scenes a feeling of urgency and intensity but it backfires IMHO by making them look at this point like cheap shlock scenes. The idea of Holmes seeing snakes everywhere is interesting, for example, particularly as it ties into a Freudian image that connects these sequences to the mystery about Moriarty. But the actual scene depicting these visions comes off more like something in a low budget animal horror film like "Frogs". Another scene that comes off very poorly due to this technique is the big climactic scene where Holmes discovers the secret to his complex around Moriarty -- for one thing Olivier looks exactly the same age as he did in the contemporary scenes, but more importantly those tight angles just make the whole thing feel cheezy (as if it's being obvious wasn't bad enough). The whole fight scene on the train at the end should be more fun than it is, but for some reason I just felt like I was watching it from a distance and did not feel emotionally involved. This is because too many of the shots were from a helicopter or something like that way up above the action, and also because the story has not built enough sympathy with Redgrave's character to make us feel that it's vital for her to be saved.

There are a lot of nice things here: Williamson's performance, a unique story involving the famous detective, even a fun song by Steven Sondheim. It's worthwhile but IMHO it could have been a much better film if Meyer or another director had done it.

Seventy percent boring.

[LCShackley · 6/10 · 19 May 2006]

I remember seeing trailers for this film at the time it was released. I was interested in seeing it, having read the Meyer novel, but never did until May of 2006 when it showed up on cable. I guess what happened is that it came and went so fast back in 1976 that I never got around to it. And viewing it now, I can understand why it didn't last. Nicol Williamson, as good an actor as he is, just doesn't feel right as Holmes. Was Robert Duvall forced on the producers because he was a hot property? Otherwise, why cast an American for a quintessentially English role (Watson) with a phony plummy-British accent? Olivier and Arkin do nicely, although Larry is under-used (as is the lovely Samantha Eggar). The problem is with the script and pacing. It's not serious enough to be a thriller, and not funny enough to be a comedy. At almost 2 hours it's far too long for the content. The chase scene, "cold turkey" sequence, and other sections could easily have been trimmed. The weird "horse attack" sequence is meaningless, and provides the biggest laugh of all: the appearance of horse trainers running around in some of the long shots. This film would be OK for a long rainy evening, but you'll be tempted to use your fast-forward button!

No Accidents In The Unconscious.

[rmax304823 · 7/10 · 19 June 2014]

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

A Perfect Tribute to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

[SylvesterFox007 · 10/10 · 10 July 2005]

From the opening to the closing credits, filled with illustrations that originally accompanied Doyle's stories in the Strand, the details of the movie are painstakingly accurate when compared to those in the canon. This is one non-canonical Holmes story that exists in the same world as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes.

The movie takes the liberty of assuming that all of Dr. Watson's accounts of Sherlock Holmes are true, except for one. That would be "The Final Problem", in which the great detective supposedly dies at the hands of his arch-enemy Professor Moriarty. The movie suggests that this story is merely a cover up for a period in time in which Holmes was getting help with his cocaine addiction from none other than famous psychiatrist Sigmund Freud.

The settings and characters ring true to both Doyle's mysteries and the Sydney Paget illustrations that accompanied them. Sherlock Holmes' deerstalker and cloak, though never mentioned by Doyle, look more like Paget's illustrations than ever before, more rugged than in most film interpretations. American actor Robet Duvall, despite sometimes struggling with the British accent, portrays Watson as an intellectually and physically fit comrade for Holmes, not a bumbler. Laurence Olivier's Prof. Moriarty matches the vision of Doyle and Paget rather than the cliché mustache twirler of other movies. Only now, Moriarty isn't really a criminal mastermind. He's Holmes' childhood math tutor.

Alan Arkin depicts Freud as a man of intelligence, insight, and above all, honor.

The inclusion of lesser known characters like Mycroft Holmes and Toby is a plus. There are also references, both direct and sly, to canonical Holmes stories.

While Nicol Williamson's performance as Sherlock Holmes lacks the vigor and spark of Basil Rathbone or Christopher Plummer, Williamson succeeds in showing Holmes as a troubled individual rather than a god. The movie mixes drama, subtle humor, mystery, and even action, finally showing Holmes as the capable fighter he was in the canon. The end of the film strays from the books in order to explore the uncharted territory of Holmes' childhood, providing a deeply moving climax.

This may come truer to Sir Arthur's original vision than any other pastiche written for film so far, largely thanks to the efforts of writer/director Nicholas Meyer. It's obvious in every scene that Meyer has a great love for the writings of Arthur Conan Doyle.

An excellent cast marks this unusual Sherlock Holmes' life story

[jacobs-greenwood · 6/10 · 6 December 2016]

Produced and directed by Herbert Ross, novelist Nicholas Meyer used Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's characters to write an interesting crime mystery involving Sherlock Holmes, his loyal and trusty companion Dr. Watson, and Dr. Sigmund Freud!

Though the drama begins as an exploration into the destructive nature of cocaine addiction (the title refers to the concentration of cocaine Holmes self-injected), and how it almost leads to the famous detective's undoing, it devolves into a comedy adventure of sorts after Freud helps Holmes fight this weakness.

The cast, which is excellent, includes Nicol Williamson as Holmes, Robert Duvall as Dr. Watson (and the film's occasional narrator), Alan Arkin as Dr. Freud, Laurence Olivier as Holmes's nemesis Professor Moriarty, plus Vanessa Redgrave, Joel Grey, and Jeremy Kemp, who figure in the mystery. Samantha Eggar appears briefly as Watson's wife, Morstan. Screenplay writer Meyer and Costume Designer Alan Barrett received their only Oscar nominations for their work on this film.

Watson (Duvall) is naturally concerned that his friend, the eminent detective Sherlock Holmes (Williamson), has become a paranoid recluse that believes that Professor Moriarty (Olivier) is out to get him. In fact, it is Moriarty, who Holmes is stalking, that makes Watson aware of the detective's irrational obsession.

Upon investigation, Watson discovers that Holmes is under the influence of cocaine. He'd also learned that there is some tragedy in the two's shared past beyond the fact that Moriarty was a difficult calculus instructor of Holmes's; Moriarty refused to reveal anything else. Watson decides to visit Holmes's brother Mycroft (Charles Gray) who is able to use this secret past against Moriarty to get him to lead his brother to Vienna, where Dr. Freud (Arkin) has been able to help those with similar addictions.

The most incredible display of the great detective's powers of perception and deductive reasoning occurs shortly after Holmes meets Freud - merely by walking through the doctor's flat, Holmes is able to tell Freud's life story to date!

After a long and arduous 'drying out' period, wrought with hallucinations, and assisted by some hypnosis from Dr. Freud, Holmes is introduced to one of the doctor's former patients, a famous actress named Lola Deveraux (Redgrave). Deveraux had been 'cured' of her cocaine addiction by Freud, but she is found in a hospital, partially under its influence again, after allegedly trying to kill herself. Holmes deduces that she'd been bound and forced into using the drug, and had actually been trying to escape.

This leads the three men (Holmes, Watson, & Freud) to follow a strange little man (Joel Grey, playing Lowenstein) that fits Deveraux's brief description of her abductor. After this man leads them into a trap in which they're almost killed, Holmes realizes to late that they'd been distracted so that the perpetrator could recapture Ms. Deveraux.

It turns out that the man responsible for her abduction is Baron von Leinsdorf (Kemp), who had earlier made an antisemitic comment to Freud at their club and lost a real tennis (not what you think) match to the doctor, who'd wanted satisfaction. Assisted by Deveraux, who'd dropped flowers like 'bread crumbs' enabling them to follow her, the three men capture Lowenstein and figure out that the Baron is responsible.

It is at this point in the story that the film becomes a wild, cross continent chase more than anything else, with predictable results. However, one does finally learn, while Freud has Holmes under hypnosis, the root causes of the detective's cocaine addiction and the reason why Moriarty was involved in his fantasies.

Not a triumph: fairly good fun

[jhboswell · 4/10 · 11 July 2006]

I resent tampering with success, and if you compare this opus to the Granada Television series with Jeremy Brett as Holmes you will see what I mean. I am not impressed with clever take-offs on beloved characters of literature; or real life for that matter. Now you know how I feel.

This film, then, in my opinion, has a silly plot; too many underdeveloped characterizations; and depends too much on Holmes' drug addiction and the invention with Sigmund Freud. Its pace is too fast, and that I must blame on Mr. Williamson and his director; and many of the very fine actors are woefully underused or ignored. Surely these experienced thespians were not cowed by this unusually manic portrayal of Sherlock Holmes, but it seems so. Alan Arkin seems to struggle against odds for his time on camera.

I will grant that it is interesting, that Mr. Williamson is a great presence, and that the scenery is wonderful. Other than that, I submit that it is a disappointing waste of time. So, let's move on.

Excellent

[buxtehude99 · 9/10 · 20 December 2005]

Sherlockians will no doubt grouse, but this is certainly the best Sherlock Holmes tale outside the "canon" and one of the best Holmes films ever. Although Conan Doyle never really combined his characters with historical figures, it's a great device. Alan Arkin gives one of his wonderful performances, employing one of his all purpose accents, and initially very understated. Holmes helps bring out heroic qualities you don't suspect in Sigmund Freud, pace, Anna Freud. Nicol Williamson looks and moves like Holmes, truly "hawk-like". Robert Duval is one of the best Watsons ever, outside of the BBC. Some characterizations of Watson make it hard to believe that he could possibly be a doctor, or even any kind of useful member of society. But this Watson is believable as a person, doctor and friend. The plot line also provides an answer as to who Holmes really is, and what makes him tick. Not THE answer, but an answer. A lot of fun, and very well done. Great period color. Don't go all serious, and you'll have a good time. Nice use of the cimbalom in the score during action sequences. Gives it that "Hungarian" flavor.

Fun Holmes Pastiche

[aramis-112-804880 · 7/10 · 9 January 2016]

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.

Utterly silly

[andiepoo · 4/10 · 6 March 2011]

The movie's wit ended with the opening credits. From the narration in the beginning to the "chance encounter" at the end, everything else was just downright silly. When it does abandon its outright attempts at humor, you aren't sure whether the movie was still trying to be funny in its seriousness or whether the actors really were just unintentionally embarrassing themselves.

Not being a hundred per cent faithful to the book should not be a problem, except to make things more visual and much simpler the script called for dumbed down clues that make Toby the bloodhound seem like far better at detecting than Holmes. It was just so annoying and painful to watch.

Sherlock Holmes' psychological traumas

[didi-5 · 4 September 2003]

This odd idea teams Nicol Williamson and Robert Duvall as Holmes and Watson and uses the idea that Holmes is neurotic and drug-addicted because of what happened to him as a child. Enter Dr Freud (Alan Arkin), plus a woman in distress (Vanessa Redgrave).

Duvall attempts a British accent but fails miserably (probably why he has hardly anything to say within this movie). Williamson and Arkin are great and there is a lot of pleasure to be had from their interpretations of these great characters. Laurence Olivier, however, as Moriarty is dreadful and clearly just turning in a performance by numbers for the cheque.

One last item of interest for musical fans is that this film has the first appearance of Stephen Sondheim's song 'I Never Do Anything Twice', later used in the revue Side by Side. Here it is incidental to the plot, but memorable.

Watch this for Williamson

[gengar843 · 7/10 · 28 September 2005]

Warning-Spoilers: Let's talk about Nicol Williamson. His performance, though manic, saves this film. Williams, who has been described as a megalomaniac by some, puts his considerable acting skills, and perhaps some of his own personal flaw, into his role to create perhaps the ultimate characterization of the drug-addicted Sherlock Holmes. No one can touch Jeremy Brett as the master detective, but that is not the point of this film per se. The addiction to cocaine, here in hypodermic form, is ravenous, and Herbert Ross and Nicholas Meyer have combined to show at least some of the deleterious effects of that alkaloid. Watching Williamson speak swiftly in frantic paranoia, endure the rigors of withdrawal, and continue to suffer the pangs of addiction is the sort of gritty realism that makes for tour-de-force status.

The writing, however, is schizophrenic. The portions of this film dealing with drugs (no pun intended) are strong and convincing, while most of the remainder seems like filler. Watson's (Robert Duvall) ploy to bring Holmes to Sigmund Freud (Alan Arkin) is also well-done, but once "the game is afoot" in Vienna, things turn unintentionally (?) slapstick. Chasing Lowenstein (Joel Grey) is particularly unbearable, first to the horse stable (is Holmes so unaware that Lowenstein is so obvious?), and then to the brothel (where Joel Grey is allowed to mock up the proceedings).

The train chase is boring and unbelievable, even if the stunts performed are real and not CGI. The sabre scenes on top of the train are also straight out of Buster Keaton, but with less excitement. The resolution is also unsatisfactory: how do Holmes, Watson, and Freud explain their way out of illegal border crossings, hijacking a train, and destruction of property, all in the name of saving a prostitute?

The new slant in this film: that Moriarty is a villain from Holmes' past and not a super-criminal: has a little flavor, but not enough to overcome other flaws. Moriarty's agitated state, and Watson's long stare at his business card, are red-herrings to keep us thinking that Moriarty may yet be behind every devious turn of the story. Yet, the finale of Moriarty is, for us, just another blow to the Holmes legacy.

Alan Arkin as Freud is alternately brilliant and schlocky, and Arkin does his usual half-smirk in order to, it seems, throw off kilter any measure of seriousness to his role. Duvall as Watson is entirely too affected by his accent but still comes across as a strong characterization. Vanessa Redgrave seems dull and clumsy here. Yet, for all this, they receive higher billing than Williamson and, at the film's start, you may think that Holmes is secondary to the plot line, which he is not.

Excellent sets and scenery will keep your attention to detail, even as your interest in the story fades around midpoint.

An Enjoyable 70's Sherlock Holmes Flick But Doesn't Quite Justify $100+ for the DVD

[classicalsteve · 7/10 · 21 February 2010]

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.

Holmes Takes The Cure

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 13 April 2013]

Ever since Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote those immortal words "quick Watson the needle", people have been interpreting that to mean that Sherlock Holmes is a drug addict. That's the point in which Dr. Watson decides that his old friend has been abusing long enough and needs a cure. And there's this new doctor in Vienna named Sigmund Freud who is breaking new grounds with mental health therapy. That is the basis of The Seven-Per-Cent Solution where the fictional world of Holmes and the and real world of Freud meet and essentially mate.

The Baker Street purists are like highbrow Trekkies, for them Holmes is an absolutely real character. In fact I just saw the John Mills-Leslie Banks film Cottage To Let where one of the characters, a young cockney lad proclaims that for him "Sherlock Holmes was the greatest person whoever lived". He's so real that within the time that Conan Doyle wrote his stories you can graft Holmes almost at any point within that time as a character as was done in this film.

Robert Duvall as Dr. Watson has left Baker Street to resume his medical practice and soon enough gets a summons from Mrs. Hudson the landlady at Baker Street to come running. Holmes's craving for cocaine has gotten out of hand and she's at her wits end.

Nicol Williamson plays Sherlock Holmes and he's going through some bad withdrawal, keeps raving about one Professor Moriarty as the root of all evil in the British Empire. Appealing to his inability to pass up a mystery and his obsession with the Professor who is a teacher of mathematics at some English public school, Duvall tricks Holmes into a trip to Vienna to see Dr. Freud.

Alan Arkin plays Freud and the scenes between Dr. Freud and patient Holmes are something else. At the time Freud was using hypnotic techniques which up to that time were just parlor game tricks or used for more sinister purposes to get at the root of Holmes narcotic dependency. Later on when a mystery surrounding another of Arkin's addicted patients Vanessa Redgrave surfaces it is Williamson the teacher and Arkin the pupil when they start playing Holmes's ballpark.

The greatest mind in Vienna also suffered cruelly from the anti-Semitism of his time. Freud's 'duel' on the tennis court with Baron Jeremy Kemp is a classic and as it turns out Kemp is the root of the mystery involving Redgrave.

The Seven-Per-Cent Solution received two Oscar nominations for Best Costume Design and for adapted Screenplay. The recreation of the London and Vienna of the 1890s is marvelous and the final climax with the locomotive chase with Holmes, Freud, and Watson chasing down the villains is well staged.

By the way, though his role is brief Laurence Olivier plays Moriarty and it turns out he did a worse sin to Sherlock Holmes than be the head of all the crime in the British Empire.

A fun movie with some wonderful performances

[richard-1787 · 7/10 · 6 January 2017]

Once the mystery got underway, I really enjoyed this movie.

I wish it had spent less time at the beginning taking us into the very realistic details of Holmes' cocaine addiction. It does give Alan Arkin a chance to show what a very fine actor he is, but I confess I didn't particularly enjoy watching him suffer so.

I admit that when we find out what has happened to Miss Devereux, and why, it seems almost silly - and therefore quite different from the early tone of the movie - but that does lead to a lot of lighthearted dueling, etc., on a train - two trains, actually - flying through the Balkan countryside.

And a "borrowing" from *Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea*, when the second train runs out of coal.

Still, if you can get through the seriousness of the first part, the rest of the movie is fun.

And it even has a rather tacked-on, unexpected romantic end.

Holmes like you've never seen him, and should have

[CatTales · 10/10 · 11 March 2001]

Refreshing, original take on the Holmes Canon. I've heard the main actor was miscast but seeing him running around frenetically in a ratty smoking robe, issuing Sherlock's famous speech about Moriarty (which DOES sound paranoid when you think about it), he gives a true, spontaneous version which is lacking in other Holmes departures. While Holmes meets Jack the ripper in 2 other movies, his character never comes alive as in this movie. Even Peter Cushing as Sherlock in "Hound of the Baskervilles" can't compete. Robert Duvall seems wasted as Watson who has only 6 lines in the movie. Lawrence Olivier is a twin for Moriarty, but strangely doesn't look younger in a 30 year flashback. My only complaint is that upon repeated viewings the climactic train chase seems overlong. I think Conan Doyle would be proud: though he might have been mildly addicted to cocaine and broken his addiction, and thus has Watson proclaiming the same for Holmes, ("he cured himself"), the movie (and novel it's based on) fills a dramatic gap. And Holmes is more a hero for it, battling inner and outer foes (his addiction as well as a mystery).

What Up Holmes?

[Bribaba · 7/10 · 24 August 2012]

Nicol Williamson plays Holmes in this adaptation of Nicolas Meyer's novel, which suggests that Sherlock's 'disappearance' in 1891 was due to a cocaine addiction. What's more, he has the detective travelling to Vienna to visit Siggy Freud (Alan Arkin) in the hope of finding a cure. The pair subsequently work together to solve a case. Moriarty, played by Lawrence Olivier also makes an appearance, allowing Freud is to psycho analyse Holmes' paranoid obsession with his nemesis

Williamson was mostly a stage actor, one with a somewhat troublesome reputation but here he's terrific, right up there with the Peter Cushing interpretation of the famous detective. Arkin is excellent , too, his New York Jewish accent being just the ticket. Robert Duvall as Watson is a disaster not of his own making. - the script gives him nothing and the tortuous accent only buttons him further. The first part of the story in which Holmes battles the demon drug is excellent and contains some very scary dream sequences. The second part in which Vanessa Redgrave features as a damsel in distress is more conventional and turns into a romp. The only flaw in the film are the steam engines used for the chase through 'Austria' - they are are British. The first is a Black 5, and the second a '6' class from the Eastern region. Neither were ever exported. Tsk

Talent everywhere, but film is barely formidable

[moonspinner55 · 2/10 · 12 February 2006]

Director Herbert Ross enjoyed several commercial successes but never really gained the respect of the industry (perhaps it was all those seemingly-undemanding Neil Simon comedies?). So gathering a top-drawer cast like this must have been quite a boost for Ross, and the delicious possibilities behind a meeting of Master Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Sigmund Freud were endless. Unfortunately, Ross' crack comic timing gets lost in the woodwork in his quest to make the film more formidable, and the results are sedate in the very worst way. In 1891 England, paranoid, cocaine-addicted Sherlock Holmes is rescued by John Watson, who arranges a Viennese meeting between Holmes and Freud, who gets Sherlock through a tough detox; Freud then assists Holmes and Dr. Watson on a kidnapping case, and proves to be as adept at sleuthing as he is a hypnotist. Alan Arkin is totally miscast as Freud, giving what may be his least convincing performance ever (he approaches the part like a giddy kid playing dress-up, and his over-enunciation is theatrical and phony); Nicol Williamson is serviceable as Holmes, but all his sweating and shaking is a terrible drag on the action. This is really Robert Duvall's picture, giving us a more robust Watson, and yet Duvall's narration seems to be there just to fill in the gaps. Herbert Ross only gets inventive during one sequence (a series of cocaine-withdrawal nightmares), and even then he carries out the montage for far too long, so that the audience quickly becomes indifferent. There's a lot of talent here, but the results are stodgy and plodding, with an ugly art direction and uninteresting character chatter. * from ****

A touching and different side to the Sherlock Holmes Legend

[ozthegreatat42330 · 9/10 · 12 April 2007]

This film, directed by Thom Eberhard from a script by Nicholas Meyer presents Sherlock Holmes in a new perspective. The discovery of Cocaine in the 19th century originally seemed like a perfect drug and many doctors perceived it as an ideal cure for everything. Even Freud used it extensively and prescribed it for his patients until he became dependent on it. There are those who say that the same thing happened to Conan Doyle, who eventually kicked the habit, but used in as a part of the Character of Sherlock Holmes, at least in the earlier stories, who claimed that the boredom that set in when his mind was not occupied on a case was only relieved by a seven percent solution of the drug that he would inject himself with.

In this film it is realized that he has begun to be overly effected by the drug as he sees incidents of his youth in a distorted view, until Watson is forced to trick him into going to Vienna to see Sigmund Freud. Nicol Williamson is a very sympathetic Holmes, and Robert Duvall, surprisingly essays a very likable Dr. Watson. Laurence Olivier ha a small role as James Moriarity, who is no villain but a former tutor of the brothers Holmes, who had had an affair with their mother years before, and had been hounded by Holmes since. Alan Arkin is an excellent Freud, and the film is a great adventure and touching drama, as Holmes, in the middle of his cure, once again brings his great intellect to bear on a baffling case.

A very different Sherlock tale...

[Aqualung-2 · 7/10 · 31 October 1998]

The Seven-Per-Cent Solution is an excellent film for Sherlockians but also the fans of Williamson and Arkin who are excellent in this film as Holmes and Freud, respectively. Also, the contribution of Duvall as Watson cannot be over-emphasized. Toby was a very good dog as always.

Toby owns this movie

[chaswe-28402 · 3/10 · 11 April 2017]

Toby is real, relaxed, and natural. He is good-looking, engaging, professional, and an excellent performer. This is more than could be said of the rest of the cast, otherwise distinguished though they may be, in this bewildering foray into would-be Doyle country. The film's merit is that Holmes and Freud belong in the same late Victorian era, and their supposed deductive faculties are more or less of a piece, as well as their apparent mutual enthusiasm for cocaine. The Austrian scenery and Viennese décor are captivating. Everything else is either fake or ludicrous. It is also atrociously dragged out and prolonged. There are a number of pointlessly puzzling episodes, such as a real tennis match, a risky excursion to the Spanish Riding School, an anachronistic song by Sondheim in a Viennese brothel, a railroad race, a ridiculous duel between Sherlock and Jeremy Kemp on the roof of a moving train which goes on and interminably on. These events have absolutely nothing to do with anything. It is a complete mystery why they are there.

After watching a fair number of dvds during the last six months I've come to the conclusion that there are two types of film, believable and unbelievable. This movie is preposterous in all respects. An American Dr Watson with a strangulated accent only Americans would think was English, a Sherlock who is frantic and hysterical instead of icy calm and logical, and a Freud with a black beard, when it should be white or grey --- or at least of a different shape: these constitute the main protagonists. A Professor Moriarty masquerades as a geriatric Laurence Olivier, who looks unlikely to be able to mastermind a trip to the care home, let alone a network of criminals. However he is reported to have had a naughty past, and contributed to a homicide. There is also a Turkish Pasha. The thespian skills of Vanessa Redgrave depend entirely on her family connections. I can't think of anything else useful to say. The solution to this mystery is 100% insoluble. Unless somebody came up with a pot of money and the actors decided to go off and have a jolly holiday in Austria, all expenses paid. Nominated for two Oscars ? Was this the ultimate joke ?