Sherlock Holmes and the Deadly Necklace ** (1962, Christopher Lee, Senta Berger, Thorley Walters, Ivan Desny, Hans Söhnker, Hans Nielsen) – Classic Movie Review 11,110

And so the Hammer Films trio of Christopher Lee, Thorley Walters and Terence Fisher head off for Germany and C Lee gets to play Sherlock Holmes following his role as Sir Henry Baskerville in Hammer’s The Hound of the Baskervilles.

Director Terence Fisher’s 1962 film Sherlock Holmes and the Deadly Necklace [Sherlock Holmes und das Halsband des Todes] stars Christopher Lee as Sherlock Holmes and Thorley Walters as Dr Watson in this German-made black and white crime mystery thriller, in which the great sleuth and Dr Watson are on the trail to recover an ancient necklace once belonging to Cleopatra which vanished on an expedition to Egypt led by their deadly adversary Professor Moriarty (Hans Söhnker).

All those involved have died and only one man who knows the truth and can identify Moriarty is in grave danger.

Alas, the film was shot without live sound as usual in German movies of the era, and all voices were dubbed in post-production, with Lee and Walters dubbed by other actors in the English version and all other versions. Harry Wüstenhagen provides the voice of Sherlock Holmes. Lee, who spoke German, was disappointed not to have added his own voice on the film soundtrack either in English or German in post production, his beautiful voice sadly unused.

The beer glasses in all the ‘British’ pub scenes are German lager glasses, with no traditional British pint and half-pint glasses to be seen.

Also in the cast are Senta Berger as Ellen Blackburn, Hans Nielsen as Inspector Cooper, Ivan Desny as Paul King, Leon Askin as Chauffeur Charles, Wolfgang Lukschy as Peter Blackburn, Edith Schultze-Westrum as Mrs Hudson and Bernard Lajarrige as Inspector French.

It was shot in the studio at CCC-Atelier, Spandau, Berlin, Germany, with some filming in Dublin and London.

Sherlock Holmes and the Deadly Necklace [Sherlock Holmes und das Halsband des Todes] is directed by Terence Fisher, runs 87 minutes is made by Central Cinema Company Film (CCC), Omnia Deutsche Film Export, Criterion Productions and Incei Film, is released by Constantin Film (1962) (West Germany) (theatrical) and Golden Era Film Distributors (GEF) (1966) (UK) (theatrical) (English dubbed), is written by Curt Siodmak, based on characters by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is shot in black and white by Richard Angst, produced by Wolf Brauner (executive producer) and Artur Brauner, scored by Martin Slavin and designed by Paul Markwitz.

© Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 11,110

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