The Ripper File John Lloyd Elwyn Jones Sherlock Holmes characters by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Produced by
Bob Clark René Dupont
Starring
Christopher Plummer James Mason David Hemmings Susan Clark Anthony Quayle John Gielgud Frank Finlay Donald Sutherland Genevieve Bujold
Cinematography
Reginald H. Morris
Edited by
Stan Cole
Music by
Paul Zaza Carl Zittrer
Production companies
CFDC Famous Players
Distributed by
AVCO Embassy Pictures (in the United Kingdom through Columbia-EMI-Warner Distributors[1]) Ambassador Film Distributors (Canada)[1]
Release dates
1 February 1979 (1979-02-01) (University Theatre, Toronto)[2]
Running time
124 minutes
Countries
United Kingdom Canada
Language
English
Budget
$5 million[3]
Box office
$1.9 million (Canada)[4]
Murder by Decree is a 1979 mystery thriller film directed by Bob Clark. It features the Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson characters created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who are embroiled in the investigation surrounding the real-life 1888 Whitechapel murders committed by "Jack the Ripper". Christopher Plummer plays Holmes and James Mason plays Watson. Though it features a similar premise, it is somewhat different in tone and result to A Study in Terror. It is loosely based on The Ripper File by Elwyn Jones and John Lloyd.
The film's premise of the plot behind the murders is influenced by the book Jack the Ripper: The Final Solution (1976), by Stephen Knight, who theorised that the killings were part of a Masonic plot. The original script contained the names of the historical suspects, Sir William Gull and John Netley.[5] In the actual film, they are represented by fictional analogues: Thomas Spivy (Gull) and William Slade (Netley).[5] This plot device was later used in other Jack the Ripper-themed fiction, including the graphic novel From Hell.
^ ab"Murder by Decree". Library and Archives Canada. 12 May 2015. Retrieved 8 October 2021.
^"'Hollywood' opening set for Toronto". The Globe and Mail. 24 January 1979. F.13.
^Lee, Grant (13 January 1979). "FILM CLIPS: Canadians Shooting for the Big Leagues". Los Angeles Times. p. b10.
^"Canada-Only B.O. Figures". Variety. 21 November 1979. p. 24.
^ abBarnes, Alan (2011). Sherlock Holmes on Screen. Titan Books. pp. 121–126. ISBN 9780857687760.
Airport 1975 (1975), Night Moves (1975), The Apple Dumpling Gang (1975), MurderbyDecree (1979), Promises in the Dark (1979) and Porky's (1981). Clark received...
successful films in Canadian film history such as Black Christmas (1974), MurderbyDecree (1979), Tribute (1980), Porky's (1981), and A Christmas Story (1983)...
used in fictional treatments of the murders, such as the film MurderbyDecree, and the graphic novel From Hell by Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell and the...
films as Lestrade, solving the Jack the Ripper murders (A Study in Terror, 1965, and MurderbyDecree, 1979). He also played a role as the primary antagonist...
(1978) and MurderbyDecree (1979). He also returned to television in 1978 with a film for Granada TV directed by Ken Russell and written by Melvin Bragg:...
Babies (1978), Heaven Can Wait (1978), The Boys from Brazil (1978), MurderbyDecree (1979) (as Dr. Watson), The Passage (1979), Bloodline (1979) and as...
appeared in both films. Her film credits include Second Wind (1976), MurderbyDecree (1979), Overnight (1985), Rolling Vengeance (1987) and Down the Road...
Sunday Bloody Sunday (1971), Sitting Target (1972), The 14 (1973), MurderbyDecree (1979), Nijinsky (1980), The Mambo Kings (1992) and the Mr. Bean movie...
directed by Bill Bryden, and starred in an American drama documentary about Jack the Ripper. Anthony was also in the Jack the Ripper film MurderbyDecree (1979)...
the Ripper case. In the 1979 film MurderbyDecree starring Christopher Plummer as Sherlock Holmes, Lees was played by Donald Sutherland. In the 1988 ITV...
was written by Ellery Queen and the novelisation of the film itself by Fairman. The Holmes-Ripper idea was later taken up in MurderbyDecree (1978), in...
Aces High (1976), Starcrash (1978), International Velvet (1978), and MurderbyDecree (1979) (playing Sherlock Holmes). From June 1971 to January 1972, he...
the 1979 film MurderbyDecree, Holmes is embroiled in the investigation surrounding the real-life 1888 Whitechapel murders committed by Jack the Ripper...
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