Now that he has acquired an unshakeable cocaine addiction Sherlock Holmes (Williamson) is suspicious and paranoid but still in possession of his remarkable powers of deductive reasoning. His faithful partner John Watson (Duvall) tells his lovely wife Mary (Eggar) that he must bring Holmes to Vienna to meet the one man he feels can cure his friend, renowned psychiatrist Sigmund Freud (Arkin), otherwise his friend will die.
Click here to see the rest of this review...
Watson, along with Holmes brother Mycroft (Gray), conspires to deceive the great detective into following the trail of his elderly archenemy Professor Moriarty (Olivier). Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson utilize a bloodhound to track the elderly Moriarty from London to Vienna and the home of Dr. Freud. Holmes realizes the deception and astonishes Freud with his powers of observation. While undergoing a difficult and nightmarish withdrawal from the hold of the “seven percent solution” mixture of cocaine he uses, Holmes confesses that the villain Moriarty is less of an imposing nemesis than he has made him out to be. Rather Moriarty was the mathematics tutor of the young Holmes brothers perhaps playing a further role in the life of young Sherlock and his family.
Freud offers a novel approach to settling a duel with the bigoted Baron von Leinsdorf (Kemp). Freed of his affliction he is still withdrawn and sullen. The three men are summoned to call on Ms. Lola Deveraux (Redgrave), a beautiful female patient of Freud's claiming to have freed herself from the clutches of kidnappers. Leaving her hospital bed, the men are followed by a devious individual matching the description of the man who abducted Ms. Deveraux. The individual they now trail is named Lowenstein (Grey) but he leads them into a deadly trap. He has merely been a distraction to the sleuths so Ms. Deveraux could be taken from the hospital. With her kidnapping the three become embroiled in the pursuit of the woman and her captor, none other than the Baron. With the chase afoot, the unlikely compatriots are racing across Europe via the Orient Express to apprehend the criminals, save the lady, and perhaps maintain the delicate peace in Europe.
The review of this Movie prepared by David Fletcher
