The Seven-Per-Cent Solution

Based on the same-titled novel by Nicholas Meyer, this 1976 film imagines a meeting between Sherlock Holmes (Nicol Williamson) and Sigmund Freud (Alan Arkin), as engineered by Dr. Watson (Robert Duvall) and Holmes' older brother, Mycroft (Charles Gray). Worried about Holmes' cocaine addiction (the title refers to his preferred mix of 7 percent cocaine and 93 percent water), the well-meaning conspirators plant fake clues to rouse Holmes from depression and lead him to Austria. His subsequent introduction to Freud develops into a collaboration on a case when one of Freud's patients, former drug addict Lola Deveraux (Vanessa Redgrave), is kidnapped by a Turkish pasha. The ensuing chase leads to a swashbuckling encounter on an express train through Europe. Meanwhile, Freud investigates the roots of Holmes' addiction and his obsession with James Moriarty (played as a mousy little man by Laurence Olivier). Williamson seems overly mannered as Holmes, and Duvall is awkwardly miscast as the stalwart Watson; but Arkin's Freud is a witty match for Holmes' logic and intellect, and Redgrave manages to be both fragile and forceful. Meyer's book is one of the best of the Holmes mysteries to take on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's famous sleuth, and director Herbert Ross here demonstrates an appreciation for the era and the characters. Extras include an interview with Meyer. A timely DVD/Blu-ray Combo release that nicely complements the resurgence of interest in Holmes (as evidenced in the two popular series' Sherlock and Elementary), this is recommended. (S. Axmaker)