From the onset, this film is at a huge disadvantage with viewers like me. Like many foreign films from this era, it was dubbed into English for export and lacks subtitles (film snobs like me LOVE subtitles). In addition, hearing strange voices coming out of some of the characters is jarring. For example, Christopher Lee acted as Holmes--but it was NOT his voice in this movie. And folks my age will probably recognize Leon Askin (from "Hogan's Heroes") but not his strange voice! While the quality of the dubbing isn't bad, it is regrettable that they didn't use the original actors who spoke English to do their own dubbing.The film is a rather routine Sherlock Holmes story that suffers from the casting. While I love Christopher Lee and looked forward to his interpretation of the character, it's really weird that the writer (Curt Siodmak) never thought much about the 6'5" Lee when he wrote the screenplay. Having him going in disguise and fooling Dr. Watson and his landlady was laughable--as a basketball player-sized man cannot easily fool anyone!! Yet, oddly, later in the film Holmes also went in disguise! If they were going to use a disguise, perhaps they should have just had him dress up like a tree!! The story is a bit clichéd as well since it involved Moriarty--Holmes' arch nemesis. However, to Holmes fans, this is odd, as Moriarty is a FREQUENT foil in films--yet he rarely appeared in the actual Conan Doyle stories and Holmes rarely thought Moriarty was behind a particular crime. However, I assumed they used Moriarty simply because the public had come to EXPECT the man due to the many Holmes films.The story involves several disparate crimes--murders that seem to have no connection. One of them, however, isn't at all hard to figure out and I could easily figure out that the dead man was NOT Blackburn--yet the dumb policeman and Watson just assumed it was him. I kept thinking how most people in the theaters must have figured this one out as well--making the mystery not at all mysterious.As for the rest of the film, it's not bad. It's nothing like the MARVELOUS Jeremy Brett films (which are clearly the best) but is nearly as good as the Arthur Wontner and Basil Rathbone films. It's reasonably engaging and worth seeing but nothing more.

Available on a superb DVD (although not in wide-screen format, alas), "Sherlock Holmes and the Deadly Necklace" is actually quite watchable and far from the "badly edited, deplorable hodge-podge of nonsense" decried by Christopher Lee, despite the fact that his own performance was "one of the best things I've ever done!" Actually, Lee is by no means the saving grace of this Sherlockian entry. That honor belongs equally to the lovely Senta Berger (and she looks especially enticing here in her form-hugging Vera Mugge costumes) and that delightful oaf of a villain, Leon Askin. Hans Sohnker's dapper Moriarty also has the edge on Lee, who admittedly is robbed of his voice (as is Thorley Walters as a conventional, bumbling Dr Watson). Although I noticed a tip of the hat in the credits to "The Valley of Fear", the script bears not the slightest relationship to that novel at all, but the play holds the interest and is actually quite ably staged and expensively set.

Professor Moriarty will do just about anything to acquire the diamond necklace once wore by Cleopatra including murder(..by using other hoods to do his dirty work, of course)but he'll have to contend with his arch nemesis, the Baker Street detective, Sherlock Holmes and his associate Dr. Watson.As a horror buff, this was a dream come true to see such great names associated with Sherlock Holmes. Terrence Fisher as co-director, Christopher Lee as Holmes(..his only time as the sleuth which in itself is noteworthy), and scribe Curt Siodmak(The Wolf Man;I Walked With a Zombie)as the scenarist all contribute to SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE DEADLY NECKLACE. While I recognize that others didn't find this movie very good(..or found it rather lackluster/mediocre), I thought it was fun, particularly enjoying the psychological duel between Holmes and Moriarty(..who, at one point, attempted to kill Holmes with a mechanism in his cane's handle which fires a blade). This may be the only film with Sherlock Holmes which might figure into the Krimi genre as it is mostly produced by a West German company. One major disappointment was not having Lee's authoritative voice dubbed for his Holmes character, which is quite a shame(..and a missed opportunity for us who love the idea of seeing Lee as the character, portrayed with his voice, matching his mannerisms and performance). It would be ill-advised for me to leave out a wonderful performance from Thorley Walters, a Hammer veteran, as the clumsy, often naive Watson, who must be fed knowledge of Holmes' activities because he's unable to often add 2 & 2 together on his own. But, Watson, of course, often lends a hand(..even playing Holmes' chauffeur when the sleuth goes undercover, in disguise, to infiltrate Moriarty's home and gang in order to keep the necklace out of the diabolical and dangerous archeologist's hands)when Holmes so needs him in order to combat Moriarty's plot to steal the necklace by any means necessary. It's a delightful game of cat-n-mouse(..or it was to me) and we are participants. Often, Holmes has to use rather illegal methods in order to retrieve the necklace, stooping to his enemy's level of theft, but it's not officially Mortiarty's property anyway, adding intrigue to their battle over such a desired object of great worth. I think Hans Söhnker is Lee's equal as Moriarty, portraying confidence and arrogance, believing he will accomplish his scheme, using loathsome criminals to carry his orders out, with an ability to manipulate important public figures, even The Queen of England(..it's mentioned at the beginning, when Holmes is scolded by Scotland Yard's lead detective, Inspector Cooper, played by Hans Nielsen, that Moriarty is to be knighted). It was really cool seeing Lee as such a treasured character, conveying a believable wisdom, always expressing, effectively, Holmes' abilities to outsmart his adversaries, remaining one step ahead of not only Moriarty, but Scotland Yard as well.I especially loved one sequence where Holmes attempts to stop a planned assassination by Moriarty, outside London where a thief is holding onto the necklace, fearful of his safety, and happening upon the crime scene of a failed murder attempt where Inspector Cooper must be assisted by the sleuth in discovering all the facts, coming across concealed truths only through our beloved detective's guidance. It's a masterfully staged scenario I enjoyed immensely.

The fact that a film is on DVD doesn't guarantee that its quality is very good. The fact that a film's quality is threadbare doesn't mean you shouldn't buy it. Although "The Deadly Necklace" is available separately, it's also available on a DVD with a second film. This review applies to both.The plots of these films are of little consequence. They are of interest only to people who collect Holmes films … anybody who merely wants a few of the better offerings would do well to purchase some of those made by Jeremy Brett … or, in a pinch, Basil Rathbone. There are a few other very good Holmes films featuring good actors on a one-shot basis – such as "Seven Per Cent Solution" or "Private Life of Sherlock Holmes". In any event, these films are considerably less estimable.Here we have a pair of films featuring some of the best actors to do Holmes, even if the results tend toward disappointing. This appears to be the only disc with these films on it (although "Deadly Necklace") appears by itself in the same version on other discs."(Sherlock Holmes and) the Deadly Necklace" dates from 1962, although it neither looks it nor sounds it. Some who have seen this may be surprised to learn that it was produce by Hammer Studios. Not that Hammer hasn't turned out some really schlock stuff, but where Christopher Lee was concerned, they usually did a better job. The print a direct transfer from a rather worn 1:1.33 copy in black-and white. The quality of the color suggests the original may have been in color, and the snipped ends of the film's aspect suggest it may originally have been 1:1.66 or more.The film is set in the early 20th Century – not improbable, since Holmes was still working then (and didn't actually die until 1957). However, the script is not adapted from any actual Doyle story. It involves an Egyptian necklace, and Professor Moriarty shows up as a world-famous archaeologist as well as the Prince of Crime. The plot is melodramatic and banal.The biggest defect of this film is that – for whatever unfathomable reason – Hammer filmed it in Germany. It was nonetheless filmed in English. It was then dubbed in German and then re-dubbed in English. So what you hear isn't Lee nor any of the other original actors, but a bunch of unknowns – not that, outside of Lee, I doubt anyone would know any of the other actors. This is too bad, since Lee (see his "Hound of the Baskervilles") makes a quite decent Holmes. As it is, his voice double is condescending and plain as bread pudding with no raisins nor cinnamon.The music for this film is primarily jazzy, in a possible attempt to be "period". Too bad nobody thought of ragtime. As it is, the music doesn't relate to what's happening on the screen, and often is at odds with the action.The other film is "(Sherlock Holmes and) the Speckled Band" from 1931, starring a young Raymond Massey. The quality of the picture and sound is fully up to that of the 1962 effort, and in fact a bit better. Massey makes a quite respectable Holmes, although he certainly doesn't own the rôle in the way Rathbone did and Brett does. The other thespians who take part in this production are unlikely to be of interest to modern readers. The acting – as is true of many films of this period – owes a lot to the post-Victorian stage and to silent films.There is very little else to be said of this film. The settings seem to be an odd combination of the 1890s (horse-drawn carriages) and the 1920s (electronic devices such as a primitive dictaphone). Taken altogether, it's an interesting curio and a sufficient inducement to buy the DVD with the pairing rather than a DVD with "Deadly Necklace" only.