The Seven-Per-Cent Solution (1976)

Pretty Good

A Major Disappointment

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

Blistering performances.

Disclaimer: I got really sleepy about 20 minutes into this movie, so I struggled to pay attention at times, and I know it hurts my viewing of the movie. Only once before have I felt tired during a movie: it was the new Godzilla movie, and I had been up all day by the time I went to see it in a dark room. I watched this movie during the afternoon with sunlight coming in; yet even when movies are boring, I never feel sleepy, so I have no idea what happened here. I'll do my best to review what I paid attention to.I struggled to follow the case that develops later in the story because I felt so tired, so I won't have much to say about it. I found the premise of the movie to be pretty intriguing, and it was interesting to see Sherlock Holmes be analyzed by Freud, whose analysis resembles Holmes' capabilities. The acting performances seemed good enough, but the camera-work was weird. There were some shots that were really good, like when it shows Holmes' viewpoint while high. Other shots had some wonky angles; it felt like I was watching a filmed play, which is not a compliment to the cinematographer. I can't quite place my finger on what was off, but something was. There were some really cheesy scenes, like Freud's real tennis match. That scene went on way too long and had a cliché outcome. The ending to the film, which reveals that Moriarty had an affair with Holmes' mother, was very surprising. That was great.Overall, the movie didn't leave much of an impression. I'm willing to watch it again, and hopefully I'd like it a bit more.6/10

I really enjoyed this little fantasy film about the supposed treatment Sherlock Holmes received for his cocaine addiction from Dr. Freud. This is awfully strange, having a real-life and fictional character interact together, but the writers were able to make it work.Up front I should let you know that I am a huge Sherlock Holmes fan--having read all the stories several times. In most of my reviews for Holmes movies, I am very critical because they take such liberties with the stories--and almost always ruin the stories. At first, I was reticent to see this story because of this--after all, it's NOT based on a Conan Doyle story and the last such film I saw (THE PRIVATE LIFE OF SHERLOCK HOLMES) was terrible in places because it took too many liberties with the character (especially at the end of the film). However, despite my reservations I saw the film and am glad I did.At first it did bother me, as the film did SEEM to contradict many of the Holmes stories. However, through the course of the film, they were able to explain away all these differences very well--in particular, Holmes' hatred for Professor Moriarty. Additionally, having the fictional character be psychoanalyzed actually was pretty cool--though Freud's analysis almost always took months or years, not a few quick sessions.Up until the last 10 or 15 minutes of the film, I was very pleased with the movie but then the film had a serious flaw that knocked off a point. The sword fighting scene at the end (interesting, by the way, in a Freudian sense) was totally unnecessary and totally distracting. It was like another writer took an intelligent script and added a macho idiot fight scene for no discernible reason. Had it been me, I would have had Holmes simply shoot the guy--not pad it out for no apparent reason. Additionally, while it was integrated into the story later, the whole tennis match sequence seemed contrived and silly. Still, with so much to like, both these scenes can be overlooked.An excellent film for Holmes lovers. Additionally, psychology teachers and therapists will also appreciate the inclusion of Freud.By the way, Charles Gray plays Holmes' brother, Mycroft in this film. A decade later, he played this same character in the Jeremy Brett series as well.

This is indeed an excellent Holmes movie, though it is not based on Conan Doyle's books.Except some middle problems (the feminism, Sigmund Freud and the fight for getting of cocaine addiction are not what we want in a Holmes movie), the film is true to Holmes canon.We have here a Nicol Williamson playing perfect Holmes, and resembling physically sufficient to fool us;we really could think he IS Holmes.We have a Robert Duvall as an excellent Watson.We have a good Moriarty in Laurence Olivier.And we have the perfect Mycroft.We have the necessary deductions.We have Holmes sword skills.WE HAVE ALL.It is a serious comedy, which will make you laugh and will add for you a new case in Holmes casebook.A real must for Holmes fans.

This film, directed by Thom Eberhard from a script by Nicholas Meyer presents Sherlock Holmes in a new perspective. The discovery of Cocaine in the 19th century originally seemed like a perfect drug and many doctors perceived it as an ideal cure for everything. Even Freud used it extensively and prescribed it for his patients until he became dependent on it. There are those who say that the same thing happened to Conan Doyle, who eventually kicked the habit, but used in as a part of the Character of Sherlock Holmes, at least in the earlier stories, who claimed that the boredom that set in when his mind was not occupied on a case was only relieved by a seven percent solution of the drug that he would inject himself with. In this film it is realized that he has begun to be overly effected by the drug as he sees incidents of his youth in a distorted view, until Watson is forced to trick him into going to Vienna to see Sigmund Freud. Nicol Williamson is a very sympathetic Holmes, and Robert Duvall, surprisingly essays a very likable Dr. Watson. Laurence Olivier ha a small role as James Moriarity, who is no villain but a former tutor of the brothers Holmes, who had had an affair with their mother years before, and had been hounded by Holmes since. Alan Arkin is an excellent Freud, and the film is a great adventure and touching drama, as Holmes, in the middle of his cure, once again brings his great intellect to bear on a baffling case.