Without a Clue (1988)

This is one of Michael Caine's funniest performances and he and Ben Kingsley worked quite well together. The supporting cast is top-notch as well. Jeffry Jones as LeStrade is very good and Peter Cook has a fine supporting turn. As for the premise-that Holmes was a front for Watson, given the fact that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was himself a physician and that he grew so sick of Holmes he tried to kill him off, I suspect he would have enjoyed the whole thing enormously. Twists and turns throughout, as a good mystery should and enough comedy to keep you laughing. Some interesting twists at the end. Poor LeStrade! Recommended.

Fmovies: This movie is hilarious. If my house burned to the ground and I could save only a handful of items, this is one I'd go back in the house for : ) There are some movies that are so classic and/or funny that you just have to have your own personal copy to watch over and over again, and movies you watch over and over and learn all the lines from. This is one of those movies. Ben Kingsley and Michael Caine make the perfect team in this film. Michael Caine's role as Holmes is so ridiculous but played so deadpan that it's a total crackup. The film is also exceptionally well crafted and directed, to include the sets, costumes, etc. It's a period piece, and every detail is in place. Get this movie on DVD and share it with friends and family.

The Sherlock Holmes stories are full of monumental blunders. Watson's famous war wound, which moves about from limb to limb, is among the least of them. Most of the blame for Arthur Conan Doyle's unparallelled clumsiness has fallen upon poor old John (or, according to one story, James) Watson - as if HE could possibly be responsible for the all (or any) of the inanities in, say, `The Mazarin Stone'.

`Without a Clue' is an honest, meticulously researched film that does what it can to redress the injustice. It reveals that Watson was really the brains of the Holmes/Watson team - that Sherlock Holmes does not, technically speaking, even exist. How does this get us around all the inconsistencies that have puzzled Sherlock aficionados over the past century? To be frank, it doesn't. But no theory does. There are just too many inconsistencies to be fended off and this theory is about as likely to be right as any other. It's the theory I tend to believe. At least it's funnier than any of its rivals.

Anyone who loves the Holmes stories - anyone who has not been exposed to the stories but is genetically predisposed to love them nonetheless - MUST see this film. You don't need to know who Holmes, Watson, Lestrade and Moriarty are in order to enjoy it. Or rather, you need to know, but whatever you may think, you DO know - knowledge of the Sherlock Holmes universe has found its way into the water supply and 90% of all people are born with it. That's why `Without a Clue' is so hilarious. That's why it won Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Screenplay and Best Actor. Actually, it didn't win anything, but I presume this was only because of some footling technicality.

P.S.: I should really set readers' minds at rest by telling them that Lestrade doesn't really solve the case. `Without a Clue' offers us a radically revisionist account of history - but not THAT radical.

Without a Clue fmovies. "Without A Clue" might be called "Without A Trace," as it sunk upon its 1988 release much like a set of five-pound-note engravings at the bottom of Lake Windemere. Hopefully the new DVD release, albeit pan-and-scan, will give people another chance to catch this terrific send-up of fiction's most celebrated detective.

This is the film that dares reveal Sherlock Holmes is a fraud, an out-of-work actor named Reginald Kincaid (Michael Caine) pulled out of the gutter by a desperate crime-solving doctor named Watson (Ben Kingsley) who needed to produce someone to play the part of this invention of his. Dr. Watson, you see, didn't want the initial notoriety of his sleuthing successes. He desired admission to a medical college that would frown on such things. Now he wishes he wasn't so successful in playing Kincaid off as Holmes; Kincaid's a drunken womanizing blaggard grown too big for his britches, whining that Watson doesn't treat him at all times with the respect his borrowed robes command.

"I am the one the public really cares about," Kincaid/Holmes sniffs.

"Are we talking of the same man who once declared the late Colonel Howard had been bludgeoned to death by a blunt EXCREMENT?"

"Is it my fault if you have such poor handwriting?"

The lines aren't all polished gems, but they complement a pair of nice comic performances by Caine and Kingsley that keep spirits merry as the game goes afoot.

Also well-done is the understated late Victorian period detail and some strategic nods to the Holmes canon like the presence of Mrs. Hudson the housekeeper and the Baker Street Irregulars, all of whom are in on the Kincaid/Holmes secret. There's choice digs at Holmes' notoriety throughout, like a fellow who gives some meaningless eyewitness testimony to Holmes before a rapt hometown crowd who break into applause when Holmes tells Watson: "Make a note of it." Watson's slow burns here and elsewhere reward repeat viewings.

With Henry Mancini doing the score and director Thom Eberhardt effectively working in a light Ealing tone, this film plays like some great lost Peter Sellers comedy, except Sellers would never share the screen so easily with another as Caine and Kingsley do here. Eberhardt also did good work in another film that went past too many people, "Year Of The Comet;" it's a shame we didn't see more of him.

This would be a classic if the mystery at the heart of the story was more developed, and there are a pair of unnecessary killings that distract momentarily from the light tone. I'm not wild about all the supporting performances, but Jeffrey Jones is a very funny Lestrade as he chases Holmes around an abandoned house on his hands and knees, Watson having told his partner first to do his usual sleuthing routine so Watson himself can root around unobserved. Lysette Anthony is sexy and effective as the potential romantic interest, inspiring Holmes to try and solve the case without Watson, as well as look in keyholes when he's not supposed to.

He's less successful attempting elementary deduction when he spies a man he takes for a reporter just back from the subcontinent.

"I'm a barrister and I've never been to India in my life," the man answers.

"But you do read the Times."

"Of course."

"Aha!"

You don't need to be an Arthur Conan Doyle fan to enjoy &

I am not using superlatives lightly, but this film is definitely the best Sherlock Holmes spoof that could possible exist in past, present or future. It is not only a very precise and accurate observation of the Sherlock Holmes heritage, it is at the same time very, very entertaining. Even if you don't know much about Holmes, you'll enjoy yourself.

The story itself, and the idea behind it, are brilliant. One of the strengths of the story is, in my opinion, that it does not just concentrate on the spoof part, but gives you an entertaining mystery in the traditional Holmesian style as well. The atmosphere created by the "supporting" arts (score music, set, costumes, etc.) fits the film 100%.

The cast list speaks for itself. Caine and Kingsley are at their best and their styles - minutely adapted to their characters - complement each other perfectly. And each and every one of the supporting actors is top-class.

If you are a fan of Michael Caine and/or Ben Kingsley and/or Sherlock Holmes you HAVE TO see this movie. If you are neither of the above, go hide under the stairs and be ashamed of yourself.

Every once in a while you see a movie that most everyone overlooks but it still strikes a cord with you. Without A Clue is a such a movie. It starts with a clever premise, Watson is the brains behind the bumbling Holmes, and while the actual criminal investiation in the movie isn't exactly a big stretch in deductive reasoning, what makes this movie worthwhile are the solid performances of Michael Caine and Ben Kingsley. The professional reviews linked with this movie would have you believe this movie isn't worth the bother, but that's not true. Caine and Kingsley seem to be having the time of their lives in this movie. (Granted Kingsley has the less flashy role but he still fills it with a great deal of subtley that the likes of Roger Ebert and his ilk must have missed) The quote page has some great excerpts from this funny movie, but there's so much more to it than just that. This one ranks as a guilty pleasure of mine, maybe not one that sits in everyone else's video collection, but it definitely holds a place in mine.