In 1913, Sherlock Holmes, virtually in retirement, is persuaded by Inspector Alec MacDonald of Scotland Yard to take on a baffling case. Three dead bodies have been found in London's East End, all with no discernible cause of death, but the expressions on their faces suggest that they all died in a state of terror.
Holmes, accompanied by Dr Watson, begins an investigation, but before he can make any real progress he is visited by the British Home Secretary and a German Diplomat, Count Udo von Felseck, who tell Holmes that a German envoy, on a secret mission to Britain, has disappeared from Felseck's house in Buckinghamshire. Unless Holmes can track him down, war between the two countries will become imminent. Holmes considers the possibility that the two matters are related and that someone is not telling him the truth.
While funding for the proposed film collapsed, it led to Francis discussing an original tale with writer Anthony Hinds.[1]
Casting
This is Peter Cushing's final portrayal of Sherlock Holmes. He first donned Holmes' deerstalker in Hammer's The Hound of the Baskervilles (1959).[2] Later, he took over from Douglas Wilmer in the BBC television series Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes in the late 1960s.[3] Cushing considered Sherlock Holmes to be his favourite role[4] but his age, Cushing being in his 70s, required the part to be written for a much older Holmes.[1]
The trouble is that I'm 70, far too old to play Holmes as he appears in the stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.[4]
Filming
Filming began in the summer of 1984 at Twickenham Film Studios with location work in Buckinghamshire and London.[1]
Unproduced sequel
There were plans for a follow-up titled The Abbot's Cry[1] but the film never materialized due to Cushing's declining health.[1][5]
