Stars: Michael Caine, Ben Kingsley, Jeffrey Jones, Lysette Anthony, Pat Keen, Paul Freeman

Director: Thom Eberhardt

Summary: A madcap comedy which takes a fresh look at the classic Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson escapades. Holmes is actually a figment of Dr. Watson's own success in crime detection, a character who Watson uses when he writes in `The Strand' magazine. But when the printing plates for five pound notes are stolen Queen Victoria calls for the country's greatest detective...

WITHOUT A CLUE presents an original twist on the famous Sherlock Holmes-Dr. John Watson stories of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. This time, Dr. Watson's the one with a talent for solving mysteries, while Holmes is nothing but his fictional creation. After inventing the sleuth in a series of popular stories based on crimes he's solved, Dr. Watson decides to satisfy the public's desire to see Holmes by hiring actor Reginald Kincaid to masquerade as the brilliant detective. Soon however Dr. Watson grows to despise the bumbling Kincaid, so he ends their partnership and comes up with a new character modeled after himself. But the new creation just doesn't go over well with the public and the doctor must once again depend upon Kincaid -- just in time to solve a new mystery. Then Watson suddenly vanishes... leaving Holmes to solve the case on his own.

WIN DVDs by rating this DVD

Average User Rating:

WIN DVDS by being amongst the first to review this DVD. Reviewing DVDs earns you bonus entries and lets you WIN DVDs!Please login before reviewing this DVD. If you're a new user, register for free and enter to WIN FREE DVDs!

The basic joke of the would-be romp Without a Clueis that Dr Watson (Ben Kingsley) is a detecting genius who has had to hide his light under a bushel by hiring an alcoholic ham actor Reginald Kincaid (Michael Caine) to pose as his imaginary alter ego Sherlock Holmes. He is now frustrated because the blundering idiot is hailed as an infallible hero while he is forever being pushed out of the picture. To really work, the film should have cast a leading man who gives the impression that he might make a good serious Holmes, but Caine is all too credible in his idiot act. In one of the best jokes Watson covers up a faux pas by complementing Holmes on his convincing disguise as a drunken lout, and so the laughs that should come in a flow only manage to trickle.

The actual plot is about forged bank-notes ruining the Empire but is constructed to allow for the usual excursion by picturesque steam train to a clue-ridden holiday destination and some dirty deeds down by the docks. The leads coast through their routines but the supporting cast has an appropriately rat-like and embittered Inspector Lestrade from Jeffrey Jones, a winsomely duplicitous Victorian heroine from Lysette Anthony and a rather good goateed sadist Professor Moriarty from Paul Freeman. It can't hold a magnifying glass to Billy Wilder's The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes, but as a Holmesian footnote it edges a deerstalker or so ahead of Gene Wilder's The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother. It certainly beats the Peter Cook-Dudley Moore Hound of the Baskervillesand John Cleese in The Strange Case of the End of Civilisation as We Know It.--Kim Newman

Main Language:	English
Region:	Region 2
Year:	1988
Release Date:	November 12, 2001
Runtime:	102 minutes
Certification:
Catalogue Number:	37115 01843
Keywords:	Comedy, General, Without, Clue
Genre:	Comedy