WITHOUT A CLUE

US, 1988, 104 minutes, Colour.
Michael Caine, Ben Kingsley, Lysette Anthony, Nigel Davenport, Peter Cook, Paul Freeman.

Without a Clue is an amusing play on words, title for a spoof on Sherlock Holmes. There have been many variations on the Sherlock Holmes theme in films: The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes by Billy Wilder with Robert Stephens and Colin Blakely; The Seven Per Cent Solution with Nicol Williamson and Robert Duvall; They Might Be Giants with George C. Scott imagining he was Sherlock Holmes - as well as The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother with Gene Wilder and Marty Feldman and the Disney animation, The Great Mouse Adventure.

The point of this film is that Dr Watson is the brains behind the Sherlock Holmes stories and has to hire an actor to impersonate Holmes to satisfy the public. They wouldn't accept Watson as the great detective. In this context there is a mystery with Paul Freeman as Moriarty.

There is a nice sense of period, decor and costumes. But the acting is the thing: Michael Caine as the actor impersonating Holmes and Ben Kingsley as Dr Watson.

1. The continued popularity of Sherlock Holmes and Conan Doyle's plots? The traditions of variations on the theme - even spoofs? The finale and the apologies to Conan Doyle?

2. The re-creation of period? The credits and the wash-style sketches? Baker Street, London, the river, the theatre, trains, Lake Windermere? And the pleasantly jaunty score?

3. The title and its tone, pub? Expectations?

4. The opening with Sherlock Holmes at work, the theatrical capture, the giving of interviews, the reaction of the press, Watson's sudden outburst of anger and control of Holmes? The setting of the spoof?

5. Watson as real and Ben Kingsley's interpretation? Writing the stories, their popularity, the paper? The public wanting a real Holmes? His hiring Kincaid, rehearsing him, the routines? The elaborate techniques for Watson to notice and Kincaid to distract? Their tense relationship? Kincaid leaving? The necessity for him to return? His being very proper? Watson as proper? Watson knowing everything? His reaction with Inspector Lestrade? His reliance on the London boys for information? Mrs Hudson knowing the truth?

6. Michael Caine's style as Kincaid: theatrical, a drinker, womaniser, histrionic, relying on the form and style, awkward, playing the violin to records, the Holmes cap and pipe etc.? His press interview after solving the first case? Clash with Watson, leaving, at the pub and drinking, his being accosted and escaping? The new job? The clashes with Inspector Lestrade? The chancellor and the routines, the cues from
Watson, able to pick up the cues and go through his routine? The trip to the north - and his being beaten by the woman who resented Sherlock Holmes? Lake Windemere, the town reception and fuss? His roving eye, drinking and falling over the rail, being saved by Watson? The storytelling and the interviews? The return? The girl and his giving his confidence to her? The build-up to Moriarty, fears? At the dock and Watson dying? His sadness, becoming decisive, the clue in the Bible from Psalm 23, with Mrs Hudson and the girl, going to the rescue, the
confrontation with the thugs, his ingenuity in the theatre, the confrontation, saving Watson, the duel with Moriarty, the arrival of Inspector Lestrade and his final tribute to Watson?

7. Watson and his efficiency, exasperation, knowing the clues for the disappearance of the expert, the arrival of the daughter, his staging his own drowning, his reappearance? His accepting his place with public acclamation of Holmes? The ideal collaboration?

8. Mrs Hudson, the cranky housekeeper with Kincaid, helping Watson? Going to the rescue, in the theatre, her frights?

9. Moriartv as villainous, callous, his thugs? The plan, the forging of the money, the theatre, the confrontation with Watson, the duel with Holmes, the irony of the girl being in his employ? The irony of the printer and the false daughter and their relationship?

10. The printer, his being kidnapped, seeming murder, his clue on the note, the female impersonator as his daughter?

11. The Chancellor of the Exchequer, his anxiety, the anxiety of Queen Victoria, the admiration of Holmes, going for the interview, the deadline for the solving of the case? Acclaim of Holmes?

12. Jeffrey Jones and his style as Lestrade: wooden, uncomprehending, conscious of his own dignity? Following Holmes in pursuing the clues, getting the credit?

13. A Sherlock Holmes story in the Conan Doyle vein - with variations?