The Seven-Per-Cent Solution (1976)

Country of Origin: USA
Year of Production: 1976
Running Times: 114 mins
Format: Technicolor     Panavision      35mm
Ratio: 2.35:1
Sound:

PRODUCTION
Production Company: Universal presents  A Winitsky-Sellers Production
Copyright: by Universal Pictures Ltd
Executive Producers: Arlene Sellers and Alex Winitsky
Produced by: Herbert Ross
Associate Producer: Stanley O'Toole
Production Manager: Michael Guest

SCRIPT
Screenplay by / From his novel: Nicholas Meyer
Characters: Arthur Conan Doyle (uncredited)

DIRECTORS
Directed by: Herbert Ross
Assistant Director: Scott Wodehouse
2nd Unit Supervised by: Howard Jeffrey

PHOTOGRAPHY
Director of Photography: Oswald Morris
Camera Operators: Jimmy Turrell & Mike Fox
Camera Assistants: Maurice Arnold, Cedric James
2nd Unit Cameraman: Alex Thomson
Stills: David James
Lenses and Panaflex Cameras by Panavision
Colour by Technicolor

EDITING
Editorial Supervision by: William Reynolds
Editors: Chris Barnes, Michael E. Polakow (uncredited)
Assistant Editor: Larry Richardson

MUSIC
Music: John Addison
Music Editor: Steve Hope
Music Recorded At: Anvil Film and Records Group

SONGS AND ADDITIONAL MUSIC
The Madame's Song
by: Stephen Sondheim

SOUND
Sound Recordist: Cyril Swern
Sound Editor: Terry Poulton
Dubbing Mixer: Gordon McCallum

MAKE UP AND COSTUMES
Make-Up: Bill Lodge & John Webber
Hair: Colin Jamison & Janet Jamison
Costume Designer: Alan Barrett
Wardrobe: Richard Pointing & Gillian Dods

DESIGN AND SET CONSTRUCTION
Production Designed by: Ken Adam
Art Director: Peter Lamont
Assistant Art Directors: Charles Bishop, Ernest Archer
Set Dresser: Peter James
Production Buyer: Ron Quelch
Construction Manager: Michael Redding
Title Design: Wayne Fitzgerald
Sketch Artist: Ivor Beddoes
Titrle Drawings: Sidney Paget, first published in The Strand Managzine by George Newnes Limited

MISCELLANEOUS
Continuity: Ann Skinner
Production Associate: Howard Jeffrey
Assistant To Mr Ross: Nora Kaye
Publicists: Nat Weiss & Brian Doyle

LOCATIONS
Filmed on location in Austria and England and at Pinewood Studios, London, England
Location Manager: Ray Freeborn

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The use of the character 'Sherlock Holmes' and other characters created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is withe the permission of Baskervilles Investment Ltd

CASTING
Casting: Rose Tobias Shaw

CAST
Alan Arkin (Sigmund Freud)
Vanessa Redgrave (Lola Deveraux)
Robert Duvall (Dr John H. Watson)
Nicol Williamson (Sherlock Holmes)
Laurence Olivier (Professor Moriarty)
Joel Grey (Lowenstein)
Samantha Eggar (Mary Watson)
Charles Gray (Mycroft Holmes)
Georgia Brown (Mrs Freud)
Regine (Madame)
Jeremy Kemp (Baron von Leinsdorf)
Anna Quayle (Freda)
Jill Townsend (Mrs Holmes)
John Bird (Berger)
Alison Leggatt (Mrs Hudson)
Gertan Klauber (The Pasha)
Frederick Jaeger (Marker)
Erik Chitty (the butler)
Jack May (Dr Schultz)
Leon Greene (Squire Holmes)
Michael Blagdon (young Holmes)
Ashley House (young Freud)
Sheila Shand Gibbs (nun)
Erich Padalewski (station master)
John Hill (train engineer)

PLOT SUMMARY

Dr John Watson becomes so concerned about his friend Sherlock Holmes' cocaine abuse that he tricks the consulting detective into travelling to Vienna where he is to be treated for his addiction by Sigmund Freud. Using his fledgeling theories of the human mind, Freud delves into Holmes' subconscious, while the detective tries to solve the kidnapping of Lola Deveraux.

An unusual take on the Sherlock Holmes / Moriarty story that, for the most part, works extremely well. Nicol Williamson is an excellent Holmes, hopelessly addicted to the needle, with solid support from Laurence Olivier as Moriarty, Robert Duvall as Watson and Alan Arkin as Sigmund Freud.

Finland
Rating: K-16

USA
Rating: PG

1977
July
22: West Germany - theatrical release

1978
February
17: Finland - theatrical release

Sherlock Holmes: soluzione settepercento - Italian title

MAGAZINES

L'Écran Fantastique 14 pp.17-22 (France)
review

Films and Filming March 1977 pp.14-15, 244 (UK)
article

Films and Filming July 1977 p.40 (UK)
review

Hollywood Reporter 6 October 1976 pp.2, 7 (USA)
credits, review

Monthly Film Bulletin February 1977 p.31 (UK)
credits, synopsis, review

Movietone News 16 Jan 1977 p.37-38 (USA)
review

Radio Times 21-27 June 1986 p.19 (UK)
credits, synopsis

Screen International 11 October 1975 p.14 (UK)
credits

Screen International 28 May 1977 p.16 (UK)
review

Variety 6 Oct 1976 p.20 (USA)
credits, review

OTHER SOURCES

screen
credits

detectives, drugs, psychoanalysis, sherlock holmes, sigmund freud, vienna

Last Updated: 15 October, 2008