MURDER BY DECREE (vhs) Jack the Ripper and 50 similar items

Pre-viewed for quality and there were some quick lines on the top-mid frame at 8 minutes (first murder scene). And then once again at the very end just before the credits roll. Cassette is nice and clean. Collectible cover art box has been cut and mounted crookedly in a white, hard clamshell display case. It has a small 'mystery' sticker on the top left spine. Immortal detective Sherlock Holmes (Christopher Plummer) is in search of London's most hideous human monster, Jack the Ripper. Swirling fog, rattling hansom cabs, and slippery-with-dew cobblestones lend atmosphere as Holmes stalks the mass murderer of prostitutes in London's West End. Holmes dons his Inverness cape and deer-stalker cap and smokes his famous pipe while delightedly shouting to faithful Dr. Watson (James Mason), "the game's afoot!" Sir Charles Warren, the new superintendent of Scotland Yard, purposely avoids having Holmes investigate the rash of brutal slayings but he becomes involved anyway, especially after Robert Lees (Donald Sutherland), a real-life psychic used by the Yard during the actual Ripper case, goads the great sleuth into action. Annie Crook (Genevieve Bujold), the discarded mistress of a Royal person who is also a suspect, provides the key that unlocks a mystery which baffled law enforcement officers for a century. There is action aplenty, especially as the film nears its conclusion. The highlight, a dockside battle where Holmes wields a lethal weight tied to his scarf. A first rate cast, its exciting and engrossing on all levels. The Johnny Depp remake used the same generally accepted theory as to the killers identity.