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Without a Clue

Comedy · Crime

Without a Clue

The flip side of Sherlock Holmes

6.7(263) 5/5/1988 1h 47m
ComedyCrime

Sherlock Holmes is as dashing as ever, but with a little secret: Dr. Watson is the brains behind the operation. When Reginald Kincaid, the actor he has hired to play Holmes becomes insufferable, Watson fires him and tries to go out on his own, but finds that he has done too good a job building Holmes up in the public's mind.

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Top Cast

Michael Caine

Michael Caine

Sherlock Holmes

Ben Kingsley

Ben Kingsley

Dr. John Watson

Jeffrey Jones

Jeffrey Jones

Inspector Lestrade

Lysette Anthony

Lysette Anthony

Impostor Leslie Giles

Nigel Davenport

Nigel Davenport

Lord Smithwick

Peter Cook

Peter Cook

Greenhough

Gregor Fisher

Gregor Fisher

Bobby at Warehouse

Paul Freeman

Paul Freeman

Prof. James Moriarty

Directed by

Thom Eberhardt

Production

Reviews

CinemaSerf

7/10

8/7/2025

I’d love to have seen a Rathbone\Bruce example of role reversing! This one sees us with an entirely hopeless “Holmes” (Michael Caine) acclaimed as a sleuth by just about everyone except the true brains of the operation. That’s “Dr. Watson” (Ben Kingsley) who is the long-suffering cerebral power behind the throne. Finally exasperated by the drunken antics of “Holmes”, “Watson” determines to start writing about the “Crime Doctor” instead. Not only do the publishers not fancy that idea, but neither do the Chancellor of the Exchequer (Nigel Davenport) nor “Insp. Lestrade” (Jeffrey Jones) when they need someone to investigate the theft of some Bank of England five pound plates. With nobody interested in the good doctor’s theories, he has to induce his erstwhile, sozzled and broke, colleague to

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