Friday, March 29, 2013

The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes

In my earlier Sherlockian days I would have been afraid to watch a movie like T.P.L.O.S.H.
I would have been, Sherlockianwise, to immature to appreciate the irreverence in this wonderful movie.

But with my use of Amazon Prime I am finding several Sherlock Holmes movies I have never seen before available to watch for free. And luckily this was one.

The movie stars Robert Stephens as Holmes, with Colin Blakely as Watson and one of my favorites and a past Sherlock himself, Christopher Lee, as Mycroft.

The film is divided into two parts.

The first seems to want to set some things clear about Holmes and Watson and has very little to do with the actual case that follows.

The second part is a mystery about a missing scientist and follows ( and could be the inspiration for ) much of the plot of Without a Clue.

Soon critics feel the film falls apart at this point because the movie then just becomes Sherlock Holmes on another case, but, isn't that the point of Sherlock Holmes after all?

Historically there are suppose to be two more 'episodes' in the movie, but they were removed once the movie went into wider release.

Watson is played wonderfully high-strung by Blakely and is definitely there for a comic element.

The sets and scenes are fantastic, being filmed at Pinewood Studios and on location in Scotland.

Although Stephens will not go down as one of my favorite Holmes, his performance did grow on me as the movie went along, showing a range of emotion modern viewers of the new 'Holmes' would find appealing.

With that said, I give it four pipes for fun.


2 comments:

  1. This was a good adaptation. As you noted, one needs a sense of detachment from the Canon to appreciate it.

    I liked Lee's Mycroft. Way thin to be Canonically correct, but still had the body language and screen presence.

    I enjoyed the scene where Holmes and Watson meet Mycroft in the Diogenes Club. The Mycroft-Sherlock exchange was executed well (in my opinion).

    B2B.

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  2. You could sure feel Sherlock did not feel he was Mycroft's equal.

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