The Private Life Of Sherlock Holmes details
| Format: | PG DVD |
|---|---|
| Starring: | Geneviève Page, Colin Blakely, Robert Stephens, Stanley Holloway, Tamara Toumanova, Clive Revill, Christopher Lee |
| Director: | Billy Wilder |
| Genres: | Action/Adventure - Crime, Comedy - Crime, Thriller - Whodunnit |
| Studio: | MGM ENTERTAINMENT |
| Name | Discs | |
|---|---|---|
The Private Life Of Sherlock Holmes |
PG Feature |
DVD Information
| Run time: | 2 hours |
|---|---|
| Rental release: | 07 Jun 2004 |
| Main languages: | English |
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Most helpful review
Another hit for Billy Wilder
By Mikey4 from London , 07 Jul 2004[Highly rated reviewer]
For me, this movie will always be the pinnacle of Sherlock Holmes tributes. Robert Stephens laconic portrayal of Holmes, while not quite as faithful to the Conan Doyle version as many others, is nonetheless somehow more believable simply because of the all-too-human flaws in his personality and the humour with which these flaws are exposed.
The movie has everything that Holmes fans will love. A mysterious client, a secret organisation, an enemy who is truly worthy of The Great Man and a chance to glimpse the fragile being trapped inside a persona seen too often as an unfeeling robot.- Was this review helpful to you?
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All reviews
(15)Below Average 70s Sherlock
By David Cooper from Edinburgh , 30 Jul 2012Slow paced, and spoiled by the way over the top acting from Colin Blakely.
Not very good.- Was this review helpful to you?
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More comedy than mystery
By stuntgirl (16 reviews) from London , 29 Dec 2009This film is to Sherlock Holmes what the Peter Ustinov films are to Poirot. They are slightly tongue in cheek, with a distinctly annoying bumbling sidekick. Not deep or great characterisations or particularly moving, but fun nonetheless. Not a patch on Jeremy Brett or Rupert Everett or even Basil Rathbone I'm afraid.- Was this review helpful to you?
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Overlooked, with good reason
By InspectorSands (209 reviews) from London , 19 Sep 2009Okay, it's not all bad. Nice cinematography, great sets, a couple of good one-liners. Good to see some English stalwarts such as Irene Handl, Frank Thornton and Stanley Holloway in cameos, even if they're not given much to do. There are some high-jinks later on in the film that put you in mind of a Will Hay film but are good fun anyway. Christopher Lee injects some much-needed solemnity but he isn't in it much.
Otherwise this is a misfire. The first half hour is the worst by far. It seems to want to be a comedy - but it isn't very funny. The whole thing is broadly played, it feels like a 1960s comedy along the lines of My Fair Lady. It's very much an American take on a British icon, so they're portrayed as bumblers and stereotypes. I can enjoy this in a comedy film like Mary Poppins, but not in this context.
Blakely's Watson is a bluff, boneheaded, no-nonsense Yorkshire man, Stephens' Holmes is a fey, foppish type with a pained, amused expression like Hans Gruber from Allo Allo. You can imagine him injecting liquid cocaine alright, but not doing any serious sleuthing. Suggestions that he may be gay early on seem distasteful in this comedy context, I could buy it in a more serious film with a wirier, colder, more restrained Holmes.- Was this review helpful to you?
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Enjoyable romp
By a customer from Innerleithen , 28 Feb 2009As a fan of Jeremy Brett's & Edward Hardwicke's depictions of the Holmes & Watson duo I found this film's tongue in cheek approach with much playing-for-laughs rather irritating. I thought Robert Stevens too sensual for part of Holmes and I prefer Watson not to be played aa a bit of a buffoon. Apart from that it was a jolly romp of a film—very 70s in appearance.- Was this review helpful to you?
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interesting for Sherlock Holmes fans, but...
By philly (26 reviews) from Frome , 11 Aug 2008As a fan of Sherlock Holmes, I wasn't sure what to expect from this film after reading the reviews. The concept is interesting; this was meant as a comedy rather than a mystery as the original Doyle stories were, so there was scope for irreverence; and Robert Stevens was a superb actor. But something just wasn't right. The script was zany, and in places very funny, but it was patchy. Perhaps that was down to the cuts made in the final version. Or perhaps Stevens simply wasn't the right person for the part. He just wasn't Holmes - or at least not the Holmes of Doyle's creation. Having said that, the film was a decent comedy, better than some that come out of Hollywood today. And the character of Dr Watson was well played. His comic timing was very good.- Was this review helpful to you?
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