Review: The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes

 

As recounted by his faithful companion Dr. Watson (Colin Blakely), famed detective Sherlock Holmes (Robert Stephens) assists a mystery woman (Genevieve Page) suffering from a case of amnesia. She doesn’t know who she is or where she is from, but nonetheless knows that her engineer husband is missing. The investigation takes Holmes and Watson to Scotland, and even encountering The Loch Ness Monster! Before all of that, there’s some business with a Russian ballerina (Tamara Toumanova) and her manager (Clive Revill), in which Holmes has to pretend to be homosexual to avoid a sticky situation. Christopher Lee plays Sherlock’s straight-laced, balding older brother Mycroft. He’s a member of the British Secret Service and representative of the Diogenes gentleman’s club, who warns Sherlock to drop the case of the missing engineer. The plot thickens. Stanley Holloway has a cameo as a gravedigger, whilst Irene Handl plays the housekeeper of our protagonists.

 

I’ll never be taken for a Sherlock Holmes buff, but this underrated 1970 mystery film from Hollywood great Billy Wilder and his frequent screenwriter I.A.L. Diamond (the men behind “Some Like it Hot”, “The Apartment”, and “The Fortune Cookie”) is a very classy affair. The lovely titles design is by the esteemed Maurice Binder (the James Bond franchise), there’s an excellent Miklos Rozsa (“Double Indemnity”, “Spellbound”) score, and the late, great Christopher Lee gets to add Mycroft Holmes to the collection of Holmesian characters he had essayed throughout his long career (Having also played Sherlock Holmes himself three times, and Sir Henry Baskerville in Hammer’s “The Hound of the Baskervilles”). The production design is gorgeous, as is the cinematography by Christopher Challis (“The Red Shoes”, “Sink the Bismarck”), and there’s some very witty lines in the script by Wilder and Diamond, as you’d expect. In addition to supplying a solid if rather easily deduced mystery plot, there’s lots of funny little superfluous bits throughout as well in this light-hearted take on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s famous detective and his doctor companion.

 

Everyone has their favourite Holmes, whether it be due to strict fidelity to the text (apparently Jeremy Brett fits that bill for many) or simple personal preference. For me, Peter Cushing comes out on top in that regard. When I think Sherlock Holmes, I think Cushing. However, a powdered, pompous Robert Stephens is terrific here as the genius detective who doesn’t suffer fools remotely. He also knows perfectly well that Dr. Watson dilutes the Seven Percent Solution down to five percent. Some might find him a tad effete and loud in the role, but for this somewhat comedic and not entirely traditional take, I found him quite amusing. Speaking of amusing, for some reason I kept hearing comedian/presenter Joe ‘Hugo Boss’ Lycett in Stephens’ voice – am I the only one? As the somewhat long-suffering Dr. Watson, character actor Colin Blakely is absolutely hilarious. He may not make you forget the late, great Nigel Bruce but he’s great fun nonetheless. There’s a particularly great bit where a bit of gossip turns Watson’s fine time with the ladies into a fun time with the lads. It’s not a very PC joke perhaps, but lord help me I laughed.

 

Genevieve Page does a terrific job in a pivotal supporting role here. A bald Christopher Lee is pitch-perfect casting as Sherlock’s very serious, pompous brother Mycroft Holmes, the actor clearly enjoying being in the company of a famous director, no matter the size of the role. He and Stephens (the latter of whom had a horror of a time working under Wilder, apparently) play well off one another. Kiwi-born character actor Clive Revill and a terrific Stanley Holloway are also fun in cameos, as is an adorable Mollie Maureen as the very tiny Queen Victoria.

 

A bit slow out of the gate and slightly transparent, this handsomely mounted mystery is nonetheless enjoyable. A  witty and well-acted Sherlock Holmes film from a classy veteran filmmaker, for whom this was apparently a passion project. Might be a little too comedic in tone for some Arthur Conan Doyle purists, but I had a jolly good time with this one. I just wish it got going a little faster, the early scenes are fun but rather superfluous. Interestingly melancholic ending probably won’t be for everyone, but I liked it actually.

 

Rating: B-