This existing version is still fascinating, funny and clever.
The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (1970)
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Reviews Counted:21
Fresh:20
Rotten:1
Average Rating:7.6/10
Runtime: 2 hrs 7 mins
Genre: Comedies
Synopsis: In what may be the director's most personal film, he makes use of incidents from his own life in exploring the mystery of Sherlock Holmes' sexual preference and past romances. Robert Stephens stars... In what may be the director's most personal film, he makes use of incidents from his own life in exploring the mystery of Sherlock Holmes' sexual preference and past romances. Robert Stephens stars as the fictional detective, shooting cocaine to alleviate the boredom that plagues him between cases. But his ennui evaporates when he and longtime colleague Dr. Watson (Colin Blakely) receive tickets to the performance of a Russian ballet company. Afterwards, Petrova (Tamara Toumanova), the prima ballerina asks Holmes to become the father of his child, intending to combine her beauty with his intellect. Homes refuses on the basis that he and Watson are lovers, greatly annoying his staunchly heterosexual companion, who begins to wonder whether the detective really is gay. Before this mystery can be solved, the two men find Gabrielle Valladon (Genvieve Page), a beautiful and intriguing woman in the grip of amnesia, on their doorstep. When she remembers that she's seeking her husband, Holmes agrees to take the case, and is soon off to Scotland. Matters grow progressively more bizarre, as the detective must deal with the Loch Ness monster, a family of midgets, and an experimental submarine. Unique among the director's films, it's steeped in a bittersweet romanticism, expressing a vulnerabilty and self-doubt found nowhere else in the body of his work. Robert Stephens, who was so overwhelmed by the intense sense of self-loathing Wilder wished him to explore that he attempted suicide during production, is excellent as Holmes, and the florid romanticism of Miklos Rosza's violin concerto creates a suitable ambiance. [More]
Starring: Robert Stephens, Colin Blakely, Genevieve Page, Irene Handl
Starring: Robert Stephens, Colin Blakely, Genevieve Page, Irene Handl, Stanley Holloway, Christopher Lee, Clive Revill, Peter Madden
Director: Billy Wilder
Director: Billy Wilder
Screenwriter: I. A. L. Diamond
Producer: Billy Wilder
Composer: Miklos Rozsa
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Reviews for The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes
Billy Wilder's endearingly romantic The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes is...worth seeing just for Alexandre Trauner's sets, especially a magical Baker Street.
This unjustly forgotten Billy Wilder film takes on the much-loved character of Sherlock Holmes and attempts to humanize him by examining his vulnerabilities.
It is in large part old-fashioned, in that it's mile-wide and ancient-history Sherlock Holmes, but it's also handsomely produced and directed with incisiveness by Wilder.
A true evocation of the spirit of the Strand Magazine, this is the best Holmes movie ever made and sorely underrated in the Wilder canon.
Stage actor Robert Stephens brilliantly plays Holmes with a nod and a wink.
Wilder's after something more profound than a simple mystery tale here and to a large extent he succeeds in his quest to cast the man in relief when held up against The Legend
Before the movie is 20 minutes old, Wilder has settled for simply telling a Sherlock Holmes adventure.
A mismatch of flavours (Holmes, Wilder) the thought of which doesn't so much turn your stomach as lead to speculation, and the taste of which is soured only by a foreknowledge of missed opportunities.
Billy Wilder stamps his own inimitable mark on to the strange case of Arthur Conan Doyle's greatest invention.
You wouldn't expect anything directed by Wilder and scripted by his long-time associate IAL Diamond to be anything less than funny and watchable, and this is both.
While it never achieves what the lost three hour print could have accomplished, this is still one of the sparkiest adventures that the private detective ever left 221b Baker Street for.
The story keeps accumulating disparate and baffling developments in a way that Conan Doyle would have been proud of
Affectionately conceived, chock-full of marvelous subtleties, this meticulously constructed adventure-romance shouldn't be missed.
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 15% 15% | The Ugly Truth |
| 98% 98% | Up |
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| 52% 52% | The Taking of Pelham 1… |
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| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 36% 36% | Angels & Demons |
| 68% 68% | Funny People |
| 25% 25% | Four Christmases |
| 45% 45% | Shorts |
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