Something's Been Lost Over the Years..., Jul 28 2003

"The original screenplay as described by Billy Wilder was a symphony in four movements. Following a modern day prologue (represented here in still photos and script pages) the intent was to illustrate four stories that Dr. Watson optednot to have published in the 'Strand Magazine'.

"Wilder wanted to explain Holmes' distrust of women, his drug addiction, his relationship with Dr. Watson; and, at the same time reveal Holmes' human side. The completed version would run approximately three hours, including an intermission. Upon its release in 1970, Wilder's symphony was presented with only two of its four movements."

Two biographies I've read confirm that Wilder cried openly when he saw the final product.

This Deleted Scenes section is most intriguing as it meticulously reconstructs as much as possible the four "movements" of Wilder's "symphony" which are titled: "Original Prologue" (including an appearance by 'Dr. Watson' circa 1970), "The Curious Case of the Upside Down Room", "The Adventure of the Dumbfounded Detective/Holmes Recounts an Affair of the Past" and finally "The Dreadful Business of the Naked Honeymooners". As mentioned above, still photos and script pages were used - and a lot of actual filmed footage which is presented with subtitles because the soundtrack could not be located. Taking all of this into consideration, I'm not all that sure that the three-hour version would have worked; and the final cut released by the studio is something of a disappointment.

The opening scene nicely introduces a somewhat different interpretation of the main characters, with Holmes complaining that Watson is always exaggerating his exploits and putting words into his mouth; and diluting his "seven-percent solution" of morphine to five. Then they're off to the final performance of Petrova in The Russian Ballet, after which Rogozgin (Clive Revill), Petrova's manager advises that she's retiring.

"She's been dancing since she was three-years-old...now she is thirty-eight."

"I must say, she doesn't look thirty-eight!"

"That's because she is forty-nine."

(And that, unfortunately, is one of a mere handful of jokes in the screenplay.)

Petrova also wants to have a "beautiful and brilliant child"; she has the beauty, and Holmes has the brains. But something's afoot! This extended 20-minute scene is meant to confirm Holmes' homosexuality and deny that the heterosexual Watson has been his secret lover. The problem is that it doesn't have anything to do with the basic plot, which doesn't kick in for a full thirty minutes. It may have "balanced" Wilder's symphony concept, but out of that context it's totally extraneous.

And by comparison to Arthur Conan Doyle's plots, this one is pretty skimpy. It was probably intended as a simple framework to hold your interest while the deleted scenes were to enlighten you about the "private life" elements. This also makes the title of the film misleading. I won't go into the details of the plot or bring up any spoilers for those who want to see it, except to say that it is shamefully simplistic.

The acting is topnotch all around and Robert Stevens makes an excellent Holmes, though Colin Blakeley's Watson is sometimes too blustery and exasperated; at times you almost expect to hear that "blowing-off-steam-whistle" sound affect associated with Lou Costello and Oliver Hardy. Christopher Lee as Holmes' brother, Mycroft, steals the few scenes he's in.

He also provides and interesting extra titled "Christopher Lee: Mr. Holmes, Mr. Wilder" in which he recalls a few behind-the-scenes tales of working with Wilder (whom he greatly admires), and brief overview of the Holmes legend, some of which was seen on the "The Hound of the Baskervilles" DVD released last year. This is followed by a 30-minute interview Ernest Walker, the film's editor who provides some interesting information on meeting and working with Wilder. There's also the usual Photo Gallery and Trailer.

The best part of the film is the beautifully poignant score by Miklos Rozsa, which I wish had been offered as an isolated track. The cinematography is by Christopher Challis ("Sink the Bismarck!", "Two for the Road", "Arabesque", "Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines") - but it's hard to judge his contribution because of the poor quality of the transfer. It looks washed out with dull colors; and several transition scenes (probably reel ends) take on a fogged-up appearance, though not one suggesting a London "shroud". In fact, the film itself isn't much better that the found footage used for the reconstructed scenes. This is surprising coming from MGM whose "Women in Love" DVD is spectacularly lush. For that matter, so are the transfers in their Midnite Movie series. It may have been the original "Private Life..." film stock; but most of the Midnight Movies are cheap exploitation and horror films and I find it hard to believe that, say, Roger Corman, had better film than Wilder.

I must be in the minority because on imdb, "The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes" has a rating of 7.3 rating (with over 500 votes; and hereAmazon 22 reviews averages a 4  out of 5.

Perhaps I should have bought Wilder's "Kiss Me, Stupid" instead.

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70's Masterpiece finally available on DVD, Sep 21 2003

By	Wayne Klein "If at first the idea is not absu... (My Little Blue Window, USA) - See all my reviews

MGM's terrific reissue features a number of extras that make this edition worth waiting for. While it doesn't have the cut scenes reintegrated into the film, it does feature a deleted scenes gallery that suggests how the film might have been had it not been butchered prior to general release. Sadly, there's much missing from this "lost" footage and, as a result, we don't get a restoration as much as a "recreation" with bits and pieces and script segments.

While this isn't the best transfer I've seen, the overall look is still pretty good. Yes, the look of the film is a bit washed out (not sure if that's due to the transfer or film stock but, knowing about the instability of film stock and less than pristine storage conditions many of these films were kept in, I'd vote for negative deterioation)but it is presented in its original aspect ratio. The overall presentation is quite good considering what MGM had to work with and, barring a restoration by someone like Robert Harris, this is probably the best version we'll ever see.

Christopher Lee shines during his brief screen time as Holmes brother. Lee did eventually get to play Holmes as well so it's rather funny to see him playing Holmes brother (after also playing Baskerville in Terry Fisher's Hound of the Baskervilles). Robert Stephens IS Holmes in this film. He lives and breathes the character in ways that Rathbone and others never quite did. I've seen some criticism of Colin Blakely's Watson here but find it to be little more than critcial bluster. Blakely's take on Watson manages to both tip the hat to Nigel Bruce and satirize the way the character was emasculated in most of the film adaptions of Doyle's work.

Oh, I'd like to add The Seven Percent Solution to my list of great Holmes adventures not written by Doyle but, sadly, it isn't available in widescreen(at least I haven't been able to find it) on DVD.

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