The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (1970)

Director:

Billy Wilder

Writers:

Arthur Conan Doyle (characters)
Billy Wilder (written by) ...

Release Date:

29 October 1970 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Comedy | Crime | Mystery | Romance | Thriller

Tagline:

What you don't know about Sherlock Holmes has made a great motion picture. [USA Theatrical]

Plot:

When a bored Holmes eagerly takes the case of Gabrielle Valladon after an attempt on her life, the search for her missing husband leads to Loch Ness and the legendary monster.

Plot Keywords:

Loch Ness | Monk | Sherlock Holmes | Castle | Loch Ness Monster

Awards:

2 nominations

Cast

Robert Stephens	...	Sherlock Holmes
Colin Blakely	...	Dr. Watson
Geneviève Page	...	Gabrielle Valladon (as Genevieve Page)
Christopher Lee	...	Mycroft Holmes
Tamara Toumanova	...	Madame Petrova
Clive Revill	...	Rogozhin
Irene Handl	...	Mrs. Hudson
Mollie Maureen	...	Queen Victoria
Stanley Holloway	...	Gravedigger
Catherine Lacey	...	Woman in wheelchair
Peter Madden	...	Von Tirpitz
Michael Balfour	...	Cabby
James Copeland	...	Guide
John Garrie	...	First carter
Godfrey James	...	Second carter

Runtime:

125 min | Germany:120 min (TV version)

Country:

UK

Language:

English | Russian | French

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:L | USA:PG-13 (certificate #22200) | Australia:PG | Finland:K-12 | Sweden:11 | UK:A (original rating) | UK:PG (video rating) (1988) | USA:GP (original rating) | West Germany:6 | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

Drumnadrochit, Loch Ness, Highland, Scotland, UK

Company:

Compton Films

Trivia:

Stills and soundtrack show John Williams in a substantial role as a bank official and Edward Fox as Inspector Lestrade. All their scenes were ultimately cut.

Goofs:

Errors in geography: When Holmes, Watson and Gabrielle get off the train at Inverness, the train goes forward to another destination. The railway station at Inverness is a terminus.

Quotes:

[Holmes is about to inject cocaine]
Watson: Where's your self-control?
Holmes: Fair question.
Watson: Aren't you ashamed of yourself?
Holmes: Thoroughly. This will take care of it.

Movie Connections:

References Hamlet (1948)

Grand even as an edit

This film is sometimes described as a comedy, and while it has humorous bits (a more sardonic and biting form of humour most of the time), it has never really felt at home being classified as a comedy, in my estimation. I do like the rapid-fire wit that Holmes seems to have here (a bit more in abundance than in the canonical Conan Doyle stories), but the Holmes presented here is a bit more dark and brooding, more akin to the extra-canonical 'Seven Percent Solution' Holmes in many ways.

Wilder was an extraordinary director and genius who sometimes gets carried away with his subject (in this regard, he is sometimes compared with Stanley Kubrick). His films are often of epic-proportions, even though they are not essentially 'epic' subjects. This film is reputed to have been nearly twice as long as the final cut version, but this may be apocryphal in that much of the raw footage never made it to final print and production. The restoration available on the disc currently available is, in fact, rather minimal - a few scenes and a few extras, but not much more than the original release of the film. This is disappointing to many fans, but in fact is more than most of us have had for a long time, as the somewhat choppy film was often mercilessly cut for television broadcast.

Holmes in this case is played by Robert Stephens, an unlikely Holmes in comparison to standards such as Rathbone, Brett, or Gillette, but still an interesting choice - quintessentially British, reserved but daring, brilliant yet flawed and faltering. Colin Blakely presents a stronger Watson than often portrayed before (this film, being made in 1970, presented this as a newer idea for Watson, one that has been picked up by many subsequent productions). Wilder has the actors play at various issues of Victorian sensibility and morality, including the implication (dismissed in the end) that Holmes might have a sexual identity issue. Christopher Lee, who himself plays Holmes in other productions, plays Holmes' smarter brother Mycroft here, to good effect.

The story line does have some inspiration from the canonical stories (the Bruce-Partington Plans, for one), and from Gillette's play (the strange case of Miss Faulkner, introducing an ending that allowed for a love interest for Holmes in the end), but for the most part takes the characters from Conan Doyle and runs far afield. Still, this is must-see film for any fan of Holmes, and any fan of Wilder, who saw this as one of his last great productions.