Review of The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (1970) by Rick B — 12 Jun 2012

Beautifully shot (particularly the parts in Scotland), magnificently acted (especially by the two leads, but also kudos for Ms. Page and Holmes-veteran Christopher Lee) and a pretty nifty mystery make for a movie that qualifies as far more than just 'good', but I certainly wouldn't call it great. Wilder obviously applied his knack for snappy dialogue, and he brilliantly managed to merge his own particular style with the classic British Victorian tongue-in-cheek humour, so there are many chuckles to be had. It's also great to to catch a glimpse of the more romantic, less calculating side of the Great Detective.

Nevertheless, it's abundantly clear that the studio brutally edited more than one hour out of the film, which makes for a good detective mystery, but it doesn't tell us anything really 'new' about Sherlock Holmes, the man and his motives, as the title implies. I would have loved to see the finished product the way Wilder intended it; he himself was appalled by the cuts, as he considered this his 'most elegant picture'. Still, it's a very good, if somewhat inconsistent, movie.