One of the earlier episodes of the Granada series, with Jeremy Brett as Holmes and David Burke as Watson. For me, what stood out in this film was less the acting (which is very good), but the humour. To watch out for in particular:
Hugely fun to watch, with exuberant performances from Brett and Burke, with Brett's Holmes full of the brilliance, arrogance, single-mindedness, and eccentricity of Doyle's master detective.
- The opening scene (in the barber's shop), where Watson tries a little deduction of his own, taking Holmes somewhat by surprise. As it turns out, Watson is mostly right, but Holmes does not give way without teasing him first. A wonderful addition that highlights the friendship between the two men.
- Observation and deduction on the carriage standing outside 221b Baker Street on their return, here scripted with both Holmes and Watson speaking, and so breaking once and for all, from earlier portrayals of Watson as slow or 'bumbling.' Though if you think about it, he couldn't have been either. He was a successful medical doctor, surely that alone required more than a modicum of intelligence, even in late Victorian England?!
- The scene in the murdered Blessington's bedroom, where Holmes examines the evidence, picks up a hair from here, a cigarette stub from there, and some ash residue from somewhere else, before making ready to leave, having pronounced to the police inspector, Watson, and others, that it's perfectly clear what has happened. The comic element is in the expressions of the other actors, and in Holmes's surprise when Watson (baffled and slightly long- suffering), asks him if he might 'tell us something now, Holmes?'
- The scene of Holmes and Watson back at Baker Street, with the former strewing papers and notebooks all over every available surface in his search for a newspaper cutting that solves the mystery. Look out in particular for Watson's hurried departure from a Mrs. Hudson who at that moment, is feeling pleased that she has finally managed to complete her spring cleaning, and that good lady's horror when she sees the state of the Baker Street sitting room.
- Holmes stopping his violin practice so that Watson can get on with writing, to the latter's deepest gratitude, only to continue scratching away (very badly) in the next room.
Hugely fun to watch, with exuberant performances from Brett and Burke, with Brett's Holmes full of the brilliance, arrogance, single-mindedness, and eccentricity of Doyle's master detective.