The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (1970)

Note des utilisateurs:

7.3/10   

Réalisateur:

Billy Wilder

Writers:

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

Release Date:

29 octobre 1970 (USA)

Genre:

Aventure | Comedie | Crime | Mystery | Romance | Thriller

Accroche:

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

Avis des utilisateurs:

Thoroughly civilised, delightful entertainment

Ensemble

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

Autre(s) titre(s):

La vie privée de Sherlock Holmes (France) (dubbed version) [fr]

Durée:

125 min | Germany:120 min (TV version)

Pays:

UK

Langue:

Anglais | Russe | Français

Couleur:

Couleur

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Son:

Mono

Classification:

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

Emplacements De Pelliculage:

Drumnadrochit, Loch Ness, Highlands, Scotland, UK

Company:

Compton Films

Anecdotes:

Last cinema film of Catherine Lacey.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: The events start in August 1887 and apparently take place in the following weeks or, at most, months. However, Mycroft Holmes tells Queen Victoria that Kaiser Wilhelm II had Count Zeppelin working on dirigibles that could drop bombs on Buckingham Palace. Wilhelm II did not become Kaiser until 15 June 1888, and Zeppelin did not start constructing rigid airships until the 1890s.

Guillemet:

Holmes: Some of us are cursed with memories like flypaper. Stuck there is a staggering amount of miscellaneous data, most of it useless.

Movie Connections:

References Hamlet (1948)

Thoroughly civilised, delightful entertainment

Billy Wilder's take on the world's most famous detective is both painstakingly faithful and sardonically subversive to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's idiossyncratic creation. Presented as a case that loyal companion John Watson duly recorded but requested remain secret until long after his death, in which Holmes aids a Belgian woman find her missing husband, a mining engineer hired by an apparently non-existant English company, it makes clever use of the rulebook Conan Doyle set down while at the same time undermining it from within. The title and the plot may seem misleading at first - the first half hour especially seems at odds with what comes afterwards - but in fact if you're a Holmes fan you'll quickly realise that this is as close to romance as the detective would ever allow, and Wilder tells it through a masterful accumulation of small touches that only someone as meticulous as the man himself would notice. Script-wise, it's a cracking mystery in the best Doyle tradition, with all the time-honoured twists and turns present and correct. The acting is also up to Wilder's usual standards; Stephens and Blakely are an engaging duo as a bored Holmes and a bumbling Watson, and there's a hysterically funny supporting turn by the always underrated Revill as a Russian ballet impresario. Wilder's trademark pointed cynicism fits the English witticism particularly well, even if at times it all seems a bit too modern for the peaceful Victorian surroundings, but it is quite ironic to see him chiding Britain's stiff-upper-lip, old-fashioned morality when the film seems to be an "old timers' movie" entirely out of sync with its own time. Still, it's hard to find fault in such a thoroughly civilised and delightful entertainment.