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Reviews
Your Show Time: The Adventure of the Speckled Band (1949)
Fun but bare boned version of Shelock Holmes
When I heard that Alfred the butler from the 60's Batman TV series did a version of Sherlock Holmes it sounded interesting.
This version of Sherlock Homes is really bare bones, essentially a few sets and a very static camera. That's somewhat to be expected for a half hour episode of very early television (1949) Alan Napier is a stereotypical Sherlock and the banter between Holmes and Watson isn't bad. Napier had the size and presence to have made a great Sherlock in a better production and Melville Cooper was an acceptable Watson, although he's a bit of a punching bag.
The direction is not great, just short of high school play. One character spends considerable amount of time facing away from the camera while talking.
The episode can be found on Youtube, and it's survival is fairly remarkable. If you like really, really old TV and are a fan of Alan Napier or Sherlock Holmes it's worth spending a half hour on.