The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (1970)

Director:

Billy Wilder

Writers:

I.A.L. Diamond (writer)
Arthur Conan Doyle (characters)

Release Date:

29 October 1970 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Mystery

Tagline:

The world's greatest detective tackles his toughest case !

Plot:

Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson assist a beautiful woman with amnesia who seeks her missing husband.

Plot Keywords:

U Boat | Midget | Sherlock Holmes | Bagpipe | Ballerina

Awards:

2 nominations

Cast

Robert Stephens	...	Sherlock Holmes
Colin Blakely	...	Dr.John H. Watson
Geneviève Page	...	Ilse von Hoffmanstal, aka Gabrielle Valladon (as Genevieve Page)
Christopher Lee	...	Mycroft Holmes
Tamara Toumanova	...	Madame Petrova
Clive Revill	...	Nikolai 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	...	Carter #1
Godfrey James	...	Carter #2

Also Known As:

A Vida Íntima de Sherlock Holmes (Portugal) [pt]
Privatleben des Sherlock Holmes, Das (West Germany) [de]
Sherlock Holmes (Turkey: Turkish title) [tr]
Sherlock Holmes magánélete (Hungary) [hu]
Sherlock Holmes' hemlighet (Finland: Swedish title) [sv]
Sherlock Holmes' privatliv (Denmark) [da]
Sherlock Holmesin salaisuus (Finland) [fi]
Sherlock Holmesin yksityiselämä (Finland) (TV title) [fi]
Vida privada de Sherlock Holmes, La (Spain) [es]
Vie privée de Sherlock Holmes, La (France) (dubbed version) [fr]
Vita privata di Sherlock Holmes (Italy) [it]

Runtime:

125 min | Germany:120 min (TV version)

Country:

UK

Language:

English | Russian | French

Color:

Color (DeLuxe)

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, Highlands, Scotland, UK

Company:

Compton Films

Trivia:

With a 260-page script and a budget of $10 million, this was set to be a 165-minute Road Show picture with an intermission for comfort. It was to be the "Big One" for Billy Wilder. The shooting schedule ran for six months and resulted in a rough-cut that came in at three hours and 20 minutes. The film was originally structured as a series of very specifically structured linked episodes, each with a particular title and theme. The opening sequence was to feature Watson's grandson in London claiming his inherited dispatch box from Cox & Co. and there was also a flashback to Holmes' Oxford days to explain his distrust of women. All were shot, but deleted from the final print. So what happened? Well, it appears that United Artists suffered a number of major film flops in 1969 that pretty much scuppered the road show format for Wilder's massive project. Studio execs ordered the film to be cut to fill a regular theatrical running time, whittling it down to a 125-minute version. The episodic format made the pruning process relatively simple, so cut were the opening sequence, the Oxford flashback and two full episodes entitled "The Dreadful Business of the Naked Honeymooners" at 15 minutes and "The Curious Case of the Upside Down Room" at 30 minutes. We can only hope that the full footage can one day be restored, although a full print is not currently thought to exist.

Goofs:

Errors in geography: There are references to HMS Jonah undergoing sea trials in the Moray Firth from her base in Loch Ness. The only link between Loch Ness and the sea is the River Ness which is broad and shallow and would not allow the passage of a submarine.

Quotes:

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:

Referenced in Christopher Lee: Mr. Holmes, Mr. Wilder (2003) (V)

Strange but enjoyable

Sherlock Holmes (Robert Stephens) and Dr. Watson (Colin Blakely) get involved in a very weird case involving a mysterious French woman (Geneuieve Page), Sherlock's brother Mycroft (Christopher Lee), midgets, Scotland, the Queen and the Loch Ness Monster! Believe it or not they all come together. I originally saw this on TV back in the late 70s but it was so heavily edited (for instance, the entire first half hour was gone! Probably because it dealt with gay characters which was still a taboo on TV back then) that I couldn't follow it and gave up. Now it's back on uncut and I'm glad I'm finally able to see it.

A very strange movie but lots of fun. Some people think this is a spoof. It really isn't but there are some very funny moments--my favorite is at the beginning when Holmes blasts Watson for how he writes about his cases--"Watson, I've never said 'elementary my dear Watson' in my life!""Poetic license Holmes". There's also quite a few funny one liners mostly delivered with great relish by Stephens and it does deal with the sexual relations of Holmes and Watson (it was hinted that they were gay lovers). But it does involve a very serious case and the jokes stop towards the end.

Stephens is actually very good as Holmes--he won't make you forget Basil Rathbone but he's not bad. Colin Blakely isn't as big a buffoon as Nigel Bruce was but he tends to overact a little. Page is just terrible as the mystery woman--but then again, English is her second language. Lee, surprisingly, is kind of stiff as Mycroft. He's a very good actor--I'm surprised to see him so bad.

The movie is very lavish (probably because Billy Wilder was involved)...a lot of money and attention was given to sets and costumes, and they actually went on location to shoot the end in Scotland. The cinematography is just beautiful and the movie was never dull. It doesn't always mix the comedy with the drama successfully but it works more often than it misses.

Worth catching...a must see for Holmes fans.