HeadlinesExotic Boring

Hadrina The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Sameer Callahan It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

Nayan Gough A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Hitchcoc Just because it has the same basic cast as "Young Frankenstein" doesn't mean anything. If the script has nothing for them too say and do, it doesn't matter. This is a one joke movie where Gene Wilder's other Holmes tries so hard to one up Sherlock. Madeline Kahn is doing the same stuff here, but the interactions with the other characters just don't click very well. Also, some people think this is a Mel Brooks film. It is not. Wilder is fun to watch with his paranoid, defeated, second banana act, but he never can overcome the aforementioned writing. Don't hesitate to see it. Just don't expect too much. I'm certain this was project for some actors during time between more meaningful films.

classicsoncall Gene Wilder, Marty Feldman and Madeline Kahn all appeared in one of my all time favorite comedy films but this wasn't the one. Actually, this picture looks like it was trying to borrow heavily from "Young Frankenstein" but with just a bit too much slapstick humor and infantile behavior to suit my own personal taste. That's not to say that there weren't some genuinely funny bits; for example Professor Moriarty's (Leo McKern) exchange rate fiasco trying to sell the Redcliff Document just cracked me up. The 'Red Herrings Daily' sight gag on the street vendor sandwich board was also pretty clever, that's the kind of stuff that I like to catch in a parody flick. Madeline Kahn's Jenny Hill reminded me a bit of the Mary Astor character in "The Maltese Falcon", enough so that it seemed like a subliminal tribute to the Bogart film. However when you have all the players hamming it up as much as possible and then throw Dom DeLuise into the mix, well then you're just asking for an 'over the top' that I sometimes find hard to take. For Sherlock Holmes fans though, this might be just the ticket if you're looking for a light hearted treatment of the famous fictional detective. Then you can return to Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce to solve a real mystery.

Robert J. Maxwell Wilder, the writer/director, is Sigurson Holmes, supposedly Sherlock's smarter brother. Marty Feldman is his exopthalmic sidekick, Orville Sacker. Leo McKern is an overweight Professor Moriarty, and Madeline Kahn is Jenny Hill, the pretty chorister. Kahn begs Wilder for help in unraveling a mystery and Wilder does so, though the task involves many tribulations.It's a comedy with occasional thrilling scenes but it struck me as a little deficient in the laugh department. I don't mean it's a stupid movie, because it's not. It isn't cheaply done and it's evident that some care went into its preparation. The name of Feldman's character, for instance, is Orville Sacker. "Ormund Sacker" is one of the names that Sir Arthur Conan-Doyle considered for his detective before settling on you-know-what. That in-joke reflects a little research on Wilder's part. Not much, necessarily, but we're not dealing with a slapdash job.The problem is that it's not really very funny. First, Wilder has a tendency, here and in his work elsewhere, to linger a while over reaction shots following a gag. The gags aren't usually that funny, although the performers put them over as well as they can.Some of the gags are repetitive. As Holmes, Wilder is always hearing footsteps outside the door, calling the person by name to enter, and it's the wrong person. Sherlock would never have made such errors. And they aren't entirely devoid of amusement. In one case, Wilder identifies the caller as a young lady but a heavy-set man enters. Wilder dresses him down, shouts at him to stop pussyfooting around in hallways.Some of the gags are slapstick and these are usually not very funny. A chase involving three hansom cabs down a cobblestone street just doesn't generate the smiles it's designed to.Wilder as Actor may be better than Wilder as Writer/Director. He has a face that's comic all over, and surrounded by that nimbus of frizzy hair. And his best moments come when he explodes after a particularly frustrating moment or two. I would guess that he had a fencing coach for the climactic bout on the rooftop because he appears to handle an épée fairly well.As I say, not insulting, not cheap, not careless -- but not too funny either. And that's a shame because, wow, what a set up for parody the canon is.

blanche-2 Gene Wilder is Sherlock Holmes' overshadowed brother Sigerson in "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother," a 1975 film directed by Wilder and also starring Marty Feldman, Madeline Kahn, Dom Deluise, and Leo McKern. Sherlock is busy on a case, so he gives Sigerson one to work on, causing Sigerson to come up against Moriarity (McKern), falls for a music hall singer (Kahn) and ends up on an opera stage singing about sexy wine.This is one of those films that demands multiple viewings. Some of it comes out of left field - such as the "Kangaroo Hop" - and some of it is so hilarious, you want to see it again any. Unlike "The Producers," it's an uneven movie. And one stops caring about what the case actually is long before it's solved, though the case was never the point.McKern gives a flamboyant performance as a completely insane Moriarity, who seems to have trouble with basic math. It's always both a happy and sad occasion to see the wonderful Madeline Kahn - she's terrific as always, but now we've been deprived of her beauty and talent. I'm not entirely sure that she sings the operatic portions of the film, but she does sing throughout in her lovely voice. She and Wilder are a riot together, as are Wilder and Feldman. Wilder has such sweetness and warmth, as well as humor, in his portrayal.For me, though, the funniest scenes are with the operatic tenor Eduardo Gambetti (Dom Deluise) - truly one of the best characters ever in cinema. When he's counting the money in Italian, I was in tears. His entire portrayal is genius.If you see this film and are a little put off by its craziness, I suggest you see it again. You'll appreciate it more. Maybe a movie shouldn't require a second viewing to be liked, but this one is worth it.