TrueJoshNight Truly Dreadful Film

Gutsycurene Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

Humaira Grant It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Darin One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

malmborgimplano-92-599820 Advocates for this film say the reason it stinks is that Wilder wasn't able to make it according to his original vision. I'm not sure I buy this. I've seen the magic that can result from restoring a film that's been mutilated by stupid reediting, "The Wicker Man" being a prime example. But Wilder himself is responsible for the current version of "Private Life" we have now, and what there is of it is so terrible it's just hard for me to imagine that he could have made a masterpiece out of it by doubling its length.The main problem to me with "Private Life" is that it feels like what it was, a big stodgy overproduced road show movie in the tradition of "Gone With The Wind" and "It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World." It was, in the lingo of the time, square. 1970 was a year when much more adventurous films like "Joe" and "M*A*S*H" and "Gimme Shelter" and "Little Big Man" were on offer to the sophisticated film-goer, and thought they have their own flaws their relative sophistication and freshness made the likes of "Private Life" look pretty stale and tawdry in comparison. Its squareness still makes me cringe, but this may be why younger viewers like Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat, the creators of "Sherlock," don't have the same problem; they're too young to know what square is.Sherlock Holmes should be a role that's second nature to any reasonably skilled and intelligent British actor, and it's astounding to watch Robert Stephens of all people failing where so many very different talents, from Basil Rathbone and Peter Cushing to Benedict Cumberbatch and Ian Richardson, each found his own ingenious way into this iconic character. I put the blame for this solely on Wilder, as reportedly he treated Stephens so badly during the shoot that the actor suffered a breakdown, thus spawning the urban legend that playing Holmes drives people crazy, which in turn latched itself on to Jeremy Brett. News flash: it's unfortunately true that Brett had issues with the role of Holmes, but in general you cannot get bipolar disorder from acting.

JamesSaintRave Director Billy Wilder and co-writer I.A.L. Diamond fashioned a wild take on the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle characters in 1970. Within the first half an hour, they tackle Holmes addiction to cocaine and his mysterious sexual ambiguity, as well as drop references to "Jamaican cigars" and give us a very funny "turn of events", if you will, with Dr. Watson dancing with several male ballet dancers. The rest of the film concentrates on a pretty good-but not very dangerous mystery. This is a very character driven film, so the casting is everything. They almost got it right! Robert Stephens is perhaps the best Holmes ever on screen (sorry Basil and Robert Downey!)A great British stage actor, this is one of his only starring roles on film, shame, he is darn good. Colin Blakely, usually a supporting character in films, enjoys second billing as Dr. Watson, and he is simply incredible. His Watson is funny, but never a buffoon, a mistake made by Nigel Bruce, Jude Law, and too many others. Everyone's favorite Christopher Lee proves here that Holmes brother Mycroft IS smarter, but suffers from a lack of compassion. The only weak link here is Genevieve Page. She never connects with Stephens-which is a major part of the story. Page is a good actress, but Britt Ekland or Elke Sommer at this time would have provided a little sexual twist to role of Gabrielle Valladon. There has never been a film in which the musical score is so perfect and so haunting--it is almost as if the music is a role itself, quite excellent--should have won an Oscar. This was Wilder's last great film, and you can tell it was a personal project for him, directed with skill and care (and a love of Holmes)--Sir Arthur would have loved it--and you will too.

ma-cortes When a bored Holmes (Robert Stephens who also played Holmes on the stage and in TV series 'The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes') eagerly takes the case of Gabrielle Valladon (Genevieve Page) after an attempt on her life , the search for her missing husband leads to Sherlock and Watson (Colin Blakely) towards Loch Ness and the legendary monster. This affectionate story reveals the secret allegedly hidden by Holmes and Watson .Atypical Holmes movie , resulting to be a extremely personal pastiche of the Arthur Conan Doyle stories and takes a melancholic point of sight at famous eye private . It is packed with intrigue , thrills , emotion , taste , wit , and of course ,intrigue . In the flick appears the usual of the Arthur Conan Doyle's novels : Mycroft (Sherlock's brother , well played by Christopher Lee) , Mistress Hudson (Irene Handl) , and as always Doctor Watson (Colin Blakely). Furthermore , a notorious secondary cast as Clive Revill , Stanley Holloway as an undertaker , Catherine Lacey in her last cinema film and the classic dancer Tamara Toumanova . The film has an enjoyable atmosphere , it's in wonderful color that originates a glamorous setting created by the magnificent cameraman Chistopher Challis , and filmed at Pinewood Studios , Buckinghamshire, and Inverness , Highland , Scotland . Production design by the expert Alexandre Trauner is of first rate , the movie is very atmospheric , 221 Baker Street home , the streets of London , castles are very well designed .Robert Stephens's interpretation is magnificent, he's one of the best Sherlock Holmes in the cinema , likeness to Peter Cushing and Jeremy Brett in television. Robert Stephens as Holmes plays in a clever , broody and impetuous manner . Colin Blakely plays as Watson with humor, goofy and joy , he's the perfect counterpoint to Holmes . However , initially Peter O'Toole was going to play Sherlock Holmes with Peter Sellers playing Dr. Watson, but Billy Wilder decided to go with lesser known stars instead . Originally, the scenes featuring the Loch Ness Monster were intended to be filmed in the actual Loch , a life-size prop was built which had several Nessie-like humps used to disguise flotation devices , the humps were removed, however, at Billy Wilder's request. Unfortunately, during a test run in Loch Ness, the Monster-prop sank and was never recovered ; a second prop was built, but was only filmed inside a studio tank . At the request of director Billy Wilder, composer Miklós Rózsa adapted music from his own Violin Concerto , opus 24 , as the basis for the film score, supplementing this with further original music. This special Billy Wilder movie takes melancholy look at Holmes . Apparently, he had been a fan of Sherlock Holmes for many years prior to making this picture. Wilder said of this flick in the book 'Conversations with Wilder' by 'Cameron Crowe' : " when I came back from Paris, it was an absolute disaster, the way it was cut. The whole prologue was cut, a half-sequence was cut , in fact it was intended as a 3 and half hour film . I had tears in my eyes as I looked at the thing. It was the most elegant picture I've ever shot ¨ . The motion picture was panned by the critics whose reputation should soar in future years , being recently a 12 minutes restored . Rating : Better than average , 7/10 . Well worth watching .

ShadeGrenade Billy Wilder's 'The Private Life Of Sherlock Holmes' ( 1970 ) is without doubt my favourite film about Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Baker Street sleuth. Though a box office flop in its day, its popularity has increased down the years. Advertised for a B.B.C.-1 showing back in the '70's, 'Radio Times' film critic Philip Jenkinson claimed - rather oddly in my view - that it was 'a muddled attempt to send up Holmes'. While there is indeed humour in the picture ( the first thirty minutes are taken up with a self-contained story in which a Russian ballerina is so keen to produce a baby genius she tries to get Holmes to become the father. He gets out of the task by pretending that both he and Watson are gay! ), the overall tone is melancholic, not what you would reasonably expect in a laugh-a-minute spoof. The story proper begins when a beautiful young woman ( Genevieve Page ) is pulled out of the Thames, having failed in her suicide bid. Holmes establishes her identity as Gabrielle Valladon, the wife of a missing engineer. Holmes takes on the case, which leads him to Inverness and Loch Ness. At the heart of the mystery is a scandal so great and far reaching Dr.Watson ( the brilliant Colin Blakely ) decides he cannot let the world know of it until well after his - and Holmes' - death.Wilder and co-writer I.A.L. Diamond were keen to make a picture in which Holmes was depicted as emotionally vulnerable. The late Robert Stephens makes a suitably foppish Holmes, a crime-solving genius whose only flaw is his fondness for the occasional seven per cent solution of cocaine. When he and Gabrielle pose as a married couple it looks for a while as though he has found his perfect mate, but of course, she lets him down badly. Your heart will break for Holmes as he retreats to his study to lose himself in the world of drugs once more. Blakely has often been called miscast as 'Watson' but I personally like him in the role, and regret that neither he nor Stephens ever played their characters again. Irene Handl works a treat as the Cockney housekeeper 'Mrs.Hudson', with Christopher Lee ( an one-time Homes himself ) as Sherlock's brother 'Mycroft'.In his book 'Sherlock Holmes: A Celebration', Allan Eyles claims the story ought not to be considered canonical as there is no way that 'Gabrielle Valladon' and 'Irene Adler' could have possibly been 'the woman'. Fair comment. Even so this is a marvellously entertaining production, with a witty script, fine production values, a top notch cast, and magnificent music by Miklos Rosza. Its lack of success at the time can be attributed to the fact that audiences were tired of big budget movies and wanted smaller, more intimate films such as 'Easy Rider'.The one thing that prevents this from being a masterpiece is the fact the studio ordered it cut down from three hours to two hours and five minutes. Furthermore, the missing footage seems to have been lost or destroyed. It is a tragedy as this is the kind of movie you want to see more of not less. Funnily enough, a short time before its release another film put a famous British hero in a more human light - the Bond movie 'On Her Majesty's Secret Service'. Both are among the very best of their kind.