Sir Charles’ autopsy and the convict’s escape, then finds Sherlock Holmes (Richard Roxburgh, LEAGUE OF EX- TRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN’s Moriarty) and Dr. Watson (Ian Hart) in a Turkish bath before they are hired to protect the rather disagreeable Sir Henry (Matt Day). Despite suspicious character-work from John Nettles, Richard E. Grant, Ron Cook and Geraldine James, Holmes tags the villain early. The story then turns on scheme and counter- scheme as the dastard works his revenge plan and the detec- tive lets him close on his quarry before intervening.
The trend for demystifying Holmes goes too far. This feeble and petty Sherlock bungles his greatest case and alienates his closest friend: Roxburgh is mid- dling—better than Matt Frewer, but hemmed-in by a script (Allan Cubitt) that limits opportunities for genius and has him resort to the needle at inopportune times (Doyle’s detective took drugs when he was not otherwise stimulated by a case). David Attwood’s direction is heavily gothic: we’ve seen Dartmoor before, but in no other version is the weather so foul.
Whatever you feel about the production, the DVD is nice. Like many TV “specials,” it was shot widescreen but transmitted in standard ratio; this transfer is 16:9-enhanced 1.85:1. What seemed mere gloom on televi- sion broadcast has a textured, ominous, dread-laden feel that keeps up the atmosphere even as the plot strays. Extras: a brisk “making of” and more in-depth interviews with creative person- nel. Unique to this UK release is a commentary track from pro- ducer Christopher Hall and di- rector Attwood, plus subtitles in an array of European languages, including English.
8
Jeremy Brett and Edward Hardwicke as the second great Holmes and Watson of the 20th
Century in THE MASTER BLACKMAILER.
THE MASTER BLACKMAILER
1993, MPI Media Group/ Granada Media, DD-2.0, $14.98, 103m 6s, DVD-1
THE ELIGIBLE BACHELOR
1993, MPI Media Group/ Granada Media, DD-2.0, $14.98, 103m 31s, DVD-1 By Kim Newman
After two series of short story adaptations and two feature- length specials based on the most-adapted Doyle novels, Granada delivered three TV movies, top-lining Jeremy Brett and Edward Hardwicke, pad- ding out stories to feature length: the gothic-themed THE LAST VAMPYRE [VW 30:14, 100:30] (from “The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire”), THE MASTER BLACKMAILER (from “Charles Augustus Milverton”) and THE ELIGIBLE BACHELOR (from “The Noble Bachelor”).
The trouble with BLACKMAILER is that the climax in- volves Holmes and Watson hiding behind a curtain while a veiled lady and the loathsome villain have a confrontation which settles the plot more effectively than anything Holmes has done. A comic thread in the original, as Holmes (disguised as a plumber) romances Milverton’s housemaid, is given a tragic di- mension as we realize the detec- tive is being honest when he admits to Aggie (Sophie Thomp- son) that he doesn’t know how to kiss a girl. A later, wordless moment of betrayal has Aggie recognizing Holmes out of dis- guise, realizing she’s been used just as the villain uses servants to cadge the secrets of well-born but morally lax victims. Milverton (DEMONS OF THE MIND’s Rob- ert Hardy, in superb form) is a preening, soft-spoken hypocrite who relishes the torment as much as the profit. To bring it up to length, writer Jeremy Paul
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