THE PRIVATE LIFE OF SHERLOCK HOLMES [1970 / 2018] [Masters of Cinema] [Blu-ray] [UK Release] Billy Wilder’s Distinctive, Irreverent Slant on the World's Greatest "Consulting Detective!”
An underrated masterpiece and one of the finest Sherlock Holmes films ever made... and considered by many Holmesians to be the best Sherlock Holmes movie ever made, Billy Wilder’s ‘THE PRIVATE LIFE OF SHERLOCK HOLMES’ is both an affectionate parody, and a brilliant, melancholy celebration of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s famous detective.
Sherlock Holmes [Robert Stephens] and Dr. Watson [Colin Blakely], are tasked with locating the missing husband of a mysterious woman fished out of the River Thames. The course of their investigation leads them to Scotland and encounters with a group of monks, some dwarfs and even the Loch Ness Monster. Can Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson crack the case?
Co-written by Billy Wilder and I. A. L. Diamond (one of eleven screenplays they wrote together) and starring the late great Christopher Lee as Sherlock’s brother Mycroft Holmes. ‘THE PRIVATE LIFE OF SHERLOCK HOLMES’ is one of the most underrated films in Billy Wilder’s filmography, and The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present the film for Blu-ray for the first time in the UK.
FILM FACT No.1: Awards and Nominations: 1971 Edgar Allan Poe Awards: Nomination: Best Motion Picture for I.A.L. Diamond. 1971 Writers Guild of America: Nomination: Best Comedy Written Directly for the Screen for Billy Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond. 2008 International Film Music Critics Award: Nomination: Best New Release, Re-Release or Re-Recording of an Existing Score for Frank K. DeWald (liner notes), James Fitzpatrick (album producer), Miklós Rózsa (music) and Nic Raine (conductor).
FILM FACT No.2: Billy Wilder, a long time Holmesian had long aspired to create a musical adaptation of the Sherlock Holmes stories. After two failed attempts in 1955 and 1963, he decided to embark on a non-musical screenplay with collaborator I. A. L. Diamond. Initially, Wilder planned to cast Peter O'Toole as Sherlock Holmes and Peter Sellers as Dr. Watson. Nicol Williamson, who went on to play Sherlock Holmes in ‘The Seven-Per-Cent Solution,’ was also considered for Sherlock Holmes. Rex Harrison pursued the role but Billy Wilder wasn't interested. Christopher Lee took the role of Mycroft Holmes after George Sanders's failing health removed him from the role. Elaborate sets were built on the backlot at Pinewood Studios, including 150 yards of the Baker Street set, at a cost of £80,000. The reproduction of the Diogenes Club stood until 1973 having been used in other films such as ‘Hands of the Ripper’ and ‘Carry On at Your Convenience.’ The sets were designed by art director Alexandre Trauner. The scenes set in Scotland were filmed on location at Urquhart Castle on the banks of Loch Ness. Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss, the creators and writers of the BAFTA and Emmy Award-winning BBC TV series ‘Sherlock,’ credited ‘THE PRIVATE LIFE OF SHERLOCK HOLMES’ as a source of inspiration for their show.
Cast: Robert Stephens, Colin Blakely, Geneviève Page, Christopher Lee, Tamara Toumanova, Clive Revill, Irene Handl, Mollie Maureen, Stanley Holloway, Catherine Lacey, Peter Madden, Michael Balfour, James Copeland, John Garrie, Godfrey James, Robert Cawdron, Alex McCrindle, Frank Thornton, Paul Hansard, Philip Anthony (uncredited), Graham Armitage (uncredited), Charlie Young Atom (uncredited), Christopher Beeching (uncredited), Kenneth Benda (uncredited), George Benson (uncredited), Anne Blake (uncredited), Penny Brahms (uncredited), Martin Carroll (uncredited), Ina De La Haye (uncredited), Michael Elwyn (uncredited), Eric Francis (uncredited), Christopher Gable (uncredited), John Gatrell (uncredited), Ismed Hassan (uncredited), Marilyn Head (uncredited), Sheena Hunter (uncredited), Annette Kerr (uncredited), Teddy Kiss Atom (uncredited), Wendy Lingham (uncredited), John Scott Martin (uncredited), Anna Matisse (uncredited), Kynaston Reeves (uncredited), Daphne Riggs (uncredited), Phillip Ross (uncredited), Miklós Rózsa (uncredited), Willie Shearer (uncredited), Judy Spooner (uncredited) and Tina Spooner (uncredited)
Director: Billy Wilder
Producers: Billy Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond
Screenplay: Billy Wilder, I.A.L. Diamond and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (characters)
Composer: Miklós Rózsa
Cinematography: Christopher Challis, B.S.C., F.R.P.S. (Director of Photography)
Image Resolution: 1080p (Color by DeLuxe)
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 (Panavision)
Audio: English: 2.0 LPCM Stereo Audio
Subtitles: English SDH
Running Time: 125 minutes
Region: Region B/2
Number of discs: 1
Studio: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer / EUREKA! Entertainment Ltd
Andrew’s Blu-ray Review: Director Billy Wilder made some of the greatest films ever to grace a cinema screen, like for instance, ‘The Lost Weekend’ [1945] to ‘Sunset Boulevard’ [1950] and of course the brilliant ‘Some Like It Hot’ [1959], and his back catalogue is peppered with a bounty of timeless beauties and classy comedies, but the director Billy Wilder’s great personal pet project, the film he desperately wanted to make above all others, wound up breaking him totally, and that of course was ‘THE PRIVATE LIFE OF SHERLOCK HOLMES’ [1970].
Director Billy Wilder was a lifelong lover of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s most famous literary creation; and Billy Wilder spent a full decade developing the film ‘THE PRIVATE LIFE OF SHERLOCK HOLMES.’ It was to be the last word on the Baker Street detective, a wise and witty study that would luxuriate over a three hour running time and throw new light, and just a little darkness, onto Sherlock Holmes in all his complicated glory. With a $10m budget at this disposal, which of course was a small fortune at that period in time, and Billy Wilder’s favourite screenwriter I.A.L. Diamond on board and stars of stage Robert Stephens as Sherlock Holmes and Colin Blakley in place as Dr. Watson, it should have been a triumph.
With the film ‘THE PRIVATE LIFE OF SHERLOCK HOLMES,’ the beautifully constructed opening credits to Billy Wilder’s film, begins Fifty years after the death of Dr. Watson [Colin Blakley], a safety deposit box containing his private papers is finally unlocked. Amongst the deerstalking caps, pipes and hypodermic syringes lies an unpublished account of the real Sherlock Holmes [Robert Stephens] and the one case that he didn't manage to solve successfully. It suggests that what we’re about to witness is the “real” story behind the fabled detective.
Galvanised into action when a mysterious Belgian woman arrives on their doorstep after taking an unwelcome dip in the River Thames, Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson find themselves embroiled in a case that involves everything from the Loch Ness monster to circus midgets, a group of Trappist monks and Queen Victoria.
This fanciful adventure, gives us a film that largely grounded affair, much more concerned with characters rather than spectacle. It’s often very amusing, sometime surreal, and the script is chock-full of some wonderful zingers, delivered with razor-sharp timing by the magnificent Robert Stephens, who is truly the film’s key ingredient, playing the famous detective with a mix of mild camp and insouciance, and sparking off brilliantly against Colin Blakely’s neurotic, slightly bumbling Dr. Watson. It’s the mismatched duo we have seen numerous times before, but the actors manage to bring something fresh and very endearing to the character Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson.
Unlike the rest of director Billy Wilder's work, ‘THE PRIVATE LIFE OF SHERLOCK HOLMES’ has always been somewhat underrated. That's partly because the studio savaged the original three hour cut of the film and arbitrarily snipping out two additional cases that Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson investigated, to annoyingly get the film down to its present two hour running time. As a result of this butchery, direct Billy Wilder's attempts to turn Sherlock Holmes into a tragic figure, whose retreat into the life of the mind is simply a response to painful affairs of the heart is lost in the reshuffle.
Fortunately, the script is brilliant enough to work even in this reduced form, with the captivating performances of Robert Stephens and Colin Blakely putting a hilariously camp spin on Billy Wilder's comedic tongue-in-cheek adventure. There is of course some fantastic support from the redoubtable Irene Handl as Mrs. Hudson ("Did you ever try doing embroidery with a gun in your hand?") and Christopher Lee as Sherlock's brother, Mycroft Holmes.
While it never achieves what the lost three hour print could have accomplished, this is still one of the sparkiest and very witty adventures that the private detective ever left 221b Baker Street for and is now preserved forever, and to be enjoyed by future audiences. On top of all that, I found it a totally brilliant film and what a shame Billy Wilder was not allowed to pursue a Sherlock Holmes film franchise, because there were too many critics who gave such negative reviews, and if these pompous idiots think they are far more superior, then let them direct a Sherlock Holmes film, but of course they could and would not be able to and instead they should keep their stupid ignorant negative views to themselves.
Blu-ray Image Quality – EUREKA! Entertainment Ltd presents us with a glorious and rich 1080p image presentation and of course is enhanced with the equally impressive 2.35:1 (Panavision) aspect ratio. The clarity of the print is fine, but the contrast at times can be slightly weak at times and occasionally you get some white speckles, but luckily this only happens now and again. Director Billy Wilder obviously shot the film with tremendous care, and hoped to give many scenes a grand sweeping feel to the images, but the over the years they have not been very kind to this print. Some grain can be seen, but it is not too heavy. The colours at times looked slightly pastel and the black levels just average, and the whites are also just average, but overall it has a very nice image presentation. The scenes of the Scottish countryside, however, are beautifully presented, exhibiting a lushness that adds to the ambience to the Scottish landscape throughout much of that part of the film. Flesh tones remain relatively stable and true throughout the film, and close-ups are nice and sharp. With the proper restorative work, this film could have looked totally magnificent in high definition, but in its current state, it is the best we will get to view this film, which is quite a shame. Sadly, I doubt if we will ever get this film re-mastered. Please Note: Playback Region B/2: This will not play on most Blu-ray players sold in North America, Central America, South America, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Southeast Asia. Learn more about Blu-ray region specifications.
Blu-ray Audio Quality – EUREKA! Entertainment Ltd brings us just the one 2.0 LPCM Stereo Audio experience, which is in fine shape and nicely showcasing composer Miklós Rózsa's lovely film score that is very robust, thanks to a wide dynamic scale that captures its highs and lows without any hints of distortion, giving us also subtleties and also very atmospherics ambient sounds and also delivers the dialogue is very clear and every word of dialogue is easily comprehendible. I found no obvious age related wear and tear or damage was not detectable throughout the film.
Blu-ray Special Features and Extras:
Special Feature: A new video interview with film scholar Neil Sinyard [2016] [1080p] [2.35:1/1.78:1] [20:45] This special feature with Neil Sinyard, talks in-depth about the film ‘THE PRIVATE LIFE OF SHERLOCK HOLMES,’ and also comments about all the critics that give the film such horrendous negative reviews, but Neil Sinyard says that in honesty, people just did not understand the film and the way Billy Wilder wanted to portray the quirky nature of Sherlock Holmes. Author and film scholar Neil Sinyard delivers a very thoughtful appreciation of ‘THE PRIVATE LIFE OF SHERLOCK HOLMES,’ which he regards as a masterpiece, even in its butchered cut-down version and Neil Sinyard comments, “You'll get no argument from me on that score.” Neil Sinyard also talks about why the film was a critical and total commercial flop on its original cinema release. Neil Sinyard also talks about the casting of the leading actors, and also talks about elements that mark it as a Billy Wilder film, and suggests that it explores all aspects of Sherlock Holmes that Dr. Watson relationship that hasn't been observed before. Neil Sinyard also talks about Sherlock Holmes habit of playing the violin when pondering on a case and also on the detectives personal life, and he also puts the character of Sherlock Holmes in parallel with Billy Wilder himself. We find out that Billy Wilder initially wanted to turn his film ‘THE PRIVATE LIFE OF SHERLOCK HOLMES’ into a musical, with music and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe and have the actor Rex Harrison as Sherlock Holmes, but of course this never happened, but would have been quite interesting if Billy Wilder had pulled it off. When news of Billy Wilder’s film was in pre-production, it was rumoured that Peter O’Toole was going to be cast as Sherlock Holmes and Peter Sellers was going to be Dr. Watson, but again it never materialized. It was said that Robert Stephens found Billy Wilder very exacting and everyone had to stick to the script 100% and deviate and while filming Robert Stephens had a break down. On top of all that, Billy Wilder was told by the studio executives to cut his film down, as the previews were not good, as they felt it was too long and did not go too well with the audiences reaction to the film, so this Blu-ray release is the final version we view, but there are rumours that somewhere in the London offices of United Artists there is a copy of the full length film Billy Wilder wanted to be seen by the general public, but of course nothing has come of this rumour, but despite this, the version we see now has now become a cult classic, which I totally agree with, but Neil Sinyard says, “the games a foot,” meaning that we hope one day that full version will turn up, well let’s hope so. Neil Sinyard is clearly very knowledgeable about Billy Wilder and this makes the interview a very interesting analysis and especially of the film ‘THE PRIVATE LIFE OF SHERLOCK HOLMES’ and plenty more, so enjoy.
Special Feature: The Missing Cases (Deleted Scenes) [1970] [1080p] [1.37:1] [50:03] Here we have a presentation of the film THE PRIVATE LIFE OF SHERLOCK HOLMES’ deleted sequences, using screenplay image excerpts, production stills and surviving film footage. When viewing the screenplay and rare images, we get to hear in the background the composed film score by Miklós Rózsa, who makes a brief appearance when Sherlock Holmes is dragged along by Dr. Watson to the ballet. Included is the “Original Prologue;” “The Curious Case of the Upside Down Room;” “The Adventure of the Dumbfounded Detective” and “The Dreadful Business of the Naked Honeymooners.” As devoted fans of the film ‘THE PRIVATE LIFE OF SHERLOCK HOLMES,’ we are doubtless aware, that the original rough cut of the film ran for 200 minutes and consisted of four stories, three of them were cut from the film for its theatrical release, along with a flashback to Sherlock Holmes's university days and a prologue involving Dr. Watson's grandson. This particular special feature tidies up a couple of extras of the missing material, and while the scenes in their complete form appear to have been lost, some material remains, and where all has been lost, the cut sequences are outlined throughout with the use of images from the screenplay and rare production stills. The two missing cases are presented in their entirety, but in a slightly frustrating twist, only the audio soundtrack survives from “The Curious Case of the Upside Down Room,” but we do get see some rare production stills relating to this particular part of the film and feel cheated we never actually got to see this in the film as it has a nice twist we do not expect. With “The Dreadful Business of the Naked Honeymooners,” and again is illustrated with rare production stills and extracts from the screenplay, while the missing dialogue is instead delivered with white burned-in subtitles. A tad surprisingly, the naked breasts of the woman under investigation in “The Dreadful Business of the Naked Honeymooners” have been blurred out. This special feature is quite fascinating and well worth viewing and what a shame we do not get to see the actual full length film, as I feel it would have been the highlight of Billy Wilder’s career.
Special Feature: Deleted Epilogue Scene (audio only) [1970] [1080p] [1.78:1] [6:20] Here we get to view a single black-and-white image of Robert Stephen and Colin Blakely. But what get to view is the film's original ending, in which Inspector Lestrade pops in to see if Sherlock Holmes would be interested in helping with a certain series of murders in Whitechapel, in London. Around the 3:30 time the sounds go blank and you think there is a problem with the sound, but it is all part of the soundtrack, where there is a quiet scene in the film. It is worth noting that the restored material occupies little more than the final minutes of the Deleted Epilogue Scene.
Special Feature: M-G-M Home Entertainment presents Christopher Lee: Mr. Holmes, Mr. Wilder [2003] [480i] [1.37:1] [15:17] Before we get to the in-depth interview with Christopher Lee, we get a short clip from the film ‘THE PRIVATE LIFE OF SHERLOCK HOLMES.’ To set the scene for this in-depth interview, Christopher lee says he has worked with some remarkable directors and they include Steven Spielberg, Joe Dante, John Landis, Tim Burton, Peter Jackson, George Lucas, who Christopher Lee says, “and you cannot ask for more,” and one thing that changed Christopher Lee as an actor, was the experience he had in 1970, when he worked with the greatest director he has ever worked for, and that of course was with his experience with working with Billy Wilder. On top of all that, Christopher lee says that Sherlock Holmes was based on a real person, and that was Dr. Joseph Bell, F.R.C.S.E. who was a Scottish surgeon and lecturer at the medical school of the University of Edinburgh in the 19th century. Christopher Lee then informs us that the name Sherlock Holmes was derived from two English Cricketers who played for a minor County Cricket Team, and it is rumoured that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle knew the men personally. Christopher Lee also talks about his role as Mycroft Holmes, as a character that changed his acting career. Christopher Lee also deconstructs Sherlock Holmes as a character, and reveals that he knew Conan Doyle's son Adrian, and reminds us that he was, at the time of filming, the only actor to have played both Sherlock Holmes and Mycroft Holmes on screen. Christopher Lee also salutes the Basil Rathbone version of ‘The Hound of the Baskervilles’ for daring to allude to Sherlock Holmes's cocaine habit as early as 1939. So all in all, this is a very fascinating interview and a must watch, as Christopher Lee sums up with the interview, in saying, “Billy Wilder was the greatest Director I have ever worked with, and many people will consider, without any doubt, is again one of the greatest Director of all time in the cinema, and nobody would argue with that.” So all in all, despite it being just over 15 minutes long, it packs a lot of information about Christopher Lee’s acting career and I always find this actor very interesting to listen to and we also get to hear lots of nice fascinating anecdotes about the film industry business.
Special Feature: Interview with Film Editor Ernest Walter [1994] [480i] [1.37:1] [28:40] With this in-depth interview with the film editor Ernest Walter, it might be a bit off putting, as it sounds like it was recorded with the on-camera microphone, but despite this, it is still of some considerable interest. Film Editor Ernest Walter recalls how he originally became a film editor after starting out as an army cameraman in the Second World War and was selected out of 18 applicants and he was accepted and trained at Pinewood Studios. Because of the threat of Adolph Hitler in the World War II, that on the 6th June, 1944 landed on the beaches of France with the Royal marine Commanders and was very frightened and from then on it was the start of his career in the film industry. After the end of the Second World War, Ernest Walter became an editor for M-G-M in England, and trained as a Trainee Assistant Editor and after a few years, subsequently became a full time freelance film editor, and edited over 30 feature films and of course his pride and joy was working on the Billy Wilder film ‘THE PRIVATE LIFE OF SHERLOCK HOLMES,’ and everyone in the film business wanted to work on the film and Ernest Walter was very honoured and also felt he was the luckiest man to be asked by Billy Wilder personally to work on his film, who Billy Wilder actually interviewed Ernest Walter at the M-G-M Studios in California. When filming started on ‘THE PRIVATE LIFE OF SHERLOCK HOLMES’ at Pinewood Studios, Ernest Walter came back to England to work on the film, and at that point in the interview, Ernest Walter shows his personal copy of the very thick screenplay for ‘THE PRIVATE LIFE OF SHERLOCK HOLMES’ and also informs u that everyone had to stick rigidly to the screenplay and definitely no deviation, because I.A.L. Diamond and Billy Wilder had worked 10 years on the screenplay and if any actor did not speak the words 100%, then I.A.L. Diamond would shout out “CUT!” Ernest Walter goes into great detail on why two of the stories had to be dropped from the film to make the film just over two hours long, because the original film was 200 minutes long and the film distributors were not very happy, as the film would only be able to be shown once a day, whereas just over two hours is much more respectable length. But all in all, Ernest Walter praises Billy Wilder and felt a great honour to work with him. Ernest Walter also informs us that he has worked for such directors as Mark Robson, Billy Wilder, Blake Edwards and Robert Wise, but in his opinion, Billy Wilder was the best one out of all he has worked for, because the way Billy Wilder works, especially when making a film, but the way he shot ‘THE PRIVATE LIFE OF SHERLOCK HOLMES’ made his job so easy to edit the film. Ernest Walter also talks in-depth about the release of the cut down version of the film, and his thoughts on why he felt the film was a disaster with the general public and the negative critics, especially feeling they just did not understand the concept of the film, who to my mind were total idiots. At the time of the recording this interview, he tells us why he had to retire from being a film editor, because sadly he became very ill because he had a stroke that ended his film career as a film editor, but he wrote a definitive film editing manual, but four and half years after he retired attended one day a week he taught students the art of editing films at The National Film and Television School, which is a film, television and games school established in 1971 and is based at Beaconsfield Studios in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, England and each time he turned up the students always wanted him to show the film ‘THE PRIVATE LIFE OF SHERLOCK HOLMES’ and then have a Q&A session afterwards, which he thoroughly enjoyed. But overall, Ernest Walter provides considerable in-depth information on ‘THE PRIVATE LIFE OF SHERLOCK HOLMES’ film and was a joy to listen to him as he really gives us very informative insights into the history of the film and all the trials and tribulations information that I have not heard from anyone else, so again this is a very interesting special feature.
Theatrical Trailer [1970] [1080i] [2.35:1] [3:00] This is the Original Theatrical Trailer for the film ‘THE PRIVATE LIFE OF SHERLOCK HOLMES.’ It is a very brisk trailer that has a couple of major spoilers, including the spoken specifics with the twist in the film, which is very naughty of them. Save this for after you have viewed the Blu-ray disc. For some unknown reason, the trailer was for the distributors United Artists and the voice over is done by an American and I deduct that reason for this trailer was done for the film, because it was exclusively for viewing in America and under the licence of United Artist.
BONUS: A collector’s 52-page booklet featuring a new essay by Philip Kemp entitled: FAR FROM ELEMENTARY – THE VICSSITUDES OF WILDER’S SHERLOCK HOLMES. THE CURIOUS CASE OF THE MISSING FOOTAGE. VIEWING NOTES. DISC CREDITS. Plus lots of rare promotional archival images.
Finally, ‘THE PRIVATE LIFE OF SHERLOCK HOLMES’ gave director Billy Wilder’s personal stamp, about the melancholic and unpredictable celebration of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s great detective that was originally conceived as a 200 minutes extravaganza, and he never forgave the studio executives for hacking it to bits and sadly with many of the deleted scenes now lost forever, shame on you the studio executives, who are total philistines. What remains is still rewarding, but it leaves you begging for more. Here we get to see the bored Baker Street sleuth Sherlock Holmes investigates a mystery that takes him from London to Inverness in Scotland involving an enigmatic amnesiac Gabrielle Valladon and Sherlock Holmes’s conniving brother Mycroft Holmes, Queen Victoria and yes, believe it or not, even the Loch Ness Monster makes an appearance. Robert Stephens plays Sherlock Holmes with a tortured soul, and at the same time, some whimsical perfection, and both Colin Blakely and Christopher Lee are perfectly cast in their respective character roles, but it is Irene Handl rather than the alluring Geneviève Page who steals every scene that she appears in and her Mrs. Hudson character is a comic stand-out performance, shame the late Irene Handl didn’t get some award for a her superb and outstanding performance. The film is a rich period detail and very authentic locations that are perfect and is also matched by the witty screenplay and one of 11 films that director Billy Wilder and I. A. L. Diamond wrote together, and the whole film sparkles like a well-polished (rough) diamond. Very Highly Recommended!
Andrew C. Miller – Your Ultimate No.1 Film Aficionado
Le Cinema Paradiso
United Kingdom
