I am puzzled by the user reviews here, which would lead you to expect this movie to be average or slightly above average. It is neither. It is bad in many different ways.
Cheaply filmed, the movie has the look of a staged play, with long scenes and a few camera cuts. This was, to be fair, 70s television, when production quality was pretty low, but still, this is quite clunky.
The clunkiness of the filming is mirrored by the acting, which is consistently hammy and forced. It reminded me of those famous old melodramas where a mustachioed villain would insist the innocent girl marry him or face destitution, not in the story but in the broad performances.
Roger Moore is completely wrong as Holmes. A couple of reviewers describe him as a "more human" Holmes, and yes, if you want a Sherlock who is not particularly quirky or brilliant but is instead just a regular guy who solves crimes, well, this is you Homes. If you want Basil Rathbone, Jeremy Brett, or Benedict Cumberberthatch, you won't get that.
There is also a ridiculous Watson that takes the bumbling approach of Nigel Bruce but removes Bruce's charm.
I managed to get half way through this before giving up - I wish I'd stopped sooner. The story is uninteresting and when I read the plot synopsis on wikipedia I saw that the mystery's solution was the one I had thought it probably was, so no points for originality.
This is probably the second worse Sherlock Holmes movie, right after that abysmal Peter Cook/Dudley Moore abomination.
Cheaply filmed, the movie has the look of a staged play, with long scenes and a few camera cuts. This was, to be fair, 70s television, when production quality was pretty low, but still, this is quite clunky.
The clunkiness of the filming is mirrored by the acting, which is consistently hammy and forced. It reminded me of those famous old melodramas where a mustachioed villain would insist the innocent girl marry him or face destitution, not in the story but in the broad performances.
Roger Moore is completely wrong as Holmes. A couple of reviewers describe him as a "more human" Holmes, and yes, if you want a Sherlock who is not particularly quirky or brilliant but is instead just a regular guy who solves crimes, well, this is you Homes. If you want Basil Rathbone, Jeremy Brett, or Benedict Cumberberthatch, you won't get that.
There is also a ridiculous Watson that takes the bumbling approach of Nigel Bruce but removes Bruce's charm.
I managed to get half way through this before giving up - I wish I'd stopped sooner. The story is uninteresting and when I read the plot synopsis on wikipedia I saw that the mystery's solution was the one I had thought it probably was, so no points for originality.
This is probably the second worse Sherlock Holmes movie, right after that abysmal Peter Cook/Dudley Moore abomination.