The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes
Directed by Billy Wilder. UK. 1970. PG. 125 min.
- Sun, May 18, 2:00 pm
Acclaimed director and writer, Billy Wilder (Stalag 17, Some Like It Hot, The Apartment), provides an entirely new and unusual take on the legendary Sherlock. Rather than having him played as a stoic and terse “thinking machine,” Wilder attempts to humanize our hero and, in so doing, creates a surprisingly humane, involving, and at times quite satirical story. Without giving the story away, we’ll just say that not only do Holmes and Watson have to contend with a mystery involving a lovely lady, they also end up coming face to face with such threats as the Loch Ness monster and cocaine addiction. Filmed with loving attention to Victorian period detail (especially the atmospherically rendered setting of Baker Street and Holmes’ 221B apartment), this is a film that was unjustly ignored in it’s time (probably because it was not a typically cynical Wilder comedy), but is now beginning to achieve a cult status. See it and decide for yourself what role it plays in the pantheon of Sherlockiana.