6/17/2023 0 Comments Ny times review sherlockAs it is it works well enough for the material and is far from the weakest part of the film. Holmes solves it all far too easily and it is to the film's detriment, although the number of steps required to get to the end is impressive they are all too simple - it would have been better to have had fewer deductions from Holmes but a more complex plot. The plot is passable and is delivered with a good sense of pace that makes it enjoyable - however it must be said that the plot is hardly worthy of Moriarty, whom we are told is a master criminal. From the very start the weaknesses of the film are as clear as day but the basics of the film are enjoyable enough to make this worth watching. Despite the fact that this is a Roger Moore film I decided to give it a stab on the basis that I quite enjoy the character of Sherlock Holmes. However when Adler doesn't show up for the play, Holmes finds himself drawn into a plot that involves kidnapping and an incredible theft of gold from the International Gold Exchange. When they arrive ripped up, Holmes and Watson set out for New York immediately to find that nothing is obviously wrong. Actress Irene Adler is an acquaintance of Holmes and has sent him tickets for each of her opening nights for over 9 years - she is opening in New York and Holmes awaits her tickets. Moriarty has escaped capture and vowed to show up Holmes no end. Having captured the gang of Professor Moriarty and foiled his plan of assassination, Sherlock Holmes finds himself at a loss. The name of the institution is "The Bouwerie Bank," giving away its Dutch ancestry. Oh - and thanks to the name of the bank where the gold is stored I finally realized where "the Bowery" came from. No cocaine use, no misogyny, but he does play the violin and smoke his non-canonical calabash a lot. I kind of find myself wishing that Moore hadn't played the later, less individuated Holmes. Atrocious - along with your French." It's fun to watch. Huston: "You never could resist the 'tour day force', the 'coo day grass.' Your ego is insatiable." Moore: "Yes. You must catch Huston and Moore exchange insults at the beginning. Best is John Huston, overacting for all the part of Moriarty is worth, red-faced, snarling, hair-mussed, rolling his eyes, and that marvelous voice. She's quite good, although her eyes remain sensuously hooded and her voice continues unwittingly to carry a throaty invitation. Charlotte Rampling plays an upright woman, more or less, in this one. Horse-drawn vehicles chase each other clippity-clop across cobbled streets glistening with rain. Well, Moore is no Rasil Bathbone, and Macnee hasn't got very much to do except offer a few wisecracks - "Holmes, the problem with tea here is that it comes in POUCHES." But very effective use is made of the extensive sets left over from an earlier Twentieth-Century-Fox period movie - I forget which one. Indeed the solution is so simple that it leaves the authorities in New York looking like dolts for not having figured it out themselves. The gold business is given rather short shrift and is solved in about one minute by the perceptive detective. The story is a double one: Holmes can either save his own son by Irene Adler or solve the mystery of several megatons of missing gold bullion which would lead to an economic catastrophe and possibly war. Roger Moore is a bit handsome for Sherlock Holmes and Patrick Macnee uses a hoarse voice that sounds cured by cigar smoke, but this is an interesting and watchable flick.
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