In addition to numerous one-hour episodes, Granada Television
produced five feature-length Sherlock Holmes films starring
Jeremy Brett, easily the best of all screen actors to play the
sleuth, and Edward Hardwicke, a warm and capable Dr. Watson. The
1987 feature version of The Sign of Four, the second Holmes novel
written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is faithful to the original
story except in one important detail: Dr. Watson does not get the
girl. Otherwise, the familiar tale of the death of Bartholomew
Sholto and the theft of the Agra treasure is all here, as is a
snappy performance by Brett as Holmes doing some of the finest
investigative work of his career.
A thrilling blend of detective yarn and Gothic horror, The Hound
of the Baskervilles (1988) concerns the apparent return of an old
curse upon the Baskerville family in the terrifying form of a
gigantic killer hound. Fans of Hardwicke get an rtunity to
see his Watson on a solo mission for part of this story, though
Brett is never far from the narrative. The supporting cast is
very good, and the beast itself, revealed in a famously
terrifying finale, is indeed a spooky revelation.
In The Master Blackmailer (1991), Holmes takes on the reputed
king of all blackmailers. Charles Augustus Milverton (Robert
Hardy) has made a fortune extorting money from the famous and the
blue-blooded, and he routinely ruins others' lives when not
pleased. Unable to talk Milverton into turning over letters
belonging to Lady Eva Brackenwell, Holmes decides to steal them,
going undercover as a plumber and even romancing Milverton's
housemaid, Agatha (Sophie Thompson), to gain better access in the
house. The story builds to a surprisingly violent finale, but the
real hook is Brett's performance as the disguised detective and
the startling suggestion that Holmes's close contact with Agatha
truly moved the bachelor sleuth.
A little overextended as a two-hour movie, The Eligible Bachelor
(1992) was made late in the enterprise. It finds Holmes (the
ailing Brett, playing an increasingly darker and more neurotic
detective) and Watson called upon to help in a case involving the
disappearance of Henrietta Doran (Paris Jefferson). Fiancée of
the noble Lord Robert St. Simon (Simon Williams), Doran was last
seen with a former lover of St. Simon's, Flora Millar (Joanna
McCallum). The unimaginative Scotland Yard instantly arrests
Millar on suspicion of foul play, but it is Holmes who has to
find the missing woman.
The Last Vampyre (1992) was perhaps the most ill-advised of the
series. Entirely contrary to the tone and spirit of Doyle's short
story "The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire"--which finds Holmes
victoriously pitting his well-grounded deductive powers against
irrational fears of a rise in bloodsucking--it's something of an
embarrassment to the largely wonderful legacy of Granada's
earlier efforts. (For the record, most of the creative executives
who had worked on the beloved series in the 1980s had been
replaced by the time this film was made.) In this version, Holmes
does battle with a Dracula-like fellow who may or may not be the
real McCoy. There is a great deal of padding to fill out the
story, and it is mostly silly, but the ailing Brett gives an
ever-fascinating performance, which deviates from Doyle's vision
of the detective toward something darker and more personal. --Tom
Keogh