Sherlock Holmes - The Master Blackmailer

Starring:Jeremy Brett, Edward Hardwicke, Gwen Ffrangcon Davies, Belinda Peters, Rosalie Williams, Norma West, Colin Jeavons, David Scase, Howard Gay, Robert Hardy, Henrietta Whitsun-Jones, Stephen Simms, Hans Meyer, Alan Rothwell, Sarah McVicar, Lee Clarke, Sophie Thompson, Serena Gordon, David Mallinson, Tony Broughton
Director: Peter Hammond
Studio: Mpi Home Video
Product Type: DVD

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Based on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's story "The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton," this two-hour 1991 adaptation for the most part sticks close to the details of the original. Holmes (Jeremy Brett) takes on the reputed king of all blackmailers, Milverton (Robert Hardy), who has made a fortune extorting money from the famous and the blueblooded and who 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 ethical Watson, played by Edward Hardwicke, is upset to hear of Holmes's deception of an innocent woman.) 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. --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews:

DID NOT ORDER.......2007-03-29

Harry Potter Goblet of Fire, March 28, 2007
Reviewer: Sacred Chapel "Carol" (California) - See all my reviews
I am a fan. I loved this movie.

Your tags: harry potter, goblet of fire, fantasy, magic

Holmes the human -- almost........2007-03-10

THE MASTER BLACKMAILER is arguably the best of the five feature-length Sherlock Holmes films made by Grenada TV. It lacks the convolutions of THE LAST VAMPYRE, the occasional sluggishness of the THE SIGN OF FOUR, the weird mystical elements of the THE ELIGIBLE BACHELOR, and the overly experimental cinemetography that undermined the otherwise excellent HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES. The story shoves Holmes out of his comfort zone of cold deductive reasoning and poses with brutal frankness the old Nietzscheian question: 'How many lines can the hero cross before he becomes a villain himself?'

BLACKMAILER pits Jeremy Brett's Holmes Edward Hardwicke's Watson against
Charles Augustus Milverton, their most formiddable opponent since Professor Moriarity. As the name suggests, Milverton, played with sniggering, loathsome villainy by Robert Hardy, makes his living obtaining compromising information about London's elite and threatening to ruin them unless paid fortunes in hush money. His long history of blackmail has left a wreckage-trail of scandal and suicide all over Victorian England, but his precautions are so thorough, and his intelligence so keen, that his victims have no choiue but to pay up or endure the consequences.

When Lady Eva Brackenwell becomes Milverton's next target, however, she employs Holmes to recover old love letters which, if made public, will foil her upcoming marriage to a young lord. And herein lies the story's main departure from formula: instead of a conventional mystery for the consulting detective, we have a problem better suited to a noirish private investigator. How can Holmes prevent a master blackmailer from spilling his illicit goods with the wedding only a few days away?

The late and extremely great Jeremy Brett always played Holmes as being either a bit less or a bit more than human depending on his mood and the case at hand -- he was often ill-tempered, arrogant, bad-mannered, and insensitive to the point of cruelty, and even in his best moments he seemed to be approximating human feelings rather than actually experiencing them; yet he was also courageous, brilliant, dogged, loyal, and imbued with a fierce sense of justice and a terrifying resolve to see the mystery solved and the evildoer punished. It is this last category that the writers chose to explore in BLACKMAILER, in which an increasingly desperate and frustrated Holmes finds himself posing as a plumber and seducing (in chaste Victorian fashion) Milverton's naive housekeeper, Agatha, so as to gain access to Milverton's home. To what extent Holmes feels anything for Agatha, if at all, is unclear, but Brett's subtle acting shows that while Holmes may not be capable of experiencing affection, he is certainly capable of feeling shame -- shame encouraged by a disgusted Watson, whose gentlemanly sense of honor is revolted at this ultraMachiavellian move.

Hardy's Milverton, far from being a foil for Holmes' genius, proves to be a full match for our hero, who grows to hate his antagonist and finally throws aside the subtleties of espionage for brute force and thievery. The story's resolution, one of the most violent in the history of the series, is simultaneously satisfying and humbling -- in the end, Holmes and Watson serve as little more than accessories after the fact to the world's most unlikely vigilante. The only real down note in the whole production was the decision by the director to edit Inspector Lestrade's role in the story to a glorified cameo -- a potentially classic scene where he is talking to Holmes and Watson about a crime without realizing he is talking to its perpetrators unfortunately did not make the final cut.

THE MASTER BLACKMAILER stands as one of the more disturbing and poignent of all the Grenada TV Holmes outings. Normally it is Holmes who gives the lecture and those around him who are the pupils. Here, it is the detective who learns one of the hardest of life's lessons -- that the means used to defeat evil are often as bad as the evil itself.

not as good as "sign or Hound of the baskerville" however.......2005-11-10

If you're a Brett fan you have only so many choices. The master blackmailer, filmed late in his career, still holds up. It's a nice story with Holmes flirting, in disguise, with the scullary maid. And outwitting the master Blackmailer.
It's better then The Eligible Bachelor and The Last Vampyre but the best two hour productions are The Hound of the Baskervilles and The Sign of Four.

A Very Dramatic and Suspenseful Film.......2005-09-09

For years this was the only Sherlock Holmes mystery in the Jeremy Brett collection that I had never seen. I put off buying it because of the many mediocre reviews I had read. This month I decided to purchase it and finish off my collection. In brief, I was pleasantly surprised. I found it to be a very suspenseful and interesting film. Holmes must bring down a "professional" blackmailer (Charles Milverton), who has destroyed many lives through his tactics. There is much debate over whether Holmes falls in love in the episode. I don't think so. In order to infiltrate the Milverton household, he disguises himself as a plumber and, in the process, draws the romantic attraction of the house maid. They have a couple of "romantic moments" together, and even kiss at one point. However, although the maid is attracted to him, I don't think Holmes was truly attracted to her. It was merely an act as part of his undercover operation. Needless to say, he breaks the girl's heart. At the end, he even says there are aspects of the case that he was not proud of. This was no doubt one of them.

But I would definitely recommend this film. It is more dramatic and suspenseful than other Sherlock Holmes episodes, and the acting is fantastic. And even though it is close to 2 hours in length, it will keep your attention throughout.

Sherlock in Love?.......2005-05-18

+++++

This movie is based on the story "The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton" (1904) written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859 to 1910).

This story is about a man, Charles A. Milverton (Robert Hardy), "who prays upon weakness with a smiling face and a heart of marble."

One of Milverton's many blackmail victims, before committing suicide, writes a letter to Sherlock (Jeremy Brett) telling him of Milverton's unscrupulous methods and asks Holmes to find a way to stop him. Sherlock takes on this "most repulsive" case.

The first thing that Holmes' does is infiltrate Milverton's mansion by posing as a plumber. In the process, he becomes close to the housemaid (Sophie Thompson) who has "touched [his] heart." The ethical Dr. Watson (Edward Hardwicke) protests this tactic, feeling that Sherlock has gone to far.

The first hour of this movie shows the damage Milverton has done to his victims while the second hour details how Sherlock plans to put him out of business. The end of this movie is surprisingly violent but unforgettable.

Brett (as usual) does a good job in capturing the essence of the famous gumshoe in his performance. Also watch for the fine performance of Bob Hardy as the blackmailer.

Finally, the costumes, background music, attention to detail, and cinematography are quite well done.

In conclusion, this is a good movie to watch even if you have read the story it's based on!!

(1992; 2 hr; British drama; made for TV; full screen)

+++++

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