Sherlock Holmes - The Eligible Bachelor

Starring:Jeremy Brett, Edward Hardwicke, Don Blaylock, Vincent Worth, Simon Williams, Tres Hanley, Bob Sessions, Elspeth March, Bruce Myers, Peter Graves (II), Joyce Grundy, Robin Hart, Heather Chasen, Mary Ellis, Geoffrey Beevers, Myles Hoyle, Rosalie Williams, Phillida Sewell, Paris Jefferson, Anna Calder-Marshall
Director: Peter Hammond
Studio: Mpi Home Video
Product Type: DVD

Amazon.com

A little overextended as a two-hour movie, this installment in Granada Television's long-running Sherlock Holmes series was one of several such feature-length productions made late (1992) in the enterprise. Based on the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle story "The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor," The Eligible Bachelor finds Holmes (the ailing Jeremy Brett, playing an increasingly darker and more neurotic detective) and Dr. Watson (Edward Hardwicke) 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), who 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. Fans of the entire series might best enjoy this slightly clunky program, though there is much of interest about Brett's performance to recommend it. --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews:

Rewards multiple viewings........2007-01-06

This film has been slammed by Sherlockian purists, but I think it deserves a second look. Indeed, it REQUIRES a second look due to its obscurity and the numerous departures from the original story by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

I am a fan of David Lynch, so I am perhaps more tolerant of obscurity than the average moviegoer. That kind of tolerance is needed with this movie. In the original Doyle story, the bachelor - Lord St. Simon - is a somewhat sympathetic figure. Here, he is pure evil. And screenwriter T. R. Bowen has introduced other elements - Freudianism, nitemarish dreams, etc. - totally alien to the world of Doyle. And we also see - apart from the controversial elements in the script - a Jeremy Brett in obvious physical decline. All in all, these things combine to make a very dark and eerie movie.

Yet, I think this film has its merits. It is a MOVING film, showing the vulnerability both of Holmes and of his real-life counterpart, Jeremy Brett. There is a sadness to it, a feeling of decline, of death. Yes, you sense that Holmes is close to death. And that, in my mind, adds nobility to Holmes's efforts on behalf of Henrietta Doran, splendidly played by the beautiful Paris Jefferson. (And she is VERY beautiful, almost preternaturally so.)

So an obviously weakened Holmes, disturbed by dreams he cannot understand, an ill and irritable Holmes, gets on his feet and pursues yet another villain. And I would ask the Holmes purists - is that not what Holmes is all about? Is that not the chivalrous Holmes we love? And why can't we love him in his weakness as well as in his strength?

I admit, the film has its shortcomings. It could have been better, less obscure, and the storyline is perhaps a bit more bizarre - and unbelieveable - than it needed to be. But in the end, it is true to Holmes, true to his courage, true to his humanity. I hope that is good enough.

First Hated, Now Liked!.......2005-12-03

I can't improve on the earlier well-stated comments; can only say that, when I first saw this episode, I disliked it intensly (for many of the reasons stated in earlier reviews). On second and subsequent viewings though, I picked up on the many subtle nuances, clues and parallels mentioned by other reviewers, and still light on something new when I see it again.

This is a very dark, eerie episode in the series..be ready not to expect Brett at his most athletic. Be ready to watch it more than once though; I think you might be pleasantly surprised as I was.

A "Weird" and Wonderful Mystery!!!.......2005-03-29

+++++

This movie is based on the story "The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor" (1892) written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859 to 1930).

Contrary to what many of the reviews below this one state, the length of this movie is 1 3/4 hours. (For confirmation of this fact, check the "Product Details" above.)

This is not a traditional "Sherlock Holmes" movie starring Jeremy Brett in the title character and Edward Hardwicke as Dr. Watson. Instead the viewer is presented with a series of clues interspersed throughout the movie and the viewer along with Sherlock puts these clues together to solve the mystery. Some viewers (especially those with a short attention span) may see this format as "weird" but personally I liked it since it really kept me thinking until the end.

The key to understanding and appreciating this movie is to realize that this movie gradually reveals clues while alternating with the main storyline.

The storyline itself is quite simple. Lord Robert St. Simon (Simon Williams), seemingly the most eligible bachelor in London, after a courtship, marries a wealthy American woman, Henrietta "Hettie" Doran (Paris Jefferson). But rather than being a happy occasion, the young couple's wedding day turns to tragedy when an unwelcome guest named Flora Miller (Joanna McCullum) arrives at the wedding breakfast, and the bride disappears. It is at this point that Holmes is officially called in by St. Simon to investigate.

Some interspersed clues include:

(1) Holmes at what appears to be an insane asylum
(2) Sherlock having a strange, recurring dream or nightmare
(3) scenes of a theatre group
(4) the money problems of St. Simon
(5) a mysterious veiled lady
(6) a printed note sent to Sherlock that says, "What of ladies Maud and Helena?"
(7) a torn letter found in the pocket of Hettie's wedding dress signed "F.M."

This movie conveys Sherlock's recurring dream quite well. (Some viewer's may see the depiction of this dream as "weird.") Holmes describes his dream to Dr. Watson:

"I'm fighting with Moriarty [Sherlock's archenemy] at the [river] falls then suddenly I'm overwhelmed with a sense of loss...fear...empty rooms, I have no sense of scale-a huge chair which diminishes, its upholstery torn to shreds. I'm struggling to escape from a marsh...a quagmire...then appears an androgynous creature, witch-like, hag-like with claws...which reach out to me...and I'm trapped in a mesh of cobwebs and I [then] awake."

The interspersed clues and the main storyline gradually come together and form a satisfying conclusion to the mystery.

Brett despite his real-life health problems does a good job in capturing the essence of the famous gumshoe in his performance. Simon Williams as the eligible bachelor also gives a convincing performance. Also look for the fine performance of Joanna McCullum as Flora Miller.

Finally, the props, costumes, background music, cinematography, and especially the photography are quite well done.

In conclusion, this is a good and different type of Sherlock Holmes' movie that's fun to watch even if you have read the story it's based on!!!

(1992; 1 3/4 hours; made for TV; full screen, color)

+++++

Blatant rubbish.......2005-01-03

I am giving this film an extra star out of respect for actors Brett and Hardwicke, and for a few of the looney, arty camera shots that are used to conjure a bizarre tone for this overlong "Sherlock Holmes" story. However, there is good bizarre and there is bad bizarre. Good bizarre, as in other Brett/Holmes films such as "Wisteria Lodge" and "The Golden Pince-Nez," use unusual cinematography to add to the story's fun rather than distract from it. Bad bizarre, such as this mess, has no fun in it to begin with, and falls back on weird, disturbing images to compensate. For many years Jeremy Brett played the great sleuth with neurotic panache in well-made, tight, amusing films that stayed very close to the Conan Doyle stories on which they were made. Unfortunately, in Brett's declining years they put this fine actor in three stinkers ("The Master Blackmailer," "The Last Vampyre," and this, the worst of the lot) that took perfectly good Doyle stories and tried to drag them out to two hour epics by padding them with a lot of extra crap by modern screenwriters, all of whom for some reason decided that late Victorian London should be shown as an extremely squalid place filled with cackling hags, drunks, weird spectacled psychotics, suicidal gays, and Holmes himself going to pieces, sobbing and simpering most unlike the Holmes we all know and love. In keeping with the style of many television films of this era, this one seems jumpy, quick-cut, and random. After several scenes that each last all of five seconds, I begin to wonder where on earth the art of storytelling has gone. This overwrought bummer of a movie is best forgotten, and those wishing to enjoy a great Sherlock Holmes mystery might best go and watch "The Sign of Four," another long, bizarre story that has all the good qualities this one lacks: humor, plot, faithfulness to Doyle, fine production, and a great sleuth.

Truly Eligible FIlm!.......2004-11-01

Although one appreciates most of the Granada Sherlock Holmes series for its faithful evocation of the ACD stories, this hugely expanded and utterly loose adaptation of 'The Noble Bachelor' (surely one of the lesser adventures as even the purists must admit) scores as a weird, mostly brilliant and vastly improved version of the original tale.

To the flimsy story of the American bride-to-be of a nobleman, who goes suddenly missing on her wedding, we are given a Holmes who is ill and suffering from a singular grotesque dream that repeatedly plagues him, and a nobleman who may not be quite as noble. In this story the director has actually taken advantage of Brett's bloated and haggard frame to give us a haunted, beleaguered Holmes who must pursue a case if only to keep off his own demons. The story is rich with interestingly flawed characters that function as more than the usual mouthpiece of information. Even old Mrs. Hudson is given more depth with an affectionate glance at her quasi-matronly relationship with Holmes.

The film has been crafted with great visual flair, noticeably more than the short episodes of the series. Holmes' hallucination and his attempt to transcribe it into sketches make for some awesome viewing. There's a very stylish use of color and lighting (DoP David Odd), and the camera movements and cutting are often eye-catching. It's really the most 'cinematic' of all the Brett-Holmes series I've so far seen.

Some people may not like it as much since Holmes is not here the imperturbable sleuth, and most of the story moves along without him playing a very active role. A few scenes are contrived to the limits of credibility. But I thought it was all the same a very interesting and visually ravishing attempt to stage an originally mediocre story.

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