(no subject)

"The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes" arrived today, at long last.

Goddamn, Robert Stephens is hilarious. I don't like Colin Blakely as Watson, and Christopher Lee as Mycroft is even weirder than Richard E. Grant in the same role, but Stephens carries the entire film. There are so many gems in the script that it's difficult to decide which ones get a mention, but the mad Russian dancer who wants Holmes to be the father to her child is wonderful, as is Holmes' attempt to get out of it:

"You know what they say about the English, the only thing worse than our cooking is our love-making," and, of course, his insinuating that he and Watson are a couple (Watson's reaction is brilliant too: "We must do something to preserve our reputation! We should get married!" Holmes: "Then they'll really talk.").

There's also, very early on, a scene where Watson claims that twelve men have died for the lead dancer in the ballet:

Watson: "Six committed suicide, four were killed in duels and one fell to his death from a top box."
Holmes: "That's only eleven."
Watson: "The man who fell from the balcony landed on another man in the orchestra pit!"
Holmes: "Well, that makes an even dozen, in a messy sort of way."

The look on Robert Stephen's face as he says this is priceless; I thought my ribs would break from laughing.

The plot is very silly - I'm sure I saw an episode of Scooby Doo that was remarkably similar - but it's well worth watching. May watch it again tonight, actually.

(no subject)

"The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes" arrived today, at long last.

Goddamn, Robert Stephens is hilarious. I don't like Colin Blakely as Watson, and Christopher Lee as Mycroft is even weirder than Richard E. Grant in the same role, but Stephens carries the entire film. There are so many gems in the script that it's difficult to decide which ones get a mention, but the mad Russian dancer who wants Holmes to be the father to her child is wonderful, as is Holmes' attempt to get out of it:

"You know what they say about the English, the only thing worse than our cooking is our love-making," and, of course, his insinuating that he and Watson are a couple (Watson's reaction is brilliant too: "We must do something to preserve our reputation! We should get married!" Holmes: "Then they'll really talk.").

There's also, very early on, a scene where Watson claims that twelve men have died for the lead dancer in the ballet:

Watson: "Six committed suicide, four were killed in duels and one fell to his death from a top box."
Holmes: "That's only eleven."
Watson: "The man who fell from the balcony landed on another man in the orchestra pit!"
Holmes: "Well, that makes an even dozen, in a messy sort of way."

The look on Robert Stephen's face as he says this is priceless; I thought my ribs would break from laughing.

The plot is very silly - I'm sure I saw an episode of Scooby Doo that was remarkably similar - but it's well worth watching. May watch it again tonight, actually.