I recently watch the early 90’s Sherlock Holmes mini-series out of Canada, Sherlock Holmes & The Leading Lady and Sherlock Holmes & The Incident at Victoria Falls. These starred Christopher Lee as Holmes and Patrick McNee as Watson.
The best thing about these two min-series was Patrick McNee as Watson. He played Watson as the intelligent doctor he was in Doyle’s stories, not the comic relief as often used in movies.
Other than McNee there isn’t much else to care for in these productions.
Which is a shame, I have wanted to see these for a long time, as I am a huge Sherlock Holmes fans.
The scripts and characterization are very weak. The acting is atrocious, with Morgan Fairchild being a particular offender.
The production values are almost non-existent, even for a Canadian production. It feels like these were lensed on an early camcorder. Many scenes are flat and lifeless, and some are foggy. It seems like these were more of a stage play, then epic television Mini-Series events.
Then there are the audio problems. Massive audio problems. Most of the dialog doesn’t match up with who is speaking, giving these the feel of old school badly dubbed 70’s Hong Kong Martial Arts flicks.
Just sad.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
You would think that Christopher Lee and Patrick McNee together could salvage these two Holmes stories, alas they were unable.
RATINGS: 3
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