I can only hope this non-Conan Doyle effort assembled its cast in order to give some depth and star power to what was intended to be an affectionate pastiche' of the world of Sherlock Holmes and provide a few "fish out of water" laughs as our intrepid Victorian heroes of Baker Street W1 are faced with turn of the century New York in 1901.
Sing lackaday and lamentations, but the whole thing falls as flat as a failed soufflé and becomes unbearable after the first ten minutes. The trouble starts with John Huston's turn as Moriarty. Chewing the scenery doesn't come close to describing his performance as he snarls "Blast ya, Holmes! Blasy, blast ya, blast ya!" when another nefarious scheme is thwarted by the World's Greatest Detective (rather obviously "disguised" as Colonel Moran from 'The Empty House').
Roger Moore as Holmes is obviously playing tongue in cheek, but when didn't he? His James Bond was a suave, teflon-coated ladies' man, as was Simon Templar in 'The Saint'. It was an endearing trait of Moore's not to take himself seriously as an actor, but here it really works against him as he is unable to convey any of Holmes's mental powers and his 'detection' just ends up looking silly.
Patrick Macnee's Watson is straight out the Nigel Bruce School for Bumbling Sidekicks - huffing about the lack of Native Americans in NYC. Charlotte Rampling turns the resourceful and inteeligent Irene Adler into a fluttering, helpless Victorian out of a creaky melodrama.
Either this was intended as a spoof, or the cast realised the cheesiness of the enterprise and decided to play for laughs. Whatever the reason, the film does not come off at all.
Sing lackaday and lamentations, but the whole thing falls as flat as a failed soufflé and becomes unbearable after the first ten minutes. The trouble starts with John Huston's turn as Moriarty. Chewing the scenery doesn't come close to describing his performance as he snarls "Blast ya, Holmes! Blasy, blast ya, blast ya!" when another nefarious scheme is thwarted by the World's Greatest Detective (rather obviously "disguised" as Colonel Moran from 'The Empty House').
Roger Moore as Holmes is obviously playing tongue in cheek, but when didn't he? His James Bond was a suave, teflon-coated ladies' man, as was Simon Templar in 'The Saint'. It was an endearing trait of Moore's not to take himself seriously as an actor, but here it really works against him as he is unable to convey any of Holmes's mental powers and his 'detection' just ends up looking silly.
Patrick Macnee's Watson is straight out the Nigel Bruce School for Bumbling Sidekicks - huffing about the lack of Native Americans in NYC. Charlotte Rampling turns the resourceful and inteeligent Irene Adler into a fluttering, helpless Victorian out of a creaky melodrama.
Either this was intended as a spoof, or the cast realised the cheesiness of the enterprise and decided to play for laughs. Whatever the reason, the film does not come off at all.