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Welcome! Like the book of the same name, this blog is an eclectic collection of Sherlockian scribblings based on more than a half-century of reading Sherlock Holmes. Please add your own thoughts. You can also follow me on Twitter @DanAndriacco and on my Facebook fan page at Dan Andriacco Mysteries. You might also be interested in my Amazon Author Page. My books are also available at Barnes & Noble and in all main electronic formats including Kindle, Nook, Kobo and iBooks for the iPad.

Tuesday, August 22, 2017

Holmes, Sherlock Holmes


In 1976, married not a year, my wife and I settled down to watch the made-for-TV movie Sherlock Holmes in New York on our small screen black and white television. Featuring Roger Moore, Patrick McNee, and John Houston (as Moriarty), how bad could it be?

Pretty bad, I later thought!

I’ve always cringed when I thought of that movie, which was cranked out during the Holmes explosion of the 1970's while Moore was just beginning his long run as James Bond. Somewhere along the line I acquired a copy of the paperback novelization, but I never bothered to read it.

But recently I saw it again, for the first time in more than 40 years, during the annual film Sherlock Holmes festival sponsored by the Illustrious Clients of Indianapolis at the Zionsville Public Library. I was in for a huge surprise – it wasn’t that bad!

To be sure, much of the dialogue is groan-worthy, Roger Moore’s false sideburns look strange, and the sets would embarrass a community theater production. But on the other side of the ledger, the plot is clever, John Houston is always fun to watch, and the scriptwriter threw in a basketful of Easter eggs for fans not only of Sherlock Holmes, but of Nero Wolfe as well.

The bottom line is that Sherlock Holmes in New York is campy fun.

And by the way, so was the episode of “Gilligan’s Island” also included on the program. You haven’t lived until you’ve been in an audience of Sherlockians spontaneously bursting into “Just sit right back and you’ll hear a tale . . .”  


4 comments:

  1. I've watched "Sherlock Holmes in New York" and also read the book many times, both as part of my Holmes studies and also Nero Wolfe studies. In fact, just a few weeks ago I bought the "real" DVD and rewatched it again after having made do with a bootleg DVD from eBay for several years.

    The book adds several important points to the story, and I mention both in this entry from my own irregular blog, "A Seventeen Step Program":

    http://17stepprogram.blogspot.com/2016/01/re-reading-nero-wolfe-adventures-visit.html?m=1

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  2. Here's another Sherlock Holmes "camp" story, stop me if you've heard this one already. Holmes and Watson go out on a camping trip. That evening, Watson looks up and muses on the night sky, the stars, and Man's infinitesimal place in the Universe. "What do you see, Holmes?", Watson asks. Sherlock Holmes replies tersely: "That someone has stolen our tent, you idiot!"

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  3. It's too late to stop you - you've already told the story! Thanks.

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