Film
What's on at the cinema plus reviews of the latest movie and DVD releases
Bookmark this pageThe Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother (1975)
Director: Gene Wilder
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
'Sheer luck,' Sigerson Holmes derisively tags his more famous older brother. Sherlock nevertheless delegates a blackmail case involving a soubrette (Kahn) to young Sigi (Wilder),while he himself concentrates on the more pressing investigation of the theft of state documents from the Foreign Secretary. The cases become entangled, however, when it transpires that the soubrette's father is the Foreign Secretary (Le Mesurier) and that her fiancé, the opera singer Gambetti (DeLuise), wants to obtain papers in papa's safe. Writer/director Wilder spins a very tangled tale, and production designer Terry Marsh has gone to town on the excessively cluttered 1890s sets, but there's a magnificent on-stage climax, when, during a production of The Masked Ball, documents are due to change hands and the drugged chorus progressively collapses. Hit and miss, with plums picked from all chapters of the comic handbook, and plenty of innocent lavatory humour. Kahn and DeLuise shine among the strong ensemble.Author: JPy
Cast & crew
Director: Gene Wilder
Producer: Richart A Roth
Cast: Gene Wilder, Madeline Kahn, Marty Feldman, Dom DeLuise, Leo McKern, Roy Kinnear, John Le Mesurier, Albert Finney full cast
Genre(s): Comedy
Duration: 91 mins
Top Stories
Ridley Scott interview
Director Ridley Scott tells Cath Clarke why he's making a science fiction comeback
Cannes Film Festival 2012: half-time report
Dave Calhoun reports on the hits, misses and a shocking new masterpiece from Michael Haneke
What do you think?
Post your review now