Customer Reviews

1994 Baker Street: Sherlock Holmes Returns [VHS]

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This TV movie is intended as a comedy, perhaps dramedy but nevertheless I was impressed by the Holmes character. As a fan of Arthur Conan Doyle's creation I found this Holmes to be truer to the persona of the original stories than more serious treatments of the famous consulting detective. And unlike those others I think this movie ingeniously illustrates Holmes remarkable powers of observation and deduction with clever camera techniques. Other movies gloss over this most fascinating trait reducing Holmes to the ranks of ordinary TV detectives.

I taped this on tv when it aired and we pull it out once a year to watch. We don't watch it more frequently because we don't want to wear out the VHS tape any faster than we have to.

This tv movie was GREAT! DH and I were thinking it was a pilot idea for a series. Unfortunately, that never happened. But we love the movie nonetheless.

Anthony Higgins and Debrah Farentino seemed ideally cast. Holmes' wonderment at seeing the plane cross the sky is perfect. And his little trip-ups because of modern invention (Sweet-n-Low!) are too funny. The doctor becomes far more "intelligent" in our eyes because of this of course, yet we (and she) are still amazed at the ingenuity of Holmes. Holmes as a fish out of water, wherein we as the audience can sometimes be "smarter" than he, is every Holmes fan's dream.

Now if only a DVD would be released. With extras like interviews and retrospectives if at all possible!

(EDITED TO ADD: I puchased a VHS tape from an amazon third-party seller. I thought it would be a very good taping off TV or maybe even pre-recorded, but alas it isn't either. Still the tape itself is in better condition than mine for playing.

My DH WAS definitely surprised when I pulled this out for us to watch one evening (the day it showed on my doorstep!).)

For those who don't know this was a made-for-tv film by the creator of the hit shows "V" and "Alien Nation"!!!! I too taped this from the television and now vainly search for a VHS copy while waiting to see if they'll ever put it on dvd. Anthony Higgins is a wonderful British actor who isn't well-known but is well-respected. He does an excellent job here of playing a resurrected Sherlock Holmes who finds himself in modern-day San Francisco using his talents to a woman (Debra Farrentino) to solve a murder. I won't say more than this as it would spoil aspects of the movie. If you can't find this film anywhere do see his other movies: "The Draughtsman's Contract", "Vampire Circus" (also another hard to find video), and various newer murder mystery episodes, "An Unsuitable Job for a Woman" (a Brit mystery series available to rent and buy here), and a Miss Marple Brit series and "Indian Jones and the Ark of Doom". Check [...] for his work.