Customer Reviews

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - The Naval Treaty [VHS]

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Jeremy Brett richly deserved an acting award (which he sadly never received) for his faithful portrayal of Sherlock Holmes as Doyle actually wrote him. THE NAVAL TREATY shows a bit of the Great Detective's softer side-and his somewhat bizarre sense of humor. In this episode, Holmes appears to take leave of his senses and starts spouting philosophy about the cosmic significance of a moss-rose right in the middle of a case. Of course, he has his reasons... When Percy Phelps receives his treaty he dances about the room shrieking with joy. These episodes are both from the original story and are faithfully reenacted as a direct result of the actor's insistence on remaining true to Arthur Conan Doyle. Bravo, Mr. Brett. One other fascinating aspect of THE NAVAL TREATY is the portrayal of the class system of the time: note how casually the police burst into a poor woman's home and take her away from six or seven hungry children with no assumption that she might in fact be innocent. I found this one of the most important points made in the program. It really is a story of the social inequities of the time. It's also fun to see how the villain badly underestimates Holmes' abilities and lives to pay for it. My one complaint about this episode: The slow motion camera is an anachronism and seems out of period, smacking as it does of modern action pictures. But that's a small complaint.

Jeremy Brett's portrayal of Holmes is brilliant most notably because of his seemingly effortless success in giving depth to a difficult character such as Holmes. In this installment, (as well as well as "The Dancing Men,") we see more of Holmes' difficult side: he barely hides the fact that he does not like his client! Percy Phelps' weak constitution clearly grates on Holmes, but as Phelps is an old school chum of Watson's, he decides to help him anyway. The scene where Holmes leaves Phelps and his strong-willed fiancee up in the air as to whether or not he will help them, shows just how acerbic Holmes could be; even Watson is stunned by Holmes' lack of tact. The acting is up to the stars' usual fine standards, but the supporting players, most notably Phelps, leave a bit to be desired. Phelps' character hams it up a bit much in his breakdown scenes, and he comes off a wimp and not deserving of our sympathies. The character of his fiancee is so tight and stuffy, one fails to see what even a milquetoast like Phelps is doing with her. The production values are quite good, and on the whole, this episode is recommended, most notably for Brett's intricate performance as Holmes.