Product Details

• Actors: Jeremy Brett, David Burke, Rosalie Williams, Eric Porter
• Producers: John Hawkesworth
• Format: Color, HiFi Sound, NTSC
• Language: English
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Mpi Home Video
• VHS Release Date: March 28, 1995
• Run Time: 52 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6303418473
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #268,887 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Sherlock Holmes (the incomparable Jeremy Brett) is unhappily interrupted during a major investigation by the appearance at Baker Street of a young, regal-looking woman named Violet Smith (Barbara Wilshere). Frightened for her safety, Smith tells the busy sleuth and his friend Dr. Watson (David Burke) of her recent life since being left penniless. Employed as a music teacher in the Charlington home of one Bob Carruthers (John Castle)--a man who, along with a quite dangerous and "hideous" fellow named Woodley (Michael Siberry)--knew her late father in South Africa, Smith has lately been harassed by Woodley and followed on bicycle by a mysterious, bearded fellow. Watson is dispatched to look into the matter, but the mystery only deepens and darkens even after the Master finally arrives. One of the strongest episodes in the long-running Holmes series from Granada Television, The Solitary Cyclist never lets up its taut suspense. Brett and Burke are magnificent, as always, but even the most loyal fans are taken aback by the rare sight of Holmes throwing punches, as he does in a boxing duel with the beastly Woodley. --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If this don't beat all, August 6, 1999

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - The Solitary Cyclist [VHS] (VHS Tape)

This story shows the brutal reality beneath a fair surface; the 'upperclass' gentlemen behave like beasts, although one has a conscience. A pretty girl is subjected to what looks very much like rape.The violence is handled with the good taste and excellent filmmaking that was one of the hallmarks of this series. A very young-looking Jeremy Brett hasn't yet settled into his role as Holmes;(this was the first episode shot). Bits of his old romantic-lead persona show occasionally. It's not detrimental, and I think he does a fine job, but this episode of the series may be a surprise to anyone who has only seen him in later shows when he was playing more of a human icicle. The boxing scene is well staged and handled precisely as it was described in the book--a good job all round. Yes, Sherlock Holmes was a boxer, and a good allround athlete too. This may come as a surprise to those who only know him through the movies, but it is the way the character is written, and it is the reason why this series of films is the best portrayal of him that I have seen.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best in the "Adventures" Collection, January 3, 2003

By 

Glenn Andersson - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - The Solitary Cyclist [VHS] (VHS Tape)

When it comes to film renderings of Sherlock Holmes, there is absolutely no better than the English television company Granada's tasteful, historically accurate and wonderfully casted versions.

In the role of the detective himself, Jeremy Brett (who sadly passed away in the aftereffects of his manodepressiv illness, and barely managed to complete the last episodes) is THE most memorable Sherlock Holmes of all times, with his outbursts and brilliant face expressions. Sometimes he acts out like a madman, portraiting Holmes as quite an original character (but never disrespectful or exaggerated), sometimes working with very small means. Anyway, he never leaves you unaffected by his performance and practically steals the screen away from his fellow actors.

The series are also well known for their creative portrait of Dr Watson, played by either David Burke (as he is in this story) or by the more grumpy, but equally marvellous Edward Hardwicke -- miles from the gasping fool as he is usually portaited. But even the other roles are casted with pain-staking care and of course brilliantly played. In this story, I will among others point out the very good performance of the lovely Barbara Wilshere as the pursued young, cycling woman and Michael Siberry's unforgettable portraying of the red-headed ruffian Woodley.

The environments -- the exteriors as well as the interior Victorian details -- have never been made better than in the Granada Sherlock Holmes series, and this puzzling and very thrilling episode is no exception from the rule. I think it is one of the best, although almost every one of them are of high quality. I have all of them and couldn't live without them. Watch it and enjoy good acting, beautiful English panoramas and excellent movie craftmanship to the fullest!

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Granada and Brett deliver again., December 26, 2001

By 

A. Laughlin (Clinton, MS USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - The Solitary Cyclist [VHS] (VHS Tape)

After coming across a copy of another Granada episode (The Bruce-Partington Plans) in a local store, I've been slowly accumulating the tapes of other episodes, most recently The Solitary Cyclist, which was one of my favorites of Conan Doyle's stories.

As always, Granada and Jeremy Brett deliver. I adore Brett; no other actor has come close to portraying Sherlock Holmes nearly so faithfully or so fascinatingly as he has. Brett's Holmes is frequently not at /all/ a likeable person (a fact illustrated with particular clarity in this episode), any more than Doyle's original was. What he /is/ is brilliant, intriguingly dramatic, and endearingly eccentric, with occasional flashes of compassion and sensitivity.

It's very difficult to steal a scene either from Brett or from Holmes himself, and no one pulls it off in The Solitary Cyclist. David Burke is a good, dependable Watson who can't help but be left in Holmes' intellectual dust, but is far from the phlegmatic simpleton that other actors have portrayed the character as (coughNigelBrucecough). Also notable are Barbara Wilshere as a confident and capable Violet Smith, John Castle playing Bob Carruthers with understated dignity, and Michael Siberry as the positively skin-crawlingly slimy Mr. Woodley.

As I've come to expect from Granada, the episode is a faithful rendering of the original story, with a large amount of the dialogue nearly verbatim, and painstaking attention to period detail.

Favorite moments:

Holmes' pained response to his chemical experiment being interrupted, against the combined forces of the immovable Mrs. Hudson and the adamant Miss Smith. And Holmes' subsequent rather gentle handling of Miss Smith, particularly his examination (with only a passing request for permission) of her hand and authoritative displaying to Watson of "a certain spirituality in the face," and the soft delivery of the refrain, "I never guess." I love Jeremy Brett's voice.

Holmes sniping at Watson over his "failure"--he's really horrible, and I can't help but love it. Especially towards the end of the discussion: "Did I really do remarkably badly?" "...Yes!"

The impromptu boxing match with Woodley, and Holmes' gloating to Watson afterwards. ("It was absolutely delicious. A straight left against a slogging ruffian.")

The falling action, in which Holmes lays out the entire plot to Watson and two of the erstwhile conspirators as though he'd known everything all along.

And the last scene--the positively childish trick with the newspaper, and the sudden scramble to the window after the mishap with the chemical reaction.