Product Details

• Actors: Jeremy Brett, Rosalie Williams, Edward Hardwicke, Charles Gray, Tom Chadbon
• Format: Color, NTSC
• Language: English
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Mpi Home Video
• VHS Release Date: June 11, 1996
• Run Time: 52 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6304025904
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #284,821 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

With Dr. Watson absent from the tale (actor Edward Hardwicke was busy shooting the Anthony Hopkins feature Shadowlands), Sherlock Holmes (Jeremy Brett) is joined by his brother Mycroft (Charles Gray) in an investigation into the murder of one Willoughby Smith, secretary to a chain-smoking, invalid professor (Frank Finlay). Gray's amusing, inscrutable performance helps supplement that of the valiantly struggling Brett, whose considerable health problems a decade into the long-running Granada Television series are well known to his devoted fans. Still, Brett does a wonderfully complex, shaded job as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's sleuth, and veteran actor Finlay is something to see as the mysterious professor. --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars As Solid as Charles Gray, February 20, 2001

By 

Alan Breck (Jersey City, NJ United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sherlock Holmes: Golden Pince-Nez [VHS] (VHS Tape)

One of the strongest of the later episodes in the Granada Sherlock Holmes series, "The Golden Pince-Nez" artfully conveys all the twists and turns of Arthur Conan Doyle's clever story. Jeremy Brett's health problems are evident, but his characterization is as strong as ever. The absence of Edward Hardwicke's Watson is overcome by the clever writing, which highlights the brotherly rivavlry between Sherlock and his lazier, yet smarter brother Mycroft- a nice contrast to the sloppy insertion of the same character in the vastly inferior "Mazarin Stone." In one of his best performances, Charles Gray conveys massive intellect as easily as he conveys massive bulk- which is very easy indeed! The direction and cinematography are both excellent. A fine addition to any Sherlock Holmes library.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A delightful film!, May 4, 2003

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Sherlock Holmes: Golden Pince-Nez [VHS] (VHS Tape)

In Conan Doyle's original DYING DETECTIVE Sherlock Holmes story, mention is made of a murder of one Victor Savage. The best part about this delightful adaption is that it explains how Holmes got mixed up in the affair of Savage's death. How did he, you ask? You'll have to watch the film to find out!

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A good one, March 17, 2004

By 

kennedy19 "kennedy19" (wakefield, ma USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sherlock Holmes: Golden Pince-Nez [VHS] (VHS Tape)

One of the best of the later Jeremy Brett Holmes films, this one is particularly distinguished by its use of colorful, self-consciously arty cinematography to heighten an eccentric mood; I love it. This one is a visual delight. Brett is fine as always; so is Charles Gray as his sharp brother Mycroft, who comes along to investigate as well. A secretary has been murdered, and a golden pince-nez has been discovered in his hand, plucked from the face of the murderer. The secretery's employer is a bed-ridden, chain-smoking professor who claims to know nothing of the affair. Where the film sticks to the original story by Arthur Conan Doyle it is on solid ground, and some of its departures such as the inclusion of Mycroft work well. However, the scriptwriters have needlessly thrown in a side plot about a woman suffragette, probably just to pad the thing out to an hour. Even so, this bizarre mystery is great fun for Holmes fans. All of the Brett films are notable for their period detail and engagingly neurotic take on its lead character.