Sherlock Holmes - The Master Blackmailer
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: David Scase, Edward Hardwicke, Gwen Ffrangcon Davies, Jeremy Brett, Robert HardyBrand: MPI
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language)
Format: Color, DVD, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 102 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2003-03-25
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Mpi Home Video
Movie Reviews of Sherlock Holmes - The Master Blackmailer
Movie Review: The Sherlock Holmes Masterpiece Film
Summary: 5 Stars
Of all the Granada episodes and even including all other Holmes film canon, The Master Blackmailer is without doubt, the finest Holmes film to have been made. Deft performances, superb adaption and writing, and a very cinematic and moody approach by director Peter Hammond makes this atmospheric Holmes tale gripping and tense throughout the 100 minutes of film.
Jeremy Brett was visibly ill, but yet for TMB, he managed to exude his confidence and his quirky mannerisms without going the slightest overboard. Even more difficult, he had to portray a disguise of a plumber whilst romancing a maid within the villian's household. It slightly recalls his My Fair Lady role of a dashing and debonaire suitor to Audrey Hepburn. Although in his 60s by then, his portrayal of a naive plumber is both convincing and even subtlely moving at times.
Edward Hardwicke is his usual loyal and trustworthy sidekick, at once intelligent and at times, even exhibiting some wittiness in his exchanges with Holmes. Yes, there are some light moments, but not many, as Hammond and Jeremy Paul, the writer, was more focused on the darker aspects of this story. And there is none darker than the villian himself, Charles Augustus Milverton, deliciously played by Robert Hardy. Both Hardy and Eric Porter, who played Moriarty in the 1st series, remains the best Holmes villians ever shown on screen. Hardy is at once ruthless, and cunning, whilst displaying a taste for opulence.
The whole movie moves at a brisk pace, with wonderful locations and superb lighting throughout, the best in fact, of all the Granada series. It clearly shows that the best Holmes stories remains the classic Doyle ones. No other pastiche on screen can capture the essence of Holmes and Watson and their surrounding cast of characters and environments. Even Lestrade makes a brief appearance here and is true to the Doyle writing.
Over the years, there has been numerous new TV movies of Sherlock Holmes, but this remains the supreme filmic Holmes that there is. It is not the best place to start with the Brett series, but it is certainly the high point of a series that has since been the epitome of classic television, and clearly puts to shame 90 percent of all theatrical films out there.
The Master Blackmailer - Best in its class.
Summary of Sherlock Holmes - The Master Blackmailer
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