Billy Wilder Blogathon – The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (1970)

This post is part of the Billy Wilder 2nd Annual Blogathon hosted by Kellie of Outspoken and Freckled and Aurora of Once Upon a Screen. Tnx Ladies!

“Criminals are as unpredictable as head colds. You never know when you’re going to catch one. ” – Holmes

Number of Times Seen – 1 (17 Jun 2015)

Brief Synopsis – A satirical telling of the stories of Sherlock Holmes we never heard about

My Take on it – Most of us have grown up on the tales of the famous detective Sherlock Holmes.

This movie is a parody of those stories and of the life of the famed detective.

Writer/Director Billy Wilder along with writing partner I.A.L. Diamond do a wonderful job parodying the Holmes adventures and one doesn’t need to be familiar with all of Homes stories to get a chuckle from it.

The movie is basically a series of short scenes strung together to make a full length story and it is done is an extremely funny way.

The cast is basically filled with unknowns, but Christopher Lee and Clive Revill both have parts in it.  Supposedly, Wilder didn’t want to cast famous actors in order to make it feel more real.

Bottom Line – Wilder does a wonderful job parodying the life and adventures of the greatest detective ever.  The jokes are spot on and you don’t even need to know that much about Holmes in order to find it funny.  The movie is a series of vignettes that are threaded together in a very fun way. Recommended!

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – By the time of filming, Christopher Lee had become famous as Count Dracula; when he and Billy Wilder walked on the shores of Loch Ness at dusk, with bats circling overhead, Wilder said to him, ‘You must feel quite at home here.’ (From IMDB)

Rating – Globe Worthy (7/10)