The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes

Director: Billy Wilder
Year Released: 1970
Rating: 2.0

Spends its first half-hour debating whether or not Holmes was a homosexual - then changes gears and tries to (unwisely) rewrite Doyle, developing a brand new 'mystery' that ends anti-climactically. Wilder and Diamond want to have it both ways: fanciful playfulness and cautious rethinking, namely of the 'character' of Holmes, built up fictitiously by budding storyteller/journalist Watson. The result is becalmed and reserved, and unlike Wilder's other films never makes much of an impression.