Sherlock Holmes

As Sherlock Holmes, Frank Langella is not only convincing, but actually makes the character believable, and not so much of a "Super Hero." One sees the true inner man of Holmes, his foibles, addiction, and frustrations as Conan-Doyle wrote him. In this film, Langella breathes life into the dusty super-sleuth and gives substance to his relationship with Watson and Moriarty. The portrayal of Holmes and his frustration with the violin and in his opinion, his inadequacies to master it, are not only convincing but realistic. Langella has a way of making one feel they are interacting with him in person and not viewing him on the sliver screen. To see more of this most excellent actor, I heartily recommend seeing Frank Langella as "Dracula," filmed in 1979. To me Mr. Langella is the definitive Sherlock Holmes, and the absolute romantic Dracula. Cheers!

William Gillette, who wrote this melodrama, was the definitive Holmes of his generation, and this production is a great tribute to him. Being an old melodrama, the live audience laughed throughout: but the actors got in to the spirit of the fun and we should too. It is a very well-staged play, superbly paced and acted, and the audience applauded every time the curtain rose. In a word, I enjoyed it immensely.

What I think is particularly valuable here are the well-known props. Mr. Gillette invented the use of the deerstalker and the Inverness cape--they're here. I guess I miss the big calabash a little. Mr. Langella is a powerful force, and interprets the part most satisfactorily. One can see that, despite his important film roles, he is most effective as a stage actor. Stephen Collins did a good turn, as did George Morfogen as Professor Moriarty (wait till you see the tortuous vein throbbing in his forehead).

On the negative side, the ending was a little unsettling--but I don't want to spoil anything. Great fun.

Like another poster, I too have a huge collection of Sherlock Holmes on video in my personal collection, but I find Langella's portrayal of "The Master" to be stuffy and unlikeable. I saw the original Broadway production with John Wood in the lead and I think that it is a crying shame that he never got to assay the role on video of any kind. He not only looked like Holmes (while Langella decidedly did not) he was so close to the original character I loved in the Canon and other pastiches.

Donald Morfogen chose to play Moriarty like Richard Nixon which I found odd and distracting but that may have been the director's intent. As it was, the Gillette play was done in a tongue and cheek melodramatic style, and that may come across to viewers of the stage play as corny.

Still, Frank Langella is a marvelous actor and always fun to watch, I just don't see him as MY Holmes.

In the original HBO presentation, included were the curtain calls as each character bowed to the audience, (Actually, only the star came out n "character" as I remember it.

This portrayal of the character of Holmes was done as if he were a real true to life type hero. Flesh and blood with flaws and feelings. The usual actor would play him as a flawless calculating type superman who has no hang ups or issues with people in general. Holmes is a very flawed 'human' when you flesh him out and he would have been the man that Langella showed us in this production.

If Holmes was such a perfect character then why can't he master the violin? Why the addictions? Why does he refuse a romantic life with a woman? He's very much a real being and if met in life most people might find him a bit like our modern day MONK from the t.v. series. "Elementary my dear Watson..."

Most of the fabulous characters that we now adore in the detective world in film and television are just like him but updated to a more modern type of person. If this man took drugs to make him more normal as we do with intense personalities, he'd never have been the fabulous character that he's always been to us. Thank God Holmes was never introduced to Prozac!

Saw this on HBO back when the channel didn't air 24 hrs - how old is that?! I totally fell in love with Frank Langella and started watching all his movies, starting with Zorro, then Dracula, etc. I even went to see Masters of the Universe - how's that for dedication! Absolutely wonderful actor with a great range. I saw him live as Henry Higgins in My Fair Lady over a decade ago. You can tell he was born for the stage - that's where his heart is, and his stage performances really capture his essence and power, but this show (Sherlock Holmes) remains my absolute favorite. I've never seen Holmes portrayed with such real flaws, problems, or emotions! Found it on ebay a year ago, and I still get chills when watching it! I had no clue the kid was Christian Slater - how funny!