User Reviews

There were plenty of occasions on which the Ronald Howard series of Sherlock Holmes stories for television essentially became outright comedies with Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson as characters and a mystery plot for good measure. "The Case of Harry Crocker" is one of those occasions, and fortunately it's a very entertaining one where the comedy is very funny.

This episode is really a showcase for Eugene Deckers, who is wonderful is his titular guest role as Harry Crocker, a fast-talking Vaudeville escape artist who keep escaping from the police to beg Sherlock Holmes for help as the case against him gets worse and worse. He creates the comic role brilliantly and inventively, and has great chemistry interacting with his costars, adding a lot to an already funny script. Ronald Howard is infectiously enthusiastic as Holmes and indulgently cynical when he needs to be -- he's really a well-suited actor to putting the Great Detective in comedy situations like these. There's also a lot of humor derived from putting the gentlemanly Watson in a series of tawdry music-hall settings, including a women's dressing-room.

While most people won't say they had enough clues to guess the mystery themselves, but its ultimate discovery is written up in a suitably impressive way for Holmes. Really, thou, the reason to watch this is for Eugene Deckers as the outlandish showman Harry Crocker, and the good fun that derives from juxtaposing that character with Sherlock Holmes. It's not Arthur Conan Doyle, but it is unquestionably enjoyable.

An underwhelming series delivers it most fun episode yet.

A scene stealing performance from Eugene Deckers as music hall escapologist Harry Crocker.

Harry is wanted for the murder of a chorus girl. He has escaped police custody to ask Sherlock Holmes for his help.

In fact Harry regularly escapes the police to ascertain just how Holmes's investigations is progressing.

Inspector Lestrade believes that he has a cast iron case against Harry. Holmes though catches an important clue and it's Manchester.

How Holmes catches the culprit was a bit left field. Although in the course of the proceedings there can only be one other person who could have been the murderer.

I was surprised to see actor Harry Towb in this. One of his last credits were several episodes of Eastenders in 2008.

This entertaining "Sherlock Holmes" episode is one of the most amusing ones in the 1954-1955 television series. Besides a solid mystery story, it features character actor Eugene Deckers in one of his best roles. Deckers appeared in a good number of episodes in the series, in all kinds of different roles. But here he has a character with an especially large part, and one that is well-suited to his eccentric, exuberant style. His portrayal of "Harry Crocker" fits in quite well with the show's characteristic banter and battle of wits between Holmes, Dr. Watson, and Inspector Lestrade.

The story has Harry Crocker as a vaudeville escape artist who is accused of strangling a chorus girl, with Lestrade satisfied that he has his man, but Holmes determined to look more carefully at the case. Crocker's repeated escapes from police custody add an extra dimension to this typical setup, as they cause Holmes considerable amusement and Lestrade considerable aggravation. The resulting characterizations by Ronald Howard and Archie Duncan are rather different from Arthur Conan Doyle's original characters, but they are a lot of fun to watch.

Deckers himself obviously enjoyed this role, going all out with offbeat mannerisms, and exaggerating his character's indignation in a manner that works well. As Watson, H. Marion Crawford vacillates believably between his suspicion that Lestrade is right this time and his loyalty and confidence towards Holmes. It all fits together to make for a very good episode.