The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes – 1970 | 125 mins | Drama, Comedy | Colour

Plot Synopsis

Unjustly ignored, the brilliant Billy Wilder chalked up a personal triumph with this handsomely produced mystery thriller which lifts the lid off the secret life of the famous detective, focusing on his melancholia, his cocaine habit and the implied romance between Holmes and Dr Watson. The plot involves a camp Sherlock Holmes falling in love, missing circus midgets, Trappist monks and the Loch Ness monster. This original and ultimately poignant treatment of Arthur Conan Doyle’s celebrated sleuth was drastically cut by United Artists after lukewarm previews and upon release was a box-office flop, but its critical reputation has grown immeasurably with the passage of time.

When an attractive Belgian amnesiac, Gabrielle Valladon (Genevieve Page), is rescued from the River Thames she claims that her engineer husband has disappeared and calls on the help of Holmes and Watson at 221b Baker Street. The subsequent investigation takes Sherlock Holmes (Robert Stephens) and his loyal associate Dr. Watson (Colin Blakely) to Inverness in the Scottish Highlands in search of clues. They uncover a plot involving a covert government society, Her Majesty’s Secret Service, who are developing the country’s first submarine at an old castle and disguising the prototype vessel as the Loch Ness Monster! But before he can deduce matters to the elementary, Holmes makes an error in judgement that threatens to jeopardize national security until his intelligent brother Mycroft (Christopher Lee) steps in to lend a hand.