User reviews

Well, Gene Wilder assembled a fine cast for a comedy; some comedy arises - if fitfully - from their interactions. In their antics Wilder, Feldman and DeLuise are passable if hardly inspired and the venerable talents represented by John Le Mesurier and Leo McKern are scarcely touched upon, but Madeline Kahn is wonderfully oddball. This was the first time I had seen her in anything and, I must say, she is a wonderfully deft, uncanny comedienne; so singular and alluring. Glancing over her filmography, it seems a crying shame that she was continually relegated to supporting status and didn't get many - if any - genuine lead roles.

Whilst some relatively unconnected hi-jinks do impress, the film's Achilles heel is that there is little structure, with gags of almost exclusively physical nature dominating - perhaps overbalancing the brew - and the odd non sequitur impressing. The use of song and such like is undeniably similar to that of Mel Brooks, and indeed the numbers accorded Ms Kahn are appropriately exuberant. But, Wilder's script and, shall we say, laissez faire direction, are ultimately to blame for the film's failings: the use of the Sherlock Holmes mythos is rather too minimal and little impression or flavour is given of the Holmes stories, in what purports to be a spoof.

Leo McKern, a quite splendid actor, does very well with what he is given, but what he is given is scant, and he is seldom gainfully employed; it is a shame that more room in the film could not have been allocated to such an enjoyable, twinklingly august actor. Roughly the same goes for Le Mesurier. What does, however, impress is a certain degree of comic aptitude, displayed *just enough* by the cast, making hay with the isolated flashes of inspiration in the script.

The film indeed never quite outstays its welcome, although at times is tiresome when gags fall flat - as too often they do. So often it is terribly frustrating, when considering the calibre of those involved, to think of the film this could well have been... As it stands it is merely a mildly enjoyable, amiable film; 'inconsequential and slapdash' some sharp pens would justifiably inscribe, but I feel it deserves my indulgence - most specifically because of the glorious Madeline Kahn.

Gene Wilder became the first (soon to be followed by Marty Feldman and Dom DeLuise) to jump into the director's chair after successful collaborations with Mel Brooks. His debut as writer/director is "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother" which is a hit and miss comedy with more misses then hits.

The idea is interesting enough with the great detective having a younger, jealous brother. Sigi (Wilder) refers to his famous older brother as Sheer-luck and it's a classic moment that makes one yearn for more throughout. Wilder certainly borrows enough from Brooks (characters break out in song unexpectedly; modern items pop up in this period piece) but he strains to get the laughs. Marty Feldman is amusing as Sigi's sidekick but Madeline Kahn is wasted as the heroine.

The other major flaw is the story itself. The mystery isn't much of one in the first place so we never really get caught up in it. Wilder relies too much on the sight gags to sustain ones interest.

The bottom line is Wilder has made a lesser Mel Brooks film when he should have brought Brooks on board and perhaps turned this mediocre comedy into something more. As it is it may be amusing but without Brooks at his side amusing just isn't enough.

While Sherlock Holmes is easily avoiding yet another attempt on his life, he pawns a case off on his buffoonish brother, Sigerson (Gene Wilder). The case concerns a woman who says her name is Bessie Bellwood (Madeline Kahn). Her story is that she is being blackmailed. Apparently she wrote a sexy letter to a man other than her fiancé, and if she doesn't steal a document from her father, her fiancé will receive the incriminating letter. Can Sigerson and accomplice Sgt. Orville Sacker (Marty Feldman) help her? And what truths will they uncover on the way?

Even though Wilder, Kahn and Feldman were just coming off the comic masterpiece that is Young Frankenstein (1974), and like that film, Wilder also wrote this script (adding helmer duties here in his directorial debut), The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother is wildly uneven. It's at its best when Wilder forgets about trying to tell an A. Conan Doyle-ish story and concentrates instead on absurdism. In fact, there are moments of genius during the more ridiculous segments. But too often the very pedestrian and almost incoherent story gets in the way, too often Wilder seems to secretly desire to make a serious musical instead, and most shockingly, too often even the gags fall flat.

We can tell we're in for a rough ride from the start. The film begins with a prologue featuring Douglas Wilmer as Sherlock Holmes and Thorley Walters as Dr. Watson. These scenes aren't particularly funny, and they sorely pale as serious Holmes fare compared to the Basil Rathbone classics from the 1940s. Wilder doesn't make the exposition very clear, so we're left trying to figure out the story while we watch half-hearted jokes pass by. Things do not even recover when Wilder first appears on screen as Holmes' brother. There is an extended scene in Sigerson's apartment when he's first talking to Sacker and first meets "Bellwood" that gradually builds momentum, but very gradually.

By the time the scene is funny enough to make you laugh out loud, it's because Wilder has forgotten about the story and is instead concentrating on gags, including manically shouting at Bellwood that she's a liar, testing her with snippets of increasingly bizarre songs, and finally, breaking out into a hopping song and dance number. The scene ends up being one of the film's moments of comic genius--impeccably melding writing, performances and direction (just check out those hilariously nearing close-ups of Wilder, ala Boris Karloff's first appearance in James Whale's Frankenstein (1931))--but it takes forever to get there.

Sadly, Wilder can't keep that momentum going. Our introduction to Moriarty (Leo McKern) falls almost embarrassingly flat. I can't recall another film at the moment where the humor and overall effectiveness vacillates so drastically and so often between uproarious and groaningly bad.

It's often difficult to place a finger on what exactly goes wrong. Maybe Wilder didn't really write all of the material? All of the performances are fine, and Wilder's direction rarely seems noticeably off. It's just that about every other scene, on average, doesn't click. Half of the time I was wishing I could give the film a 10 (or, as it progressed, at least hoping that it would remain excellent for the rest of its length so I could give a relatively high score), and half the time I wanted to turn it off and do something else instead.

By the end, Wilder seems to have abandoned the film altogether. The climax between Sigerson and Moriarty is bizarrely bland, even if not exactly bad, and any pretense at a mystery plot has been effectively thrown into the river. I ended up not quite knowing what the secret was, or why I should care. Threads are just abandoned, and there's nothing riotously funny in the end to make up for it.

I'm a huge Gene Wilder fan. I was saddened by his tragedy with Gilda Radner, and even more saddened by the fact that he basically avoided the public eye for a long time. So it's not that I didn't want to enjoy The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother. I also remember seeing it in the theater as a kid and enjoying it more at that time. It's definitely worth seeing for its moments of brilliance, but you have to slog your way through a lot of dreck to get to all of them, and in light of Young Frankenstein, which is one of my favorite films of all time (as is another Wilder film from only a few years before, Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory (1971)), The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother is almost tragic.

The other reviewer on this site clearly doesn't understand the subtleties of the comic genius of Gene Wilder (Sigerson Holmes), Madeline Kahn (Jenny Hill, or should I say Bessie Besswood), Marty Feldman (Sgt. Sacker of Scotland Yard) and the rest of the cast of this too little known classic! It's pithy and witty and clever and tips its hat to Conan Doyle at every turn. The Kangaroo Hop, Hop will have you hopping around the living room, and Madeline Kahn outdoes herself. It's right up there with Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein, and I'm waiting oh so patiently for it to be released on DVD! A must see for fans of the subtle and smart in comedy.

I saw this movie in the theater when it came out, and probably twelve hundred times on HBO after that. The plot is a typical Holmesian story: stolen documents, psychological subplots, Victorian hypocrisy. Quite silly, quite enjoyable, IIRC. I'd love to see a DVD to see how much I like it now, but I have very fond memories of it, and I can still remember the words to the song Gene Wilder and the fabulous and sexy Madeline Kahn sang. Great bits of slapstick, nothing ever too serious. It doesn't even bother me that Gene Wilder, playing the brother of Sherlock Holmes, has no trace of an English accent. Bug-eyed Marty Feldman is consistently great, and Dom Deluise is at his over-the-top best, though his part is rather small, if you'll pardon the expression.

Gene Wilder after appearing in such Mel Brooks films as The Producers, Blazing Saddles, and Young Frankenstein took all he learned from Brooks and with a few of his own touches made The Adventure Of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother. Along with him are Brooks veterans Madeline Kahn and Marty Feldman playing client and sidekick.

Not being able to get the services of the great Holmes himself, Madeline Kahn goes to Wilder who is Sigerson Holmes and he's got one real bad inferiority complex and a streak of jealousy regarding Sherlock. God only knows what he feels toward brother Mycroft.

Getting a coherent story out of Kahn is hard enough, she changes it more often than Wilder does his underwear. Still his libido which Sherlock keeps firmly in check keeps him working for her to obtain a purloined document in the hands now of continental adventurer Dom DeLuise.

But also wanting the document which like those infamous 'papers' in the Road To Rio is our resident Holmesian villain Professor Moriarty played with relish by Leo McKern.

Director Wilder allowed all his cast members to do their thing. Kahn and DeLuise also really serve up a lot of pork product to the audience, they have their moments to shine. My favorite though is Marty Feldman as the Scotland Yard man who the Yard keeps in the record room. He wants so bad to prove himself and he latches on to Wilder to do it.

Best two moments are Wilder, Kahn, and Feldman doing the latest dance the Kangaroo hop. And Wilder and Feldman doing what I call the tush waltz.

Want to know what the tush waltz is? Watch the film and find out.

How can a movie starring Gene Wilder, Marty Feldman and Madeline Kahn not be funny? I'm still not sure how this one managed it, but it did. The plot was difficult to follow and seemed to constantly meander... this wasn't helped by the numerous inexplicable bursts into song which broke up the narrative and destroyed any momentum the plot might have managed to gather. The desperately un-amusing "Kangaroo Hop" is repeated several times and is more tedious with each repetition. I think during Dom DeLuise's lengthy career he was funny once for about five minutes... unfortunately, those five minutes are in some other film. Wilder, as writer and director, seems to be trying to channel Mel Brooks, who was pretty much a hit-or-miss kind of a guy himself, so the failure of this movie to impress isn't so surprising. Still, I do wish it had been better. It should have been, with this pedigree.

Gene Wilder gave his first attempt as a director in 1975 with his film The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother. Bringing actors into the film that he had worked with before such as Madeline Kahn and Marty Feldman gave audiences a treat of a slapstick comedy. If you've ever wondered about the rest of Sherlock Holmes' family, like his brother that never gets enough credit, The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother is the film for you! A valiant first directorial effort, Smarter Brother packs some good gags but loses its punch throughout the film.

Constantly living in the shadow of his older successful brother Sherlock, Sigerson Holmes (Gene Wilder) becomes determined to solve an important case that spans all the way to the Queen. Queen Victoria (Susan Field) hands a classified document to her Foreign Secretary, Lord Redcliff (John Le Mesurier). When the document is stolen from his safe, Queen Victoria calls upon Sherlock Holmes personally. Since he will be consumed with this case, he passes one of his lesser cases on to his brother, in such a way that he will never know he passed it on to him. Sigerson takes the case in which a woman Jenny Hill, (Madeline Kahn) who is impersonating a music hall performer, is being blackmailed. The only ally to help him solve the case is one that his brother positioned for him. Sherlock attains the services of Scotland Yard records clerk, Sgt. Orville Stanley Sacker (Marty Feldman) who possesses the unusual skill of a photographic memory. Jenny tells lie after lie to Sigerson thwarting the investigation making it all the harder for Sigerson to solve the case. As more of the case comes to light, the intricate web between the players comes out and Sigerson has his hands full solving the case and getting the sensitive document back to its rightful owner.

The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother is proof positive for me that Mel Brooks and Gene Wilder were a fantastic team, and should have graced audiences with more collaborations. Watching this film, with the three principles from Young Frankenstein, fell short of its predecessor. Wilder was too wild, too zany, and too scattered directing himself as the lead in his film. Mel Brooks' films after he stopped working with Wilder were likewise, not as good as when Gene was involved. I had high hopes for this film and it fell short of my expectations. The premise was fun, and I had a good time with it through the middle, but then it fell apart by adding too much to it. Wilder put in a great performance and his chemistry with Madeline Kahn was extraordinary. I wish the overall final product had been a better exercise of their efforts, but I am mostly pleased with The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother.

Gene Wilder was a wonderful actor. Unfortunately, here with "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother" he bit off way more than he could chew, as he not only starred in the film but directed, wrote it and sang throughout the film. As an actor, he is wonderful...and he should have stuck with acting alone. The project is tedious, horribly unfunny and a waste of great talent.

The film stars Sherlock Holmes' younger brother, Sigerson (Wilder). As far as his being smarter, he's certainly not....and again and again he makes a mess of things when Sherlock passes a case off to him.

The film features many horribly unfunny things--most of which go on and on and on. Why does Wilder frequently break into song with Madeline Kahn? It's not funny and just seems weird. Why does Kahn constantly lie, it's not funny and just seems weird. And, why is Marty Feldman in the film when he's given nothing funny to do...and this seems REALLY weird. The bottom line is that this film was a misfire from the onset and I kept waiting, in vain, for it to start getting funny.

Well, I can see that this movie really didn't get the best reviews, which surprised me as it is one of my favorite movies ever.

I thought back on it while posting my 9 out of 10 review and I can see how others might not enjoy this style of humor, as it does take getting used to and not everyone gets that chance because the movie is rarely played.

If you are a Gene Wilder fan, a Marty Feldman fan, a Madeline Kahn (sp?) fan, or a fan of sherlock holmes, then this movie is for you. Yes, it's a bit dry in places, and yes it can be a bit flighty, but if you can stick it out and just turn off the logical part of your mind for a bit and go along with the wild ride, I think that in the end, you'll buy a ticket and ask to go on the ride again.

The singing numbers, the wild looks of Kahn, Wilder and of course my buggy eyed friend, Feldman, help to make this movie quirky and humorous at the same time. The dark London (I think it's in London) streets and the perpetual night helps to make this a very fun period piece with humor at every step.

For someone such as myself who does enjoy a good Sherlock Holmes story, I truly loved the way that our main character (Wilder) is constantly getting things so way off. Such as when he thinks he is describing the person on the other side of the door based on the clues he has and then he is so way off that it's hilarious.

See this movie, and if you need to watch it again to fully enjoy it, give it about a week and then see it again. It's worth the multiple viewings.

This is better than I remembered it to be. I did not realize that this was the follow-up films for YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN alums Gene Wilder, Marty Feldman and Madeline Kahn, written and Directed by Wilder.

A worthy follow-up. Funny enough - especially Marty Feldman.

Worth a viewing if you haven't seen it in a while and enjoy Mel Brooks- type comedies.

Eyesore comic farce has detective Sherlock Holmes throwing his brother a bone and letting him solve baffling blackmail case in foggy London. Gene Wilder, who wrote, directed and stars, obviously needed some restraint; when Wilder doesn't have a director or co-hort like Mel Brooks to help level his excesses, he can be too much to take. Wilder has enough vitality and ingenuity for three people, but he's undisciplined and doesn't know when to hold back. As a director, he allows his own scenes to go too far, and apparently didn't encourage the editor to trim the chafe. In this context, it is amazing that Marty Feldman and Madeline Kahn get much to do, yet they each have some funny scenes--however, Feldman's eye-shtick is over-used and Kahn's showy scenes, such as her sequence in a music-hall, are botched by bad photography, timing and staging. Wilder never seems to know where to put the camera, and "Smarter Brother" ends up looking sloppy. ** from ****

Its been years since I saw this movie, but I am still over-awed by the the amount of comedic talent in this movie (Gene Wilder, Madeline Kahn, Marty Feldman, Leo McKern) and how utterly unfunny it was.

This is a movie that is filled with such lame jokes and cheap shots that it is actually depressing to watch.

What's the worst is that this movie has such a promising premise (Sherlock Holmes has an incompetant younger brother who is obsessed with outshining his older brother), and it goes down in flames almost from the get-go.

Avoid.

Just because it has the same basic cast as "Young Frankenstein" doesn't mean anything. If the script has nothing for them too say and do, it doesn't matter. This is a one joke movie where Gene Wilder's other Holmes tries so hard to one up Sherlock. Madeline Kahn is doing the same stuff here, but the interactions with the other characters just don't click very well. Also, some people think this is a Mel Brooks film. It is not. Wilder is fun to watch with his paranoid, defeated, second banana act, but he never can overcome the aforementioned writing. Don't hesitate to see it. Just don't expect too much. I'm certain this was project for some actors during time between more meaningful films.

It may be no Young Frankenstein, but it has 3 of the films stars. Gene Wilder wrote, directed and stars as Sigerson Holmes. The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother is not a classic but it has its fair share of laughs. Madeline Kahn plays the damsel in distress Jenny Hill and she as always is a pleasure to watch and hear her sing. Marty Feldman is great as Orvile Scaker the detectives partner. Dom DeLuise also has a small role as an opera singer. Britsh actor Leo McKern is wonderful as Professor Moriarty. I wish these actors would have done more movies together. The 1970's did make its share of great comedies and a lot of them starred either Gene Wilder and Madeline Kahn. They could have been a great love team if they had only done more films with one another. They were so well matched. Why this is not on DVD is a mystery in itself.

I'm not a huge Sherlock Holmes fan, so usually, Holmes films appeal to me if they do something unique with the formula. The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother is not only a comedy which spoofs with reverence its source material but is also a straight-up action/adventure swashbuckler; a vehicle for writer, director and star Gene Wilder to show off a full range of talents including comedy, singing and fencing.

What prevents me from considering Holmes' Smarter Brother from being a masterpiece is that the movie is not consistently funny. The first third of film had me laughing a lot, particularly the scene in which Wilder, Marty Feldman and Madeline Kahn are introduced to each other had me laughing a lot with their kangaroo hoping madness (plus that fencing machine is one of the most amusing props ever); after that, I only laughed seldomly. Most of the jokes after the first third are only chuckle-worthy but at least avoid being embarrassing.

Even with the depleting laughs, there is enough for the film to keep it afloat. Firstly that the movie works on its own as an action/adventure film, full of interesting characters as well as a heavenly chemistry between the trio of heroes. I was still able to care what was going on even with the largely incomprehensible plot. Likewise, despite being as neurotic as he is, Gene Wilder does make for a convincing romantic hero - an intriguing, contradictory combo. Holmes' Smarter Brother was one of Wilder's directing ventures and he definitely has an eye for detail with the film's handsome and lush production values - another aspect which helps elevate the film above its comic shortcomings.

The film also hosts some exciting swashbuckling action scenes in which Wilder gets to show off his skills as a swordsman. The final duel between Holmes and Moriarty is a real treat, taking place in a costume and props storage room of a theatre; it's full of clever and inventive uses of the surroundings. It reminds me of the scene in The Lady Vanishes in which the two protagonists inspect the cargo bay of the train.

The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Bother misses the mark of being a comedy masterpiece but is still a fun time.

I was eagerly expecting something funny from this film, especially with such a cast. I think I only laughed once, when Moriarty and the opera guy got in bed together. This is a film completely lacking in subtlty and is quite a poor pastiche of Sherlock Holmes.

The humor inherint in this film (I use the word as no other exists) is below that of Naked Gun or Airplane! What went wrong?

'The Adventure Of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother (1975)' is a pastiche of the various cinematic interpretations of 'Sherlock Holmes', one which plays with genre tropes and absurdist humour in essentially equal measure. Though it isn't exactly hilarious, it provides a handful of chuckles and has a generally well-meaning vibe to it. Its plot is oddly complicated and, frankly, not all that compelling. Having said that, it seems to do exactly what it needs to; it gets its big-name stars from silly set-piece to silly set-piece in relatively rapid fashion. Indeed, its cast is probably is biggest asset, as they confidently deliver even the less successful stuff and remain engaging screen-presences throughout. The movie is relatively enjoyable right the way through. It's rather unmemorable, though, and doesn't quite break through the barrier of 'above average'. 6/10

I must, alas, be the onion in this petunia patch of praise. I too had tears in my eyes in the first ten minutes of this movie, tears of disappointment. And I have to confess I probably shouldn't be reviewing this because I didn't watch the whole movie; the first ten minutes was all I could stand before I shut it off. What with great comic lights like Marty Feldman, Gene Wilder, Dom Deluise, and Madeline Kahn involved, plus Wilder's writing talents, I expected at least a couple of chuckles when I taped this off the Encore channel. But the humor - what little there was - was so lame, so forced, so 'scheisslich', as the Germans might say, that I finally wondered why I wasn't using my time for more constructive things, like cleaning the garage. The business, for instance of Sigerson "testing" the supposed Bessie Bellwood on her knowledge of music hall songs in order to disprove her assumed identity was not only embarassingly weak, it went on painfully too long. This was matched by the inanity of Sgt. Sacker's slapping his head to restart the message that Sigerson keeps interrupting. This travesty is simply in a different league altogether from "Young Frankenstein". To paraphrase Dorothy Parker's barb at Katherine Hepburn, the movie covered the whole comic range from A to B. Avoid it.

I really don't understand why this film isn't better-known. It's been a favorite of mine for years, and is very funny, if rather off-beat and quirky. Perhaps it's an acquired taste, and its nay-sayers haven't watched it enough; I don't know. It's full of some of the best comic talent ever to appear to the screen, and they do an admirable job. From the oddly reticent detective who has been forced to live in his brother's shadow, to the gorgeous music hall singer/compulsive liar, to the villain who must do something truly rotten every twenty minutes, the characters are very original and manage to surprise laughs out of audiences who never have any idea what to expect from them--a true rarity when put in the context of the modern comic film. Don't believe me, however; watch it yourself and form your own opinion.

After having never heard of this movie until I scrolled through the filmography of Gene Wilder did I come upon this forgotten film. Being that this featured the noticeable talents of performers from yesteryear : Wilder, Kahn, Feldman, DeLuise and McKern, I was expecting some interesting curios that are a reminder of 1970's comedic and cinematic styles that have faded from the fabric of our culture. After his colossal success with Mel Brooks on Young Frankenstein, Gene Wilder takes a crap shoot at his directorial and writing debut to bring us this boring spoof from his childhood passion of Sherlock Holmes. The result was a hodgepodge of the antics and shticks he frequented from song and dance numbers, frantic hollering and lunacy which proved more successful when he teamed with Brooks. Here, Gene is alone and doesn't fare as well. The jokes fall flat. The typically funny Marty Feldman has a superfluous role as Sigerson Holmes" sidekick. Poor Marty Feldman again is exploited for his Graves disease deformity. Madeline Kahn's beauty and operatic achievements shine, but the disjointed script doesn't allow her character to expand. The song and dance numbers such as the Kangaroo Hop are cringe-worthy and actually made me ill. Gene Wilder is Gene Wilder and doesn't possess any of the famed talents of his sleuth brother. Dom DeLuise is pretty funny as a zany opera star with a silly toupee. I also noticed Leo McKern, the dour, ugly and intimidating man from the Omen movies. His comedic skills are a bit off so his performance is barely tolerable.

The true core of the movie's mediocrity lies in its script and the film's title. Sigerson Holmes' is not as smart as his older brother and we don't get to see him delve into any capers that reveal investigative talent which makes the acclaimed sleuth so thrilling. Sigerson is also not stupid. So the title doesn't even work paradoxically. We don't get to see Sherlock aside from his brief part in the beginning and his 15 second talking shadow near the end. It's really a disappointment for those who crave detective stories, because the caper plot is so threadbare. The comedy gets muddled in hokey song routines that aren't funny at all. Thus, this project was bound to please no one. And watching Wilder and Kahn break into song together looked tawdry and was embarrassing.

When papers of supreme importance to the crown are stolen, Sherlock Holmes gets involved in the case. However to divert attention he gives the case to his younger brother, Sigerson Holmes while he and Watson pretend to go away for a holiday. Sigerson takes up the case with the help of Sgt Sacker of Scotland Yard and follows a trail that begins with a mysterious, deceitful music hall singer and leads all the way to his brother's nemesis, Professor Moriarty.

I do enjoy the movies of Gene Wilder, while he has been in some real dogs, I do like his sense of humour and love some of his `classics' with Mel Brooks. So the couple of times I have sat down to watch this I have always assumed that it will be better than it actually is. The plot doesn't really matter but wouldn't stand up if it was put in a serious film, the film seems to be a lot more free flowing and just tries to touch on plot points to try and keep some sort of informal structure to it. While this sort of comedy can survive with a dodgy plot, it cannot survive without good jokes and regular laughs – neither of which it has in sufficient quantities.

There are very funny bits and it all has a comic feel but I didn't laugh out loud very often and too often was sitting waiting fore the next joke for too long. The general comic tone helps make it watchable but I suspect most people would be hoping for something a lot funnier considering some of the work of the cast before (and around this time period). In fairness the cast do do a good job. Wilder is his usual self and does the self-important-fool thing sort of like he did in Young Frankenstein (if you know what I mean). Feldman is OK but not hilarious and his `photographic hearing' gag doesn't really work. Kahn is good and her songs are quite amusing (but not compared to her effort in Blazing Saddles) and the support cast have a few good faces and characters (including an eccentric Moriarty).

However, overall this just isn't funny enough to cut the mustard for me. I had hopes for a good spoof but it only occasionally reached the level where it was funny and it couldn't sustain this. It does have moments where it sends up the Holmes legend well (especially the Rathbone/Bruce film versions) but not often enough. It passed the time for me but to be honest I felt let down that the film had failed to do more with the idea.