The Man with the Twisted Lip

I saw all of the various Sherlock Holmes starring Jeremy Brett when they first came to American television. However, these came to us thirty or more years ago and since I loved them so much, I decided to rewatch them. Despite having seen them before and having read the stories (also long ago), I find that often the mystery seems new to me. Occasionally, I see one which I remember well...and "The Man With the Twisted Lip" is very memorable...so memorable that the mystery is hardly a mystery. But if you've never seen it, it's a very good episode.

A respectable woman somehow finds herself in a most disreputable part of London....and it's filled with thieves, opium dens and 'professional woman'. SO imagine her surprise when she sees her husband in an upstairs window of one of these grubby apartments. She tries to get inside to see him but is prevented by the owner. Thinking her husband is in trouble, she seeks the police. At first, they think she's either mistaken or a nut...but there ARE clues that he was there but the police seem powerless since no one will talk...not the owner nor the nasty looking beggar with the twisted lip. So, she enlists the help of Holmes...who goes undercover to find the man...if he's still alive.

This is one that is very well written and entertaining...even if the mystery seems easier than normal to deduce. Well worth seeing and a most unusual mystery.

When the British resisted an end to the Opium Wars with China, they brought to their world a host of terrible results. The opium den became a fixture in the poorer streets of London and other cities and there was an open toleration. Even citizens, mostly me, found recreation in attendance of these places (this was true of prostitution and child neglect as well). The poor were victimized for economic reasons. In this episode, Watson is engaged by a young wife to find and bring home her husband, who has probably fallen into this habit. As he investigates, he finds his friend Holmes disguised, attending one of the worst of these places. He tells Watson he is on a case. They move forward in pursuit of clues as to the whereabouts of this man and at one point assume him dead. This is a story of persistence and faith. What it doesn't address is the ultimate price of all this. We sometimes speculate in amusement about Holmes cocaine use and Watson's seven percent solution. We are of a different time and place; hence, we cannot totally judge a culture on its terms. This is certainly unique among the original canon and very engaging.

It is hard to imagine that any other actor will ever come close to Brett's interpretation of Sherlock Holmes. More than that, the production values of this series are just fantastic.

In this episode, we are transported away to a different time and place, London 130 years ago. Obviously I wasn't there, but this, and almost all the other shows, are fantastic at creating a sense of realism and evoking a marvelous mood. I just can't praise them enough. Staging, photography, acting, all first rate.

As to this particular episode, the plot is very good, though certainly not the best of the series. The ending is a surprise (I can't imagine anyone guessing it), and the denouement wonderful. It has some of that special emotional kick that the best of these have.

• henry

I can't explain the idea behind The Man With The Twisted Lip since that in itself would give the whole thing away. I only wish the story had been better developed as the idea was an original one.

Jeremy Brett and Edward Hardwicke as the intrepid Holmes and Watson are called in on a missing persons case in which foul play is suspected. More than suspected because the woman who requested aid from Holmes and Watson actually saw her husband from the second story of an opium den in a seamy part of London. But by the time she got up there, he was gone and articles of clothes were later found in the Thames.

A rather scholarly beggar is arrested for the crime of murder, but it all doesn't add up. In other words it all isn't quite so elementary, even Dr. Watson is suspicious.

Eleanor David is the woman who hires Holmes and Clive Francis has an interesting role as the beggar with a knowledge of the classics.

I think Sir Arthur Conan Doyle had the kernel of a good idea, but he didn't develop it all that well. Still Baker Street purists will like it.

The Man with the Twisted Lip is a scholarly beggar earning a good living in the city of London. Even Holmes has come across him several times.

The story begin with Dr Watson going to an opium den to find an errant husband only to bump into Holmes who is in disguise in the same drug den. He is also looking for altogether another missing husband. Neville St Clair, a genteel respectable businessman in the city whose wife spotted him in this very drug den a few days earlier.

Holmes fears that St Clair is dead and the police think that the scholarly beggar is the prime suspect.

Unfortunately this is an adaptation that does not leap out from the page to the screen. It seemed laboured and slow. It saddens me to say that I expected more from the legendary Alan Plater.

This was a difficult short story to portray on the screen without giving much of the twist away. It was still easy to work out.