Wisteria Lodge

What is the mystery of Wisteria Lodge that has so frightened John Scott Eccles? And who murdered the map expert he went there to meet?

This is not one of my favorite Sherlock Holmes stories.

But it is one of my favorite dramatizations because of the performance of Freddie Jones as the local copper in charge of the case.

If the wonderful Jeremy Brett givesaus a complex, mannered Holmes, Jones, always one of my favorite actors, matches him note for note.

The case is a complex one and might prove confusing to the casual viewer. But Jones is always worth watching and his battle of wits with Brett's Holmes is one of the highlights of "The Return."

BTW, Jones was the Player in a radio version of "Rosencrantz and Gildenstern are Dead" with a Edward Hardwicke, who plays Watson here.

I wonder if Arthur Conan Doyle's Wisteria Lodge was inspired by Arthur Morrison's The Affair of the Tortoise which was published earlier.

The latter was dramatised as an episode of The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes featuring the detective Martin Hewitt.

Both stories feature people with a murky past from the Americas who are now hiding out in Britain.

A cartographer Scott Eccles consults Sherlock Holmes. He was invited to a country estate as a guest of an amateur Spanish cartographer, Garcia. The next morning, Eccles wakes up and find the house deserted. The police later turn up wanting to question Eccles over the death of Mr Garcia.

Freddie Jones gives a fruity performance as Inspector Barnes. He comes across as pompous and pig headed at first, telling Holmes that he can follow his path while Barnes will tread his own. Holmes is convinced that Barnes has the wrong suspect.

Holmes and Watson investigate a neighbouring house. Dr Watson thinks he has spotted a lady in distress. It is an elaborate revenge tale featuring a fugitive dictator from Latin America. To Holme's surprise Barnes was never too far off the scent.

There is a lot of plot here, it just starts off in a very subdued manner. Jones actually livens things up a little and at the end it is a rather tragic tale of revenge.

For me, watching "The Adventures", now "The Return" series I'm so glad I chose the Jeremy Brett Sherlock Holmes collection to view. There isn't an episode so far I didn't fully enjoy. Even with changing Watsons and Brett's declining health semi shocks. I jumped ship on Endeavour after maybe 5 episodes or so. These stories are crisp, no filler, great acting. Endeavour stories are good, but silly complex, and ultra dry up to the ending. Hopefully these are strong to the last one.

By now you probably know that the Holmes series, like most of its ilk, has a production formula that changes everything each time excepting the main characters and few sets.

This is the worst effort of all the ones that feature Brett, and is oddly paired in the same DVD as the best.

Its not worth commenting on the story. The producers decided to not have any of these be mysteries in the writerly sense that you are given clues and weave wits with Holmes. Instead, they think you will be happy with a clever surprise at the end.

But still with those constraints, we can get a director and writer that tries to interpret the detection cinematically and succeed. Obviously the producers so specified because each episode tries a different trick. Some are apt, some not. Aptness aside, many fail.

The device here is mirrors. There must be a score of shots where the action is seen in a mirror, usually composed as a dynamic object in the frame. There are directors who know how to use this. Tarkovsky built an entire essay on it and the idea of inner rumination as reflected reality is in the first couple weeks of film school.

But this fails, alas. Its not used in any competent way, and we're not supposed to notice.

Ted's Evaluation -- 1 of 3: You can find something better to do with this part of your life.

"Wisteria Lodge" is one of the weaker installments of the Jeremy Brett Sherlock Holmes' stories. It isn't bad as much as awkwardly constructed and needed a lengthy bit of exposition at the end to explain what had happened.

A man comes to Holmes with a mystery instead of a crime. It seems he was visiting with some man he'd recently met...and when he got out of bed at the man's house the next day, the man and all his staff were gone...leaving him alone and with no idea WHAT was happening. The case ends up taking Holmes in an entirely different direction...one involving a bloodthirsty Central American ex-dictator.

As I said, the story played out but then required Holmes to explain everything...which leaves you a bit unsatisfied. Not a terrible story but clearly one of the weaker ones.