Wisteria Lodge

I'm quite a fan of Wysteria Lodge, it's one of the darkest, most grim, certainly most violent episodes, it has a harsh brutality, and an oddness that no other episode (perhaps The Mazarin Stone) can match.

Highlight of the episode for me has to be Freddie Jones, a fabulous actor, who's character is very much a match for Holmes, condescending, smug, but focused and intelligent, I really liked the character of Baynes. The opening is great, the business surrounding poor Mr Scott Eccles is full of intrigue. The murder that follows is quite brutal and explicit, particularly for the time. Strangest scene must be Watson's capture by the two little girls, very surreal.

Beautifully shot, great production values, and incredibly well acted, there is very little not to like about Wysteria Lodge. So much more going on then Silver Blaze, but not as good as the liked of Devil's Foot. Once again I'd say it benefits from being made during a purple patch for the series.

8/10

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.

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.

This is in my mind this is one of my least favorite of Granada's adaptations of the Sherlock Holmes stories featuring Jeremy Brett. It starts out as a murder case but delves deep into Latin American politics. It's story is unremarkable with no special twists or turns. Even the atmosphere is murky with irritating direction and poorly lit photography. Not to mention that the pacing is slow. Only redeeming qualities include Jeremy Brett and Edward Hardwicke as the duo of Holmes and Watson (even though this is a given), Freddy Jones performance as the quirky Inspector Baynes, and the evocative music by Patrick Gowers. A poor entry in an otherwise excellent series.

"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.