The Eligible Bachelor (1993)

Captivating movie !

Brilliant and touching

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

I have decided to stop evaluating these episodes because they fly in the face of the Holmes canon. This one is about a marriage between a young woman and her ne'er-do- well fiancé, who has had a series of conquests, each involving a death or disfigurement or annulment. Each has one thing in common. It pads his wealth, which he quickly dissipates. Holmes has had trouble sleeping. He has a recurring dream with strikingly horrible visions. The episode starts to fall apart when the dreams connect to reality. Conan-Doyle's character was incredibly critical of anything but deduction and fact. Here he moves in and out of a dream world. Several other factors enter in, including the sought after revenge of one of the previous conquests. There is a leopard running around loose and a man who shows up at the wedding. There are a few entertaining moments and visually the special effects are reasonable. But it doesn't seem to work. It's also hard to watch Jeremy Brett in the latter stages of his life, in the kind of distress we see here.

ho hum,this is the last (i believe) of three episodes that i have found of the Shelock Holmes Adventures featuring the excellent Jeremy Brett & as every minute goes by,i am watching what i consider to be Jeremy Brett's last performance. A lot of screaming,hysterical women in this episode.More than usual.Why can't they just accept that they are wrong & leave it at that?Not worthy of mine or Sherlock Holmes attention. The dream sequence,is it true?If a brain lies numb for a length of time can it see into the future?If drugs played a part as some sort of amplifier for the brain then maybe.Geronimo,who was at one with the land & done a lot of pipe smoking had visions. As the plot unravels before my very eyes i cannot help but be riveted to the spot by Jeremy excellent performance. At the end of the show,where they are sitting in the opera box & one of the ladies thanks Sherlock,the cameras zoom out slowly & credits start to roll.I think was that thanks worthy of the great Sherlock Holmes?Who's presence had so much effect on the outcome of the case.But wait,thinking about it,Sherlock Holmes did not really play much part in concluding the events.He did manage to solve the case but it would have solved itself if Shelock had just stood back. An excellent performance (i say again) by Jeremy Brett,a joy watching Shelock Holmes living & breathing once more.

Along with The Last Vampyre, The Eligible Bachelor is one of the weaker Sherlock Holmes adaptations. If I have to marginally edge out which was worse, this probably because it is so weird and hard to get into. Well there are redeeming qualities. The production values are meticulous as usual with wondrous costumes, settings and scenery, while the music is haunting and just wonderful. And the acting is not bad at all, Jeremy Brett looks worse for wears but still has that commanding, sophisticated and gritty baritone and presence that makes him so wonderful to watch. Edward Hardwicke is rock solid as Watson, while Geoffrey Beavers and Anna Calder Marshall are good in their respective roles.However I didn't care for Simon Williams as Lord Robert St. Simon, then again I didn't like his character, so conniving and such an unlikeable monster here he is horrible to watch. Then there is stodgy direction, pedestrian pacing and a plot that meanders all over the place. And the dialogue wasn't particularly noteworthy either, it wasn't sophisticated and intelligent enough and I missed the subtle humour that is evident at times.Overall, not awful but not great. For a great Jeremy Brett-Holmes adaptation see Hound of the Baskervilles and Sign of Four. Both can be slow at times but they do have absorbing stories, stick to the spirit of their respective stories(not really a general problem as such) and have intelligent dialogue. 5/10 Bethany Cox

Of the three feature length adaptations Granda made of Conan-Doyle's novels (rather than the usual 50 min ones) this was the one that veered the most from the original tale. The original idea of mistaken identity is turned into a surreal gothic horror, with the hero of the original story now a serial murderer and bigamist. Holmes is also turned into a detective with a more tortured soul and what appears to be second sight. The story, however, benefits from this as the original short story was a little bland and boring. Brett rises to the challenge and gives one of his best ever performances, and Simon Callow is suitably suarve and evil as the main protagonist. Generally, a sumptious adaptation, given a 90's polish and reworking!