Banal, pedestrian treatment that ranks among the worst ever filmed -- perhaps equal to Charlton Heston's appalling effort some years ago. Imagine Holmes played by Dr.Zachary Smith of "Lost in Space" -- this will give you some idea of the abysmal casting of this grotesque mockery. We've seen many attempts at the Holmes character over the years, from quite good (Brett) to Godawful (Heston), but this is truly near the bottom of the barrel. The accents are ghastly, and all of Frewer's effete prancing and posing only invite comparison to a Fire Island production based on Gillette's humorously dated caricature of the Holmes character. Not one of the major characters was decently cast. Watson appeared to be 20-30 years older than Holmes, at least, and hardly a likely candidate for his eventual marriage to Mary Morstan. Probably a lot of the 30-60 female demographics will find this version palatable, but certainly no one else. Holmes buffs and serious film fans will detest it, as I did. I flipped the channel during the last half hour, just to keep from having to bring barf bags for my guests.
Review of The Sign of Four
