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elinordash · 4 months

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THE PRIVATE LIFE OF SHERLOCK HOLMES (1970) dir. Billy Wilder

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thymelessink · 4 months

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When I say 'I love Sherlock Holmes' this is what I mean

#yes I do agree that the RDJ movies are more action movies than anything but they still portray the johnlock relationship very lovely #and I adore RDJ #sherlock holmes #acd holmes #john watson #granada holmes #jeremy brett #soviet holmes #the adventures of sherlock holmes and dr watson #the private life of sherlock holmes #tplosh #peter cushing #the great mouse detective #robert stephens #johnlock #robert downey jr

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weirdlookindog · 2 months

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The Asphyx (1972)

#the asphyx #robert powell #robert stephens #jane lapotaire #1970s horror #1970s movies #1972 #peter newbrook #gothic horror #criminally underrated #horror movie poster

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sherlockianscholar · 7 months

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From The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes dir. Billy Wilder, 1970

This scene absolutely kills me. The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes broke barriers depicting Holmes as gay. Here, Mycroft is referring to Holmes' and Watsons' female client, implying that Holmes and the lady were ~involved~. As soon as Mycroft says that, Holmes' (portrayed by the lovely Robert Stephens) entire everything changes. It's hard for me to describe in words what Holmes is thinking/feeling at that moment, but every time I watch this scene, my heart breaks.

His face slipping from amused to suspicious to askance to landing on unsettled. His head freezes and looks out with staring, un-blinking eyes. The way he carefully unfurls himself, walking slowly forward with a controlled reserve. Unintentional I am sure, but the lighting in this scene casts a shadow directly over Holmes' right eye making it look bruised. An almost physical representation of how Mycroft has wounded him.

The movie is unclear (or maybe, I just wasn't paying enough attention) on whether Mycroft knows that Holmes is gay. If he does know, it lends an amount of cruelty to this scene.

#sherlock holmes #mycroft holmes #john watson #tplosh #the private life of sherlock holmes #robert stephens #christopher lee #billy wilder #period piece #body language #acting without words #heartbreaking #original post

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holmesxwatson · 4 months

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The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes dir: Billy Wilder, 1970

I only watched The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes for the first time a few days ago but it lights my brain up in that special way that I know I’ll revisit it a lot. Don’t get me wrong, it’s far from perfect, for one thing Colin Blakely’s Watson is a little too shouty for me, but it’s very worthwhile to check out despite its shortcomings, which I think mostly come from the fact that so much was cut from the intended script.

I absolutely love Robert Stephens as Holmes. His face is so good, he has a way of looking at Watson when he doesn’t know he’s being observed that is very soft. I thought I was hallucinating the beginning of this movie with Holmes telling the ballet dancer he’s gay and in a relationship with Watson. I thought it was going to be played for a joke, and it was a bit, but it didn’t just end there. Holmes and Watson have a conversation about the repercussions in a lengthy scene that turns very serious by the end. I can’t believe this was 1970 and no one has since tried to build on this specific dynamic in a more meaningful way. Someone needs to remake this into a mini-series exactly how Billy Wilder intended it to be, here’s hoping public domain can make it so.

[above: script page from the cut story The Curious Case of the Upside Down Room, where Watson creates a fake case to make Holmes feel better]

Also, the backstory of the making of this film is so out of control: Robert Stephens’s nervous breakdown and suicide attempt during the production, the amount of years Billy Wilder was trying to write it and get it made, the interference of ACD’s son, the Loch Ness monster prop that the crew lost in actual Loch Ness, the immense scope of the episodic story they were going for, the way it got cut down from its original 3 hour 45 minute runtime and how that cut footage was lost forever! (this is crazy! everyone go check your attics and storage lockers right now).

In one of the interviews I found, Robert Stephens says “if something is boring — if it’s three minutes long it’s too long, but if it’s interesting it’s never long enough…you don’t want it to end.” Big same Toby Stephens’ dad, big SAME. I didn’t want it to end. I read the uncut script and I am just floored at what we missed out on. Thankfully some footage and audio remain of some of the cut scenes (but still! check your basements too).

Just fully let it settle into your brain that they filmed all of these stories in the script, and then cut most of it away. Like that is mind-blowing to me, it existed at one point as it was fully intended to be. If this was made now during home entertainment times, they would have no problem releasing an almost four-hour movie, but at the very least there would be a big director’s cut dvd release and we would be enjoying all the small Holmes x Watson moments we deserve.

Anyway, in pretty short order I found a bunch of interesting links to stuff, details below. I also consulted my very well-thumbed Conversations with Wilder book by Cameron Crowe, but there wasn’t that much more information in there. I have Robert Stephens’ memoir Knight Errant and the TPLOSH blu-ray on order so I’ll add to this post if I find any more good resources. Let me know if I’m missing anything, and enjoy!

Full movie on YouTube (x) <-update: this link went private, but it's also streaming for free on Tubi and Freevee, and available to rent on YouTube, Google Play, and Apple TV

Original roadshow draft of script on Internet Archive (x)

Missing footage: Prologue [sound only plus stills] (x), The Curious Case of the Upside Down Room [sound only plus stills] (x), The Dreadful Business of the Naked Honeymooners [footage and soundtrack only, no sound dialogue] (x), alternate ending [sound only] (x)

Making of documentary that includes behind-the-scenes snippets of some of the cut scenes [this doc is in German, but you can turn on the auto-translate to English in the YouTube settings] (x)

Interview with Ernst Walter, film editor of TPLOSH (x)

Interview with Christopher Lee “Mr. Holmes, Mr. Wilder” 2003 (x)

My YouTube playlist with all of the above links in one place plus an excellent fan vid by Just Bee that I added to the list because it’s just so good (x)

Missing Movies: A Case for Sherlock Holmes from 1994 BBC Radio 2 on Soundcloud [includes interview with Robert Stephens and folks involved in the production] (x)

Articles about the lost Loch Ness monster prop (x) (x)

The soundtrack by Miklós Rózsa (x)

#sherlock holmes #the private life of sherlock holmes #robert stephens #billy wilder #tplosh #sh movies

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holmesoldfellow · 9 months

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Scenes from the opening credits for "The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes" (1970)

#og stim board #apologies for more opening credits gifs theyre just so cool #tplosh #the private life of sherlock holmes #vintage film #1970s #70s movies #billy wilder #robert stephens #colin Blakely #sherlock holmes #gifset #gif set

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jazzandpizazz · 1 year

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#i love them #so very much #the private life of sherlock holmes 1970 #the private life of sherlock holmes #sherlock holmes #john watson #dr john watson #acd holmes #acd watson #acd sherlock #acd sherlock holmes #robert stephens #colin blakely #well then they’d REALLY talk

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erstwhile-punk-guerito · 8 months

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#Travels with My Aunt #Maggie Smith #Alec McCowen #Louis Gossett Jr.#Robert Stephens #Cindy Williams #Robert Flemyng #José Luis López Vázquez #George Cukor #1972

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gatutor · 1 year

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Pamela Franklin-Robert Stephens "Los mejores años de Miss Brodie" (The prime of Miss Jean Brodie) 1969, de Ronald Neame.

#Pamela Franklin #Robert Stephens #Ronald Neame

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kwebtv · 9 months

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The Box of Delights - BBC One - November 21, 1984 - December 24, 1984

Fantasy (6 episodes)

Running Time: 30 minutes

Stars:

Devin Stanfield as Kay Harker

Robert Stephens as Abner Brown

Patrick Troughton as Cole Hawlings

Geoffrey Larder as Foxy Faced Charles

Jonathan Stephens as Chubby Joe

Patricia Quinn as Sylvia Daisy Pouncer

James Grout as Inspector

John Horsley as Bishop of Tatchester

Carol Frazer as Caroline Louisa

Heidi Burton as Jemima

Joanna Dukes as Marla

Flora Page as Susan

Crispin Mair as Peter

Glyn Baker as Herne the Hunter

Anne Dyson as The Old Lady

Helen Fraser as Ellen

Charles Pemberton as Chief Constable

Bill Wallis as Rat

Nick Berry as Pirate Rat

Jason Kemp as The Waterfall Boy

Nicholas Chagrin as the Bronze Head

Philip Locke as Arnold of Todi

Bruce White as Greek Captain

Julian Sands as Greek Soldier

Angus Kennedy as Greek Soldier

Simon Barry as Mouse

#The Box of Delights #TV #BBC One #1980's #Fantasy #Devin Stanfield #Patrick Troughton #Robert Stephens

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mywingsareonwheels · 7 months

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Nerdery

Here is something the first episode of Inspector Morse (1987) and the first episode of the magnificent BBC radio series of The Lord of the Rings (1981) have in common:-

Philip Voss (the Coroner / the Lord of the Nazgul[1]) asks searching questions of Peter Woodthorpe (Max DeBryn[2] / Gollum).

I have to wonder whether the parallel occurred to either or both of them during the filming of Morse. ;-)

Incidentally, because this delights me, here's a full list (so far! I may have missed some!) of actors who were in both the LotR radio series and the morseverse:-

James Grout (DCS Strange in Inspector Morse / Butterbur)

Michael Horden - (Dr Starkie in Inspector Morse ("Service for all the Dead") / Gandalf)

John McAndrew (Leslie Garnier in Endeavour ("Cartouche") / Pippin)

Robert Stephens (Sir Wilfred Mulryne in Inspector Morse ("The Setting of the Sun" / Aragorn)

Philip Voss (the Coroner in Inspector Morse / the Lord of the Nazgul)

Peter Woodthorpe (Max DeBryn / Gollum)

That all makes me so happy. :D

ALSO

a) James Bradshaw's played Bilbo Baggins in a stage production of The Hobbit so Max really is the hobbit pathologist (Bilbo!Max and Gollum!Max ;-) )

b) the composer of the LotR radio series was the late, great Stephen Oliver who (was the wonderful comedian John Oliver's uncle and also) wrote the music for the RSC musical of Nicholas Nickleby that was rather a hit in the 1970s. It was the success of that musical that was a huge part of why Trevor Nunn and the RSC in general were willing to take a risk on a musical of rather a long book by Victor Hugo in the 1980s... So, there's a Roger Allam connection too. ;-)

[1] Aka the Witch-King of Angmar, but he's called the LotN in the radio series cast list (and it makes sense for him as a title for nerdy reasons I won't go into ;-) ).

[2] "DeBryn" was created as Max's surname for Endeavour so strictly speaking that's inaccurate but.

#the morseverse #morseverse #itv endeavour #itv inspector morse #lotr #the lord of the rings radio series #the lord of the rings #bbc lotr radio series #bbc lotr #philip voss #peter woodthorpe #james grout #michael hordern #john mcandrew #robert stephens #james bradshaw #casting nerdery #actor nerdery

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blackramhall · 2 years

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They are no great crimes anymore, Watson. The criminal class has lost all enterprise and originality. At best they commit some bungling villainy with a motive so transparent that even a Scotland Yard official can see through it.

The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes - Billy Wilder (1970)

Manor Murder Mystery