I Watch Films: Sherlock Holmes: The Eligible Bachelor

 

Sherlock Holmes: The Eligible Bachelor

Lord St Simon is planning to marry Hatty Doran, the daughter of an American who has made a fortune at mining. He has fallen on hard times, he shows her the outside of his family estate, including the dilapidated menagerie. They can’t go in; his creditors have installed someone there. When her father arrives, he offers St Simon a large cheque to clear up the situation and keep his daughter happy.

Sherlock Holmes is unwell*, suffering from strange dreams. Perhaps worse, he has nothing to distract him, with only trivial cases being presented. His friend Dr Watson tries to get him to get dressed and go out, but fails.

Strange events dog St Simon. A woman takes a shot at him; everyone thinks she’s a former lover. At the wedding Hatty drops her bouquet and freezes; a gentleman picks it up and gives it to her. At the reception a woman, Flora, an actress, tries to interrupt and is thrown out. Hatty claims an indisposition, and retires from the reception; only later does St Simon discover that she has left and vanished.

St Simon consults Sherlock Holmes. Holmes finally has a case worth solving though he continues to be plagued by dreams and confusion. He learns St Simon has been married twice before, one wife dying, the other marriage annulled after his wife became insane. More clues emerge; Flora and Hatty were seen together; later Hatty and a gentleman were seen in Hyde Park, and most disturbingly her wedding dress, along with the ring, are discovered on the shore of the Serpentine Pond in the Park.

The case finally in motion both Holmes and the film perk up. Flora is arrested and she admits seeing Hatty and warning her off St Simon – yet she had already left the reception at that point. And Flora also denies shooting at St Simon. Another woman enters the plot; Agnes Northcote, the sister of Helena, St Simon’s second wife. She claims that St Simon is in fact a villain; he married Helena for her money, had her committed to an asylum, then removed from the asylum and concealed at his estate. He employed Flora to impersonate Helena and feign madness before a tribunal of doctors. Agnes attempted to find Helena on the estate, but was attacked by a tiger, kept by Thomas, the man who killed St Simon’s first wife in Paris.

This rather complicated backstory is followed by Holmes tracking down Hatty who has her own reasons for vanishing. They then adjourn to the estate where there is a similarly complicated and violent finale.

A strange Holmes adaption – looser than most of the Granada TV ones, with Holmes moping about and musing over his prophetic dreams. St Simon seems rather foolish**, employing a famous detective to track down his missing bride when he has his own grisly secrets. The finale, with dangerous animals, traps, secrets and more in a decaying country house is rather good.

Watch This: Unusual Holmes adaption with lots of interesting detective notes
Don’t Watch This: Over-complex story of horrible crimes

* Jeremy Brett who played Holmes for ten years suffered from mental illness during this period and died two years later. His appearance had deteriorated over the course of the series. How much of Holmes’ difficulties drew on his personal situation is beyond the scope of these notes.

** His villainy absent in the original story