The Six Napoleons

What does a murder on a journalist's front steps have to do with the destruction of busts of the Emperor Napoleon? Lestrade is baffled, as usual, but Sherlock Holmes is determined to get to the inside information, so to speak.

In this dramatization of one of my favorite ACD stories, Jeremy Brett is the consummate Holmes, before his untimely decline. I'd rather have seen the Burke/Watson in this whimsical tale but the Hardwicke/Watson is as solid as usual. I particularly like Watson's pally relationship with Lestrade.

We forget, in the shadows of Brett and Burke/Hardwicke, Colin Jeavons also redefined Lestrade with his precision of speech and the fact that he's not the buffoon usually portrayed. It's just that he's not Holmes' intellectual equal (nor even Watson's).

Bit the light-hearted pursuit of the destroyer of busts, with its marvelously funny conclusion, is ruined by the addition of superfluous material included to make the adaptation darker.

Part of this is ACD's fault. His original story produces a rabbit from a hat at the end with no foreshadowing. This is hardly fair play for a mystery. I suppose the writer(s) who produced this drek also supposed murder should have its down side.

Those parts of this episode that depict the ACD story as written are superb, with a good part for Eric Sykes. The rest, I fear, is only worth fast forwarding through. I invariably go through this episode in about half its running time by skipping the garbage.

The episode does contain one of my favorite scenes in the second series, with Holmes, Watson and Lestrade sitting around of an evening. Without the extraneous background material it would have been my favorite episode.

Holmes' conclusion to the case is still a pure delight. They should have stopped the show with Lestrade's speech. Instead, they went on. Too bad. What a waste.

In passing, Inspector Lestrade mentions to Holmes a series of minor vandalisms that have taken place: three busts of Napoleon have been destroyed for no apparent reason. Holmes is initially disinterested but his interest is piqued when the next vandalism involves a murder.

An excellent episode of The Return of Sherlock Holmes, probably the best in the series thus far (The Musgrave Ritual being the only other contender for that title). Quite intriguing: why would anyone want to smash small busts of Napoleon?

The opening few scenes do give a clue of the Italian connection but this still doesn't explain much. We then get to see Holmes put the puzzle together, piece by piece.

Speaking of the opening scenes, that would be the only negative: the overacting in those scenes. For a moment I thought those scenes were some sort of overblown, over-animated theatrical play within the episode.

I can hardly believe it. I actually guessed where the end solution was going before Holmes announced it to Watson and Lestrade, suspecting all along the reason for the smashing of the six Napoleons.

All the proper atmosphere is here, and of course the acting is top notch. Particularly enjoyable in this episode is the relationship between Lestrade and Holmes, each playing cat-and-mouse games with each other with Holmes always coming out ahead.

The back story is interesting too--all the mayhem that was involved before the Napoleons began being smashed. Jeremy Brett seems to be enjoying himself immensely as the great detective.

I wonder how Sir Arthur Conan Doyle would feel about his works being done on this TV series.

To me and clearly a great many others, Jeremy Brett was the man born to play Holmes. No-one else can or will ever come close.

The point that struck me about this particular episode above all others, is perhaps the most 'singular' moment of the entire Granada series....Holmes's tear.

If you somehow missed it, re-watch it. If you've seen it, did it not affect you? It goes way beyond the, 'softer human emotions' mentioned by the author. It seemed to come straight from Brett's heart.

That he allowed this definitive portrayal of Holmes to be so very human (and caused me to shed a tear in the process) was quite simply, extraordinary.

As a footnote, I wasn't sure about the overtly 'Mafioso' theme of this episode. Though there are clear Mafia references in the original, I felt the screenplay became just a bit too G-dfatherly. Didn't spoil it though, still 10/10!

The Six Napoleans is one of the best known Sherlock Holmes stories, possibly because it is an exquisitely clever work. It has been made many times, and this, by far and away is the best version. The acting is sublime, particularly the serious performance by Eric Sykes, who shines through, not just a comic actor. The Italian side of the story is fantastic, adding a wonderful tone of theatre and drama, it adds to the story. I've read it many times, and in my mind's eye, this is exactly how I picture it. I love the touches of humour throughout, there is a great mixture of humour and drama. I love the scene where Holmes, Watson and Lestrade are waiting to catch the killer, it is very humorous. I love the whole idea of the black Borgia pearl too, such a great story.

Wonderfully theatrical, the quintessential version. 9/10