One of the superior Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Sherlock Holmes tales, "The Sign of Four" is ingeniously conveyed here with the great Jeremy Brett at the Helm.

This is a Granada (British) production which was originally aired over two separate PBS episodes, shown a week apart, which means that it's a nice, long (but not draggy!), DVD. Here's a much abbreviated version of the story:

A beautiful young lady (who much interests Watson!), comes to Holmes with a sympathetic story... her father, who had been a minor British officer serving in colonial India and whom had finally retired, has been missing in London for years and, now, there may be an end to the mystery in addition to the possibility that she's on the verge of becoming a rich woman. She's received an anonymous note to be available at a certain location to be transported to yet another unknown place to receive her just due and she wants Holmes and Watson to ride along to protect her as well as her prospective interests.

In the end, she meets an eccentric and fabulously wealthy son of her father's companion, who lives in a literal re-creation of Indian Culture. This son has a twin brother (who lives at their family estate, also in luxury), who is unfortunately found murdered, the family fortune in jewels and gold also having been lifted in the process!

It's the difficult job of Holmes, Watson, and the trusty K-9, "Toby" to set the whole mystery straight. This tale is one of the best Holmes films that ever originally emanated from Doyle and this particular rendering is quite excellent.

The cinematography is superb, the sets and locations are spot on and the action remains tight throughout -- no dragging.

Even rabid Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce Sherlock Holmes film purists would probably much enjoy this one if they gave it a chance.

Every once in a while, an actor comes along who not only plays the role of Sherlock Holmes, but actually redefines the role. In 1984, veteran actor Jeremy Brett (1933-95) actually did it yet again! And now, these wonderful Granada Television episodes are available on DVD.

This wonderful DVD has a feature length (running time of 1:42) edition of The Sign of Four, which was originally aired in December 1987 as two episodes. In this story, Sherlock Holmes is called upon by a young lady who needs the great detective's help with a mystery. However, when this mystery leads to murder, Holmes must seek to uncover secrets that have lain hidden for many years, and have their roots in treacheries upon treacheries in far-off India. There's a one-legged man who is at the center of this mystery, and he has a murderous friend who may just be the end of Sherlock Holmes!

My family and I loved this DVD, and think that any fan of Sherlock Holmes, or just plain fan of mysteries, will love it, too! By the way, you'll notice Dr. Watson staring out the window at Miss Morstan, later on in the Holmes stories, she and Watson were married!

+++++

This movie is based on the novel "The Sign of Four" (1890) by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859 to 1930).

This movie begins simply enough with a Mary Morstan (contrary to the editorial review above, this part is played by Jenny Seagrove) who, after the mysterious disappearance of her father, starts receiving each year as a present a rare pearl. Who is the person sending her this gift and why? Mary consults with Sherlock (Jeremy Brett) because all of a sudden the person sending her the gift wants to meet her. Dr. Watson (Edward Hardwicke) also finds this case intriguing and, as well, is smitten with the beautiful Miss Morstan.

As Sherlock and Watson investigate, they uncover an even bigger case involving a hidden treasure and a murderer whose calling card is "the sign of four."

Holmes and Watson also uncover a host of odd characters. They also encounter an odd couple: sailor John Small (John Thaw) and Little Tonga (Kiran Shaw).

This is one of the few stories where Sherlock enlists the help of others to help him solve the case. Specifically, these are Toby and "The Irregulars."

There is also an exciting boat chase where Sherlock gets shot with a poisonous dart.

My favorite Sherlock Holmes' line from Conan Doyle's works is included in this movie:

"Once you have eliminated the impossible, then whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth."

Brett, as ususal, does a good job of capturing the essence of the famous gumshoe in his performance. Also look for the fine performance of John Thaw as the sailor.

Finally, the costumes, background music, and cinematography are quite well done.

In conclusion, this is a good movie to watch even if you have read the novel it's based on!!

(1987; 2 hr; British drama; made for TV; full screen)

+++++

This is baed on one of 4 Novels that Sir Conan Doyle wrote in his Sherlock Holmes series. Since the book has a lot of details and a lot of exposition that can really go wrong in a feature film length movie, I had expected that a reasonable change & corresponding adaptation were made to translate this into a movie. Alas! The constant mediocre suspense throughout the movie added on by Sherlock Holmes' very rude attitude toward Miss. Morstan were appalling. The book says that Sherlock Holmes said "state your case" in a brisk manner. "Brisk" is nothing close to being rude in its meaning of the word. Dr. Watson in numerous accounts describes Sherlock Holmes as having a gentleness towards women. He may not express any fondness for women but was chivalrous nonetheless. Granted the character of Sherlock Holmes is not an easy one to portray for any actors, and so far Jeremy Brett captures it the best. However, this one was surely disappointing. Holmes' keen nature and energy was well demonstrated but his good professional mannerism was surely lacking & compromised. I blame the script more than the actors really. This adapation just doesn't capture the tone & flow of the original book. I highly recommend short story adaptations like Adventures of Sherlock Holmes & the Return of Sherlock Holmes series in Granada Series intead of any feature length installment. Short story adaptations were much better than feature length ones.

Those two stars out of five go to the brilliant acting abilities of Mr. Brett and Mr. Hardwicke, the only things next to the dog that kept this film from being more disappointing that it already was. But before I start, please remember, Grenada may have soiled the Sign of Four, but this is truly their only blunder. They do great justice to the rest of the series.

First of all, the film's beginning. Next to the murder and mystery, The Sign of Four is most well known for the introduction to our favorite detective's rather surprising vice. The occasional (I say occasional because throughout the majority of the Sherlock Holmes stories it is indeed on occasion. In The Sign of Four, Watson says something of "three times a day for a month.") use of the narcotic, cocaine. They exclude that completely. I have been told that they do infact include it somewhere in the Grenada television series, but I was exceedingly disappointed to not see it in this film. On the note of cocaine, the last few lines of the novel were very clever. After Inspector Jones takes all the credit for the work of Holmes and Watson, Mr. Watson says something along the lines of, "You have done all the work in this business. I get a wife out of it, Jones gets the credit, pray what remains for you?" For me, said Sherlock Holmes, "there still remains the cocaine-bottle." Instead, Mr. Holmes simply falls asleep.

Besides that let down, this film manages to make one of the, if not THE most suspenseful chase scenes in all of English literature very, very boring. No, "Pile it on, men, pile it on!" cried Holmes, looking down into the engine-room, while the fierce glow from below beat upon his eager, aquiline face. "Get every pound of steam you can." or, "See here," said Holmes, pointing to the wooden hatchway. "We were hardly quick enough with our pistols." There, sure enough, just behind where we had been standing, stuck one of those murderous darts which we knew so well." Just a slow, average boat chase for this film.

Another great, and extremely important part left out by the film version of the Sign of Four, was the Watson/Mary Morstan subplot. This is absolutely, and I say this without a doubt in my mind, the most adorable scenes in the entire Sherlock Holmes collection, yet they left it our for fear of getting the amount of wives Watson had incorrect. Watson himself admits to being un connoisseur des femmes. Or, they could simply have NOT killed her off in their series instead of adding to the ruin of film adaptation of the greatest Holmes novel in existence. (After the Valley of Fear, of course. And not including the short stories, which in my mind, are far superior to the novels.)

If you want finer examples of the exceptional Grenada series, go with 'The Master Blackmailer,' 'The Hound of the Baskervilles' or any of the series episodes from Return or Adventures. I assure you, you will not be disappointed with those. And please, do not bother with Rathbone's Sherlock Holmes. I'll say what I said in the beginning of this rant, Grenada may have soiled the Sign of Four, but this is truly their only blunder. They do great justice to the rest of the series.