Incannerax What a waste of my time!!!

Hadrina The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Micah Lloyd Excellent characters with emotional depth. My wife, daughter and granddaughter all enjoyed it...and me, too! Very good movie! You won't be disappointed.

Skyler Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

Paul Evans It falls on Sherlock Holmes to take out Charles Augusts Milverton, The Master Blackmailer who sits like a spider in the middle of a web, a particularly nasty and deceitful individual who uses spies to obtain the dirt on his wealthy victims.The book is a good one, but the out and out brilliance of Robert Hardy makes Milverton one of the best remembered villains from the Jeremy Brett era of Sherlock Holmes. He plays him with truth, and a degree of downright villainy seldom seen. He is cold and chilling. Brett and Hardwicke combine beautifully, there is a sense of tension and urgency in their performances. Holmes's romancing with Aggie are well worth a look, as are his disguises. Worth noting that The Dowager, played by Gwen Ffrangcon Davies was over 100 years old when this was made.Beautifully produced, the surroundings are glorious, and the costumes are first rate, it looks exquisite. Full of suspense, mystery and villainy. This is a slick production, one of the very best, an ending you cannot help but enjoy, love it. 9/10

Robert J. Maxwell The production values, as usual, are excellent. There's even a big ballroom scene with Watson doing the polka. Maybe it's not up to "War and Peace" or "Madame Bovary" but there are a lot of extras, its colorful, and the music is tripping. Jeremy Brett and Edward Hardwicke as as good as always and the supporting players get the job done.But I don't know why it isn't more enjoyable. Sometimes it even made me squirm with discomfort. It was never my favorite story, and I haven't read it for years, and I can't understand why the producers and the writer, Jeremy Paul, drew it out to such length. Unlike "The Hound" and "The Sign of Four", it was not a novella to begin with. It was just another short story, and not one of the best.Except for the climactic confrontation, at 102 minutes this is rather a long, slow slog -- more of a melodrama than a mystery. Holmes pulls off no spectacular feats of deduction. Nothing about cigar ash, footprints, or even somebody's old hat. Except for two or three extended scenes in which Holmes appears (convincingly) as a raggedy plumber, the sleuth's name might as well have been Philo Vance.Holmes does a couple of illegal and unethical things to nail Charles Augustus Milverton, the nasty blackmailer. He engages in burglary, he witnesses a murder and allows the killer to escape without informing on her, and he woos a simple housemaid to get information.Murder, burglary, okay, but that housemaid business is unnerving. She's Agatha, Sophie Williams, plain but honest in her affection for Holmes the ersatz plumber. And Jeremy Brett plays his attraction to her in a perfectly straight manner -- straight, the way Holmes would be straight. She asks him to kiss her and he replies in a tremulous voice, "I don't know how." In another scene he's flat on his back in the garden and she's lying on top of him and tells him of her feelings for him. "Agatha," he says, barely able to get it out, "you have touched my heart." Watson objects to his using the girl and Holmes brushes it aside, "It can't be helped." And in a later scene he shows up at the house not in the persona of the unkempt plumber but as Holmes, the world's only consulting detective, and he sweeps past the maid without a glance.The final scene has Holmes and Watson back at Baker Street. Watson takes up his pen and a subdued Holmes begs him not to write up the story, adding that the case isn't one that he's particularly proud of. Right.

TigerShark 90 This third Sherlock Holmes film from Granada is not as good as "The Sign of Four" or "The Hound of the Baskervilles". However, it is a very enjoyable and well-made production nevertheless. It is an overextended version of what was originally only a short story but making it into a feature-length film only improves it rather ruining it. This Peter Hammond directed- Jeremy Paul scripted adaptation is one of the darkest entries in the Granada series.It's plot is compelling and dramatic. It does not have much mystery, as we know who the perpetrator clearly is but the drama comes from Holmes's effort to bring down Charles Augustus Milverton from his ruthless blackmailing. Like so many Holmes stories, it exposes the hypocrisy of Victorian society where these so-called "Noblemen" carry their own flaws and dirty secrets. This film is dark and mournful but it has a good share of humor and humanity as well. The most amusing scenes are between Holmes (in disguise) and Agatha (Milverton's housemaid) suggesting a possible romance. I think she loved Holmes but I don't think Holmes cared for her. As Holmes himself is rather asexual, the only true love for him is his work.The acting by its cast is solid. Jeremy Brett and Edward Hardwicke continue to be perfect as the classic duo of Holmes and Watson. Serena Gordon and Sophie Thompson are good as well. However, it is Robert Hardy performance as Charles Augustus Milverton that steals the show. C.A.M. manages to be a villain far more chilling and despicable than Professor Moriarty. Holmes always had admiration for his former arch-nemesis yet with Milverton he brings out nothing but pure disdain.Riveting from start to finish with superb cinematography, costumes, music, and attention to periodic detail. If "The Master Blackmailer" isn't one of the best Sherlock Holmes films ever made, it is certainly among the better ones.

dan.adams At the end of this episode Holmes asks Watson not to record the case for posterity.For a good reason! The super sleuth left his little grey cells(sorry Agatha)at home for this tale. There is no deductive reasoning,no acute analysis of signs at crime scenes. Holmes bumbles along fifty yards behind the plot. The dastardly CAM is finally dealt to by an old frail-in a manner that would have made Charles Bronson's heart swell with pride-six bullets in the breadbasket.In an ensuing chase a pursuer gets hold of one of Watson's shoes.Mercifully the writer didn't decide to tack on the story of Cinderella to lengthen the film.The murderess,Holmes and Watson,escape scot free. Oh well,it is a bit of a change of pace in late Victorian London.A bit of sixgun law:-)