Rating: 
Summary: So much was LOST!
Review: This film is a cult classic and well deserving of that status. It's one of my favourite films and for YEARS we were promised the excised footage would be replaced and we could finally see this marvellous film in the form Billy Wilder meant it to be. Well, I am sure like all fans of the film, we waited with hope that NOW they would include all these scenes. And while the film transfer is great and I was sad to see there is NO footage to speak of to be added. There are snippets of film of other adventures, stills flashed over a poor soundtrack, but according to MGM there is no extra scenes, they have been lost.WHAT A DISAPPOINTMENT! The film is still a must for Billy Wilder, Robert Stephens, Chris Lee or Sherlock Holmes Fans. But just do not expect all the lost footage to be restored. It is a very very funny look at Holmes, a more human look perhaps. This is a mirthful look at the adventures of Sherlock Holmes, lovingly portrayed with a twinkle in his eye by the late great Sir Robert Stephens. The adventures are fun (the ones we see) but mainly centre around a woman's missing husband. Toss in several hundred canaries, the Loch Ness Monster, missing midgets - the Tumbling Pickaloes to be precise - the mysterious red runner, Queen Victoria, some Trappist monks, an ageing ballerina that does not 'look 39' - that is because she is 49!! -who wants Holmes to father her child and an amnesiac damsel in distress that temps Holmes, all done with the best British wit and droll sense of humour...and you have a mix that cannot miss. Incisive writing and direction, this fill pay homage to Holmes and Watson, with tongue firmly planted in cheek... Even so, the currently version is a true gem, and so overlooked,
all we have left of Billy Wilder genius vision.
Rating: 
Summary: Slight but Great Fun
Review: This film takes as its premise that Watson had a box of papers locked away not to be opened for 50 years after his death containing some Sherlock Holmes stories that discretion prohibited publishing at the time. One of its concerns is that perennial question: was Holmes gay? In a short episode that serves as a kind of prologue he infuriates Watson by pretending that he is and that they are lovers but this is only to escape from a delicate and difficult situation. Or is it? The main storyline, intended in part to shed light on this question, concerns a beautiful young woman who seeks Holmes out to consult him about her engineer husband who has mysteriously disappeared.
Billy Wilder is about the most distinguished director to turn his hand to a Holmes movie so you'd expect it to be at least fun. And it is fun. As should be clear already the storyline is not one of Conan's Doyle's own but it's engagingly dramatic and Wilder is abundantly aware that it's utterly essential for any Holmes story to contain lines like these:
Watson: It is Valladon, isn't it?
Holmes: Obviously. What is not so obvious is why his wedding ring has turned green. And why there are three dead canaries in the coffin. White canaries.
Capital. Robert Stephens does an excellent job as Holmes and makes him camp enough to keep the central question intriguing but not so camp as to be ridiculous. It's all fairly slight stuff but tremendous fun.
Rating: 
Summary: A Disappointment on DVD
Review: When I heard The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes was to be released on DVD, I was so excited. I had been waiting for this moment since I first saw the movie as a junior higher (I'm now 24) and read about Billy Wilder's masterpiece trimmed down from its original length. In junior high, I was tempted to save up my allowance to purchase a laser disc player just so I could buy the laser disc copy of PLoSH with the added scenes. I was disappointed to find on this DVD that the missing scenes were merely tacked on in slideshow form. Perhaps I had raised my hopes too high, but this film deserves a much better treatment than this DVD release.
Rating:
Summary: Billy Wilder is a wonderful director, after all . . .
Review: Why a mess like IRMA LA DOUCE makes a profit and a lovely film like this sinks without a trace is a mystery bigger than anything on display in this "lost" case of Sherlock Holmes, which involves the Truth About The Loch Ness Monster, some very sinister monks, and a lovely woman (Genvieve Page) who drags Holmes into the middle of it all (Well, she does show up on his doorstep stark naked in the middle of night. What's a gentleman, even one who's a bit of a misogynist, supposed to do?). Robert Stephens brings wit, melancholy, and anger to the role, keeping all of these elements of Holmes' personality at play simultaneously, and he is matched splendidly by Colin Blakely's Dr. Watson, who's smarter than Nigel Bruce's Watson and more fun than Conan Doyle's. Page is poised, charming, and ambiguous as the heroine, just the sort of girl to hold Holme's interest. There's also a wonderful supporting performance by Christopher Lee as Holmes' brother Mycroft, a sputtering mixture of affection and aggravation for his impetuous younger brother. And all of this is played against the backround of a splendid score by Miklos Rosza, adapted from his Second Violin Concerto (even if you don't like the movie, try and get a recording of the music). Just when movies like KISS ME, STUPID and THE FORTUNE COOKIE make you wonder if Wilder ever knew what he was doing, along comes a film like this, which reminds you that yes, he knew EXACTLY what he was doing--some of the time, at any rate . . .
Rating:
Summary: Billy Wilder is a wonderful director, after all . . .
Review: Why a mess like IRMA LA DOUCE makes a profit and a lovely film like this sinks without a trace is a mystery bigger than anything on display in this "lost" case of Sherlock Holmes, which involves the Truth About The Loch Ness Monster, some very sinister monks, and a lovely woman (Genvieve Page) who drags Holmes into the middle of it all (Well, she does show up on his doorstep stark naked in the middle of night. What's a gentleman, even one who's a bit of a misogynist, supposed to do?). Robert Stephens brings wit, melancholy, and anger to the role, keeping all of these elements of Holmes' personality at play simultaneously, and he is matched splendidly by Colin Blakely's Dr. Watson, who's smarter than Nigel Bruce's Watson and more fun than Conan Doyle's. Page is poised, charming, and ambiguous as the heroine, just the sort of girl to hold Holme's interest. There's also a wonderful supporting performance by Christopher Lee as Holmes' brother Mycroft, a sputtering mixture of affection and aggravation for his impetuous younger brother. And all of this is played against the backround of a splendid score by Miklos Rosza, adapted from his Second Violin Concerto (even if you don't like the movie, try and get a recording of the music). Just when movies like KISS ME, STUPID and THE FORTUNE COOKIE make you wonder if Wilder ever knew what he was doing, along comes a film like this, which reminds you that yes, he knew EXACTLY what he was doing--some of the time, at any rate . . .
Rating:
Summary: Wilder's Sherlock Mystery...
Review: Wilder spices up the personality of Sherlock Holmes as the master detective enters another remarkable journey into the world of mystery and crime. It all begins with a beautiful lady who appears out of nowhere at Holmes' front door, and it seems as if she suffers from amnesia and a lost husband. However, these mysteries are old news for a genius such as Sherlock Holmes and his companion Dr. Watson. Private Life of Sherlock Holmes is an interesting film, but the overall picture lacks the usual spice that Wilder used to combine into his creations.
Rating:
Summary: Wilder's Sherlock Mystery...
Review: Wilder spices up the personality of Sherlock Holmes as the master detective enters another remarkable journey into the world of mystery and crime. It all begins with a beautiful lady who appears out of nowhere at Holmes' front door, and it seems as if she suffers from amnesia and a lost husband. However, these mysteries are old news for a genius such as Sherlock Holmes and his companion Dr. Watson. Private Life of Sherlock Holmes is an interesting film, but the overall picture lacks the usual spice that Wilder used to combine into his creations.
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