Hallmark produced a set of four Sherlock Holmes films in the early 2000's
staring Matt Frewer (Max Headroom) as Holmes and Kenneth Welsh as Watson.
As you might expect from Hallmark they are well-produced and are family friendly.
Frewer's take on playing Holmes is a bit off the beaten path - sort of a
twit all in all who still manages to show the acumen expected of Holmes.
Hard to imagine Holmes saying ”He is as dead as a doornail” or playing the
violin so badly. I suppose though having Frewer doing a completely different
take on Sherlock is what the films have in their favor. Welsh seems a touch
old for Watson especially relative to Holmes. I think in the books they are
around the same age.
The Sign of Four was one of Doyle’s books as opposed to a short story and
like his other books it has a back story that leads to the current one. This
one begins in India during the Indian Mutiny where four men steal a treasure
and hide it promising to split it one day. They go to jail though and years
pass. A woman named Mary comes to Sherlock about her missing father and a
pearl that is sent to her each year. Murder soon follows. In the book Watson
meets his Mary and marries her - while here he meets her, is drawn to her
but she goes off with another man - mainly because Watson is clearly too
old for her. Poor Watson. Throw in a bit of ninja-like action for no particular
reason and some gunfire to add to the action. Not great. Not terrible. Hallmark
Quality.
