This is the third in the four Sherlock Holmes films starring Matt Frewer
(Max Headroom) for Hallmark. This one is based on Arthur Conan Doyle's A
Scandal in Bohemia. It was Doyle's first short work after two novels with
Holmes and became one of his most famous short stories primarily I think
because of Irene Adler. The one woman Holmes admired and loved. She
was never to appear in anything again and one has to wonder why Doyle took
that path but thankfully he did and the Holmes stories are not cluttered
with women and romance. Watson was enough of a companion.
In the story Holmes is hired by a member of the royalty of Bohemia to acquire
a compromising photo of him and Adler that would damage his reputation and
stop his planned wedding. Holmes goes through the charade of a disguise and
a smoke bomb to fool her into indicating where the photo has been hidden.
The next day he returns with the King to confront Adler and get the photo
only to find her gone leaving a photograph of herself and a note saying she
saw through his disguise and promises never to release the photo as she is
getting married as well. And from that this legend of his love for Irene
Adler has grown primarily due to films which need to throw in a romance.
Clearly, there isn't enough material in that for a TV movie of 90-minutes.
So they make up nearly an entirely new story only keeping the charade in
there but it is only a few minutes of the film. The changes they make are
actually quite decent. The man is now the Crown Prince of Germany - to be
the next Kaiser - and we know what became of him. Irene has a photo of him
that he hires Sherlock to find - for the sum of 100 Gold Sovereigns. I have
no idea what that is but Watson and Holmes nearly do a happy dance. But there
is much more to it than a mere photo - espionage, the theft of British state
secrets, Mycroft, murder are all bundled together in a solid Sherlock outing.
Frewer has always struck me as an odd choice for Holmes. I am sure Hallmark
had their reasons but he is just an odd looking fellow with his smirky elongated
face and his attempt at an English accent is futile. I have no idea what
it is. Kenneth Walsh is Watson again and Liliana Komorowska is the divine
Irene Adler. The only woman to best Sherlock Holmes.
