The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes’ Smarter Brother (1975)

Directed by Gene Wilder. Starring Gene Wilder, Marty Feldman, Madeline Kahn, Leo McKern, Dom DeLuise, Roy Kinnear, John Le Mesurier, Douglas Wilmer. [PG]

With his more famous brother lying low, Sigerson Holmes (Wilder) finally gets a chance to outshine Sherlock when he tackles a major case with the help of a Scotland Yard detective (Feldman) and a music hall singer (Kahn). There are some silly laughs here, mostly mild, but those pleasures are off-set by a restlessness in waiting for it to start coming together. “What is it all about?” you may find yourself asking while Feldman mugs, Kahn gets groped, Dom DeLuise falls flat, and Moriarty (McKern) makes his requisite appearance. A few minutes after it was over, I couldn’t remember hardly any details of the case, then realized it was hard to keep track of them even while the movie was playing (so much for the “payoff” of the document gag). Wilder’s directorial debut; he also wrote the script. Keep an eye out for a surprise cameo during the opera scene, and keep your ears pricked for Mel Brooks voicing one offscreen line.

46/100