If you are a fan of Wilder and Feldmann you will love this!
Previous reviews have perhaps given a better critical view of this film, but if you are a fan of Wilder and Feldmann you will enjoy this. Leo Mckern makes a fine villain who is both believable and insane, both important to the credibility. Too many of the jokes are simple such as chocolate on the face, but some are sublime such as the wonderful ballroom scene (I will not spoil the joke). For an English audience there is the added 'reassurance' of Roy Kinnear and other 'usual suspects'. The singing, dancing and fencing are unexpectedly good and the whole film becomes an enjoyable romp with some quite dramatic moments.

"Is this rotten or is it all terribly brave?"
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother isn't Mycroft but the `forgotten' third brother Sigerson (actually the assumed name Holmes used in The Adventure of the Empty House), and there's a lot to forget about this failed attempt to do for the Holmes family what Gene Wilder did for the Frohnkensteens. Without a collaborator on the screenplay and taking the directorial reins himself, as well as the starring role, there's far more unfettered self-indulgence here than wit. There's thankfully a little less pointless hysteria from Wilder than usual, although this is sadly more than compensated for by excessive yelping from Leo McKern and tedious showboating from Dom De Luise (now there's a surprise). Indeed, this may well be the only film in which chronic overactor Aubrey Morris gives the most restrained performance. There's also an excess of messy eating and childish humor to contend with, not to mention the unforgivable waste of Marty Feldman's unique talents in a dull sidekick role. There is one funny sequence in a ballroom and a couple of moments where the ideas are good enough to survive the sledgehammer execution, but when Albert Finney, in a one-shot cameo in the film's Night at the Operatic finale, turns to the camera to ask "Is this rotten or is it all terribly brave?", it's not difficult to come up with an answer.

Fox's DVD offers a decent 1.85:1 widescreen transfer with the original trailer, but doesn't include Gene Wilder audio commentary from the Region 1 disc - admittedly no great loss since it's so sparing and uninformative and filled with dead air pauses of several minutes at a time that you'll wonder if you clicked the wrong button on your menu!

Verdi + Dom DeLuise = Hysterics
If you have never seen or heard of this film and you like clever and funny movies -this is it. From the first scenes with the "real" Sherlock slipping into drag, through Madeline Kahn as a superb Victorian Music Hall artiste, and finally The Masked Ball, as you have never seen it, with Luciano DeLuise (watch the movie and you'll see what I mean) this is a five star comedy.


Gene Wilder's best!
This is the best and most funniest film in all movie history. There is no better song and dance than the 'Kangaroo Hop'. In fact, I perform it every day whilst on my way to the merry old opera house.

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