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Sherlock Holmes - The Master Blackmailer
from Mpi Home Video
starring Jeremy Brett, Edward Hardwicke, Gwen Ffrangcon Davies, Tony Broughton, Lee Clarke
directed by Peter Hammond
Features:
Customer Reviews:
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Avg. Customer Rating: 4.0 / 5.0 
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Disappointed 
I love Jeremy Brett and I love the Sherlock Holmes stories. I really love many of Jeremy's performances as Holmes. But not all and sadly not this one. It's not really the acting, it's the screenplay. Granada was in its artsy phase I guess and took quite a few liberties. I'll admit I was intrigued by "the kiss" between Holmes and the maid, but the way it was staged was just awkward and totally out of character for Holmes. All in all I think the early Granada episodes such as those from "The Adventures of... more info
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Does this come with a Libretto? 
It's curiously lyrical. It wasn't Directed so much as it was Conducted. Especially the final confrontation between The Veiled Woman and Milverton with its counterpoint/overlay of dialogue "duet."
Cinematography is wonderful - like a series of paintings. The interesting angles and use of reflections are Director Peter Hammond at the height of his technique. Who else would have thought of doing the ending as an Opera? (Ironically, he appears to have ended his career with this series.)
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Holmes the human -- almost.
THE MASTER BLACKMAILER is arguably the best of the five feature-length Sherlock Holmes films made by Grenada TV. It lacks the convolutions of THE LAST VAMPYRE, the occasional sluggishness of the THE SIGN OF FOUR, the weird mystical elements of the THE ELIGIBLE BACHELOR, and the overly experimental cinemetography that undermined the otherwise excellent HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES. The story shoves Holmes out of his comfort zone of cold deductive reasoning and poses with brutal frankness the old Nietzscheian... more info
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not as good as "sign or Hound of the baskerville" however
If you're a Brett fan you have only so many choices. The master blackmailer, filmed late in his career, still holds up. It's a nice story with Holmes flirting, in disguise, with the scullary maid. And outwitting the master Blackmailer.
It's better then The Eligible Bachelor and The Last Vampyre but the best two hour productions are The Hound of the Baskervilles and The Sign of Four.
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