"The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes" The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax (1991)

Director:

John Madden

Writers:

Arthur Conan Doyle (short story "The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax" from volume "His Last Bow")
T.R. Bowen (dramatization)

TV Series:

"The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes" (1991)

Original Air Date:

21 February 1991 (Season 1, Episode 1)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Horror | Mystery | Thriller

Plot:

A headstrong but titled suffragette slips into the power of a murderous con artist.

Plot Keywords:

Sherlock Holmes | Private Detective | Victorian Era | Based On Short Story | Detective

Cast

Jeremy Brett	...	Sherlock Holmes
Edward Hardwicke	...	Dr. Watson
Cheryl Campbell	...	Lady Frances Carfax
Julian Curry	...	Albert Shlessinger
Mary Cunningham	...	Miss Calder
Jack Klaff	...	The Hon. Philip Green
Nicholas Fry	...	Hotel Manager
Michael Jayston	...	The Earl of Rufton
Anthony Benson	...	Vicar
Rosalie Williams	...	Mrs Hudson
Anthony Schaeffer	...	Bank Official
Margo Stanley	...	Woman in Undertakers

Filming Locations:

Hoghton Tower, Preston, Lancashire, England, UK

Trivia:

One of the few episodes with genuine narration.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: The corpse breaths and swallows.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Dr. Watson: [narration: Holmes is reading a letter from Watson] My dear Holmes, today I walked fourteen miles across rough terrain, and hardly a twinge from either my leg or my shoulder. The landscape is as handsome as it is reported. I still entertain the hope that I can prevail upon you to join me. I appreciate, of course, that the beauties of nature mean little to you, but I believe you would have found some of the guests at my hotel most intriguing.

Unnecessary dark ending

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Conan Doyle occasionally ended his Holmes stories on ambiguous or dark notes, but not so The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax. In Doyle's text, the clever scenario involves the villains attempting to murder the title character by drugging her with chloroform and orchestrating her secret burial while she is unconscious. Holmes figures things out in time and saves Carfax from being buried alive. The villains actually escape for the time being, but there is no indication that Carfax will not make a full recovery.

Though he has saved the day, Holmes still faults himself in the text for not solving the mystery sooner, and criticizes his lapse in skill, though this is softened by his laughable pomposity -- "it can only be as an example of that temporary eclipse to which even the best-balanced mind may be exposed. Such slips are common to all mortals, and the greatest is he who can recognize and repair them. To this modified credit I may, perhaps, make some claim."

For this TV adaptation, screenwriter T.R. Bowen omits the pompous lines and makes a big deal out of the self-criticism. But worse, he for some reason wants to change Doyle's story and end the episode on a downer. In the TV version, despite Philip Green's hope that his beloved Carfax will get better, Holmes doubts this, and we see that the drugging has left Carfax in a physically and mentally retarded state. To hammer this point home, the filmmakers' final shot is a slow, silly double zoom-out of a solemn Green sitting behind the vegetated Carfax.

Aside from these offenses, and forcing us to see the bloody gunshot wound of one of the villains (who gets caught in the TV version), the episode is well-done. The period trimmings and camera shots are dynamic and appealing. I especially liked the opening scene in which, over the backdrop of a shimmering 221B Baker Street log fire, the appearances of various figurines Holmes takes out to fiddle with are carefully edited to correspond with Watson's voice-over recital of his letter to Holmes about the hotel guests. And I shouldn't neglect to mention the fun of seeing a bellicose Watson toss away his walking stick and take down a suspect on the floor of the bank lobby!