This episode of the 1950s Sherlock Holmes series tarring Ronald Howard doesn't start with a particular gimmick for its original story base on Arthur Conan Doyle's characters, but instead plunges Holmes and Watson right into a full-on "old dark house" scenario, complete with maelstrom outside, as two brothers open a house after thirty years to challenge a family curse. It's a spooky, atmospheric setting for a mystery that actually has rather the feel of one of Doyle's originals, with an extravagantly unusual death and Holmes getting to challenge notions of the supernatural.
Because the plot is given most of the episode it doesn't feel as rushed into the twenty-seven-minute running time as it could have, and only the final scene, which feels a bit forced and cop-out, seems rushed. By this point in the series the funny character moments between Holmes and Watson, such as Holmes' fiddling with creating deadly poison and at one point almost accidentally killing his friend with an ancient weapon, can be slipped in between other plot points and still be charming and funny relief.
The development of the story is timed well and Holmes' deductions hold, despite one key element involving a poker not being set up an the fact that at one point Holmes' seems to operate on the notion that tumbling over a sofa should have the same effect as falling down a flight of stairs. Acting is generally quite good, although Ivan Desny as Harvey Winthrop does not sound the least bit English.
Well worth it overall for the fun Sherlock Holmes is a solid, old-fashioned, spooky-old-house mystery.
Because the plot is given most of the episode it doesn't feel as rushed into the twenty-seven-minute running time as it could have, and only the final scene, which feels a bit forced and cop-out, seems rushed. By this point in the series the funny character moments between Holmes and Watson, such as Holmes' fiddling with creating deadly poison and at one point almost accidentally killing his friend with an ancient weapon, can be slipped in between other plot points and still be charming and funny relief.
The development of the story is timed well and Holmes' deductions hold, despite one key element involving a poker not being set up an the fact that at one point Holmes' seems to operate on the notion that tumbling over a sofa should have the same effect as falling down a flight of stairs. Acting is generally quite good, although Ivan Desny as Harvey Winthrop does not sound the least bit English.
Well worth it overall for the fun Sherlock Holmes is a solid, old-fashioned, spooky-old-house mystery.
