The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes (TV Series) The Sensible Action of Lieutenant Holst (1973) User Reviews

The Sensible Action of Lieutenant Holst

[Prismark10 · 6/10 · 7 March 2020]

Holy Morse. A young looking John Thaw plays Lt Holst of the Copenhagen police force in the early 20th century.

Maria Wolkinski (Catherine Schell) a Russian Countess seeks the help from the Danish police. She claim that her brother in law Dimitri Wolkinski (Philip Madoc) has followed her from Russia and means to kill her.

Holst takes the Countess to his own house for safekeeping with his wife to keep her eye on the Countess.

Meanwhile Holst goes to see Dimitri who acts suspiciously and is a person who is difficult to like. Dimitri claims that the Countess is a Tsarist spy and it is he who is hunted in Russia for his revolutionary views. The Countess is disposing of property that was willed by her late husband to himself. That is the reason why he seeks to speak to her.

The story is essentially He Said/She Said. Holst wife having met the Countess is sympathetic towards her.

The story morphs slightly when the Russian Embassy becomes involved. Dimitri made it clear that he has no wish to speak to a representative from the embassy who view him as a troublemaker. Holst is ordered by his superiors not to stand in the way of the Russian Embassy. An order Holst knows is illegal but is something that might jeopardise his career if he remains obstinate.

This adaptation always veers into stodginess. The casting of Philip Madoc who usually played suspicious types is there to mislead you. It seems Dimitri might had been telling the truth.

More relevant was the story of not rocking the boat in order to sustain you career. It is pointed out to Holst several times that the Danish and Russian royal families are interrelated. Sadly it has relevance today where well meaning people are often overruled by their superiors who follow a political agenda and not a legally correct one.

Good adaptation of original story

[artisticengineer · 8/10 · 20 September 2010]

This was an adaptation of a 1905 Danish detective story. One problem that is consistently noted throughout not only this series but also in other productions by British television is the portrayal of other nationalities by the English. This is certainly NOT unique to their acting system; I have seen American actors (such as Clint Eastwood and John Wayne) portray, or attempt to portray characters of other nationalities, so poorly that one starts trying to stifle one's attempt at laughing out loud. Fortunately, in this case, the cultures of Denmark and England (like their languages) are close enough that a reasonably good British actor can portray a Danish character reasonably well enough to pass muster. And, so it is in this story. Now, whether or not Catherine Schell (a Hungarian native) acted well enough to have one believe she is a native Russian aristocrat is another story.

Anyway, the basis of the print story was unusual for its time; to wit, that a conclusion that appears correct may not actually be so. I am not referring to a "false lead"; which appears quite often in detective stories (particulary the ones by A. Conan Doyle that have you-know-who appearing in them), but rather the "different interpretation" of events that is a somewhat common theme today. Example- a man whips tout a knife from his pocket and cuts another man's throat. sounds like a case of murder or attempted murder. Right? Not necessarily; when one realizes the man with the knife is a doctor and the person whose throat is cut was unable to breath to horrible swelling of his neck due to an allergic reaction to a bee sting. The cut provides a pathway for air.

This story is not as openly dramatic as an emergency tracheotomy but the stakes are as high. A great story; even with British actors acting as Danes, with a conclusion that provides food for thought.

Very good episode.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 8/10 · 21 January 2023]

Danish Detective Lieutenant Holst is called upon by a Russian woman, Maria Wolkinski, who claims her brother, Dimitri, who's just arrived in Copenhagen, is going to try and kill her.

I rather enjoyed this episode, it's a pretty heavy going storyline, very much a political tale of revolution, with a poor, ordinary, commited Danish Policeman getting caught up in the middle of it.

The stories have often been quite straightforward, this one offered more mystery, more twists and turns.

This looked really nice, one of the better productions, some of the clothes in here were absolutely gorgeous, the costume and makeup department did a first class job.

He may be years away from Morse, but John Thaw was excellent as Holst, very well supported by Philip Madoc and Catherine Schell.

8/10.

A bit of a slog

[Leofwine_draca · 5/10 · 25 May 2022]

I wasn't familiar with the original story here but I found this one a bit of a slog to watch. Heavily dialogue based and they struggle to make the European political situation very interesting. A shame as the cast is excellent - John Thaw supported by Philip Madoc and Catherine Schell.