The Sign of Four (1983) (TV)

Director:

Desmond Davis

Writer:

Charles Edward Pogue (screenplay)

Genre:

Mystery

Plot:

Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson try to track down the Great Mogul, the second-largest diamond in the world. |

Plot Keywords:

Sherlock Holmes | Based On Novel | Number In Title

Awards:

1 win & 2 nominations

Cast

Ian Richardson	...	Sherlock Holmes
David Healy	...	Dr. John Watson
Thorley Walters	...	Major John Sholto
Cherie Lunghi	...	Mary Morstan
Joe Melia	...	Jonathan Small
Terence Rigby	...	Inspector Layton
Clive Merrison	...	Bartholomew Sholto
Richard Heffer	...	Thaddeus Sholto
John Pedrick	...	Tonga
Michael O'Hagan	...	Mordecai Smith
Robert Russell	...	Williams
John Benfield	...	McMurdo
Moti Makan	...	Lal Rao
Kate Binchy	...	Maid
Gordon Rollings	...	Mr. Sherman

Also Known As:

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Sign of Four (UK) (complete title)

Runtime:

103 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

UK:PG

Company:

Mapleton Films

Trivia:

Thorley Walters, who had played Dr. Watson in several different projects, replaced Trevor Howard as Major John Sholto, marking the final time Walters would play a character in the Sherlock Holmes canon on screen.

Goofs:

Continuity: The amount of jewels falling out of Small's wooden leg is much smaller than what we see in the chest later in the scene.

Movie Connections:

Version of "Sherlock Holmes: The Sign of Four (#2.15)" (1968)

one fourth of what it could have been

The original story had all the ingredients to make a thoroughly gripping Film. But failed miserably in this version as even Cherie Lunghi was a pale imitation of what she was to become - so much so that I suspected that she must turn out to be an accomplice right to the end. Sherlock Holmes was turned into a warrior quite unlike anything every suggested by Sir Arthur Conn Doyle ? In fact it was Doctor Watson who showed what little common sense that was going. The boot blacked midget from the Andoman islands looked as though he could not fight his way out of a paper bag and what the villain was doing taking tea in Baker Street for a denouement was beyond anything that the old Scotland Yard could ever have dreamed up. So consign this TV Film to their Black Museum please.