Re-watching this feature-length episode from the Granada Holmes series after a long gap I was struck by its extreme strangeness when compared to even the most off-the-wall episodes of the 50 min serial episodes. Simon Williams plays a much-married cad with a murky past and a gothic house which doubles as a dangerous private zoo ... he's about to marry an American heiress who disappears as soon as they are married.
Sherlock Holmes is bored, mentally unstable, and has a recurring nightmare in which images of insanity, spider's webs, and empty rooms merge to form a traumatic whole. All this of course is given extra resonance in terms of Jeremy Brett's portrayal given his own obvious decline around the time this was filmed, and he puts across this facet of the great detective brilliantly. Dr Watson comes to the rescue and helps to solve the mystery of Hattie's disappearance. Another solid performance from Edward Hardwicke.
Another point of interest within this confused jumble of a plot is a rare TV appearance of Mary Ellis, the actress/singer who collaborated on a number of Ivor Novello musicals in the 1930s and 40s. Spot her in a couple of key scenes.
Although 'The Eligible Batchelor' is titled as such, it is the tale of a number of women linked by circumstance. It - despite it's faults - is one of the best episodes of the whole series, and worth persevering with through all its weird and wonderful conceits.