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Murder by the Book (1967)
Filmmaker(s): Mel Damski

Mild-mannered mystery writer D. H. Mercer has become so immersed in his material that his creation, hard-boiled private eye Biff Deegan, constantly appears to him as a hallucination. Intent on getting rid of Biff, and replacing him with a more civilized detective, Mercer soon finds himself in a genuine mystery involving art fraud, murder, and a beautiful lady in peril.

Double Folds This isn’t worth watching for what it is, but I count it as a notable example, more so because it is a cheap TeeVee production with low aspirations. The overall story is about art forgery. The structure is adventuresome. The story we see...
Published February 24, 2023
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Murder Ahoy (1964)
New mischief amidst the mizzen-masts!
Filmmaker(s): George Pollock

During an annual board of trustees meeting, one of the trustees dies. Miss Marple thinks he’s been poisoned after finding a chemical on him. She sets off to investigate at the ship where he had just come from. The fourth and final film from the Miss Marple series starring Margaret Rutherford as the quirky amateur detective.

Jerry Lewis’ Mutiny The good: well it has a jaunty theme song. At least it honors the original form in that the order we see things in is roughly the order of discovery by the detective. By this entry in the series, they had seriously...
Published February 22, 2023
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Sherlock Holmes and the Shadow Watchers (2021)
Filmmaker(s): Anthony D.P. Mann

The sensational details of a gruesome murder in The Daily Gazette have London in a panic, as a blood-thirsty madman - more vicious than Jack the Ripper - preys upon the city. Of greater concern to Scotland Yard, however, is that the account of the murder was published nearly two hours prior to the crime having been committed! Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson - the Great Detective and his faithful assistant and chronicler - find themselves challenged with one of their most baffling cases - "The Case of the Woman Who Was Murdered Tomorrow"! Will an innocent man be sent to the gallows? How much blood will be shed before a scarred fiend is brought to justice? ...And who are the mysterious Shadow Watchers, a coven of ominous figures who orchestrate terror from within the darkness? Starring Anthony D.P. Mann as Holmes and Terry Wade as Dr. Watson, "Sherlock Holmes and the Shadow Watchers" is a horrifying new adventure, produced with the kind permission of the Conan Doyle Estate*.

Fiddling Around When you get something like this, you have to give allowances. No money was spent; friends did the acting. Production is brusque. What you have to look for is the intent of the writer/director/main actor. If he could have, would he have delivered...
Published February 18, 2023
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Flightplan (2005)
If someone took everything you live for... how far would you go to get it back?
Filmmaker(s): Robert Schwentke

Flying at 40,000 feet in a state-of-the art aircraft that she helped design, Kyle Pratt's 6-year-old daughter Julia vanishes without a trace. Or did she? No one on the plane believes Julia was ever onboard. And now Kyle, desperate and alone, can only count on her own wits to unravel the mystery and save her daughter.

Oceans 2 Well, I suppose we all have to decide what it means to be a powerful or effective actress. And whether Jody is capable of delivering this. In this case, the project, at least the first half, depends on us believing her panic and...
Published February 18, 2023
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Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century (1999-2001)
Filmmaker(s): Edward Zwick

Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century is an animated television series, in which Sherlock Holmes is brought back to life in the 22nd century. The series is a co–production by DiC and Scottish Television and was nominated for a Daytime Emmy for Special Class Animated Program.

Plot Mines For the sake of completeness of my Holmes project, I watched a couple episodes of this. The fancy is that Holmes is placed 200 years in his future. The future setting allows the animators to use all sorts of visual shorthand for sets...
Published February 12, 2023
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The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1939)
The struggle of super-minds in the crime of the century!
Filmmaker(s): Alfred L. Werker

Having once again avoided criminal conviction, Professor Moriarity develops a murderous plan to “finish off” his last major nemesis, Sherlock Holmes, by making him fail to prevent the perfect crime. Does it involve a family curse, the crown jewels of England, or something else…

illogical The invention of the logical detective in Sherlock Holmes was profoundly important, directly leading to the great invention of noir, the descendants of which dominate our viewing vocabulary. The notion that people were deeply logical and that a human mind was capable of mastering...
Published February 12, 2023
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Aurora Teagarden Mysteries: Dead over Heels (2017)
Filmmaker(s): Terry Ingram

Librarian and real crime buff Aurora “Roe” Teagarden never liked Detective Sergeant Jack Burns, but she also never wanted to see him dead. When his body is found outside of Aurora’s home, she then becomes the main suspect. Determined to find the killer and clear her name, Aurora can't help but to get involved once again.

Manipulating Evidence I came to this as a mystery that would be safe to watch with my 10 year old. He had done well with some others like Poirot, Holmes. I’ve taught him to be alert in narrative engagement, so he was primed to be...
Published February 12, 2023
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Gone Baby Gone (2007)
Everyone wants the truth... until they find it.
Filmmaker(s): Ben Affleck

When 4 year old Amanda McCready disappears from her home and the police make little headway in solving the case, the girl's aunt, Beatrice McCready hires two private detectives, Patrick Kenzie and Angie Gennaro. The detectives freely admit that they have little experience with this type of case, but the family wants them for two reasons—they're not cops and they know the tough neighborhood in which they all live.

Baby Arrives I love it when I am wrong, and someone that I think doesn’t matter surprises me. Ben Affleck put together some snappy lines in “Good Will,” but that project was so ordinary in form it self-destructed. His acting is generally silly. There isn’t...
Published February 7, 2023
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Death on the Nile (1978)
A murderer strikes on board the luxury Nile steamer Karnak – and Hercule Poirot faces his most baffling case.
Filmmaker(s): John Guillermin

As Hercule Poirot enjoys a luxurious cruise down the Nile, a newlywed heiress is found murdered on board and every elegant passenger becomes a prime suspect.

Faces and Places I recently rewatched this because of the Branagh version. We now have three: this Ustinov version, a later Suchet, and the recent Branagh. I see that my original comment — likely 20 years ago — was one of those deleted from IMDB...
Published December 31, 2022
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A Movie With Me in It (2008)
A black comedy about screenwriting and slightly fatal accidents
Filmmaker(s): Ian Fitzgibbon

A dissolute scriptwriter and a dejected actor become unwittingly drawn into a labyrinthine mess when several people experience bizarre accidental deaths in their flat. Though the men didn't deliberately cause any of the incidents, they fear that they will be unfairly pegged as murderers if they relay information to the cops, and promptly set about disposing of the corpses in gruesome ways.

Interesting and Uninteresting Muddles Once again, we have a script concept that is promising enough to matter. Once again, we have an inept film built on that idea, inept because the writer wanted to be in it. The overall shape is an ordinary, explicit fold:...
Published December 24, 2022
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