Sherlock Holmes in New York 1976 ***

Ian Fleming’s short story James Bond in New York is one of the few Bond properties not to have been used in some way; Roger Moore is the link here with Boris Sagal’s sprightly 1976 tv movie, which may not offer much in the way of visual panache, but has some old-school pleasures for those who seek it out.

Moore brings his urban charm to bear on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s super-sleuth, and the novelty of his performance isn’t all that’s going on here. Avengers star Patrick McNee is a Watson very much in the Nigel Bruce mould, while John Huston slices of a thick but rich slice of ham as Moriarty, introduced in the opening scene in a confrontation with a disguised Holmes. Moriarty takes various physical swipes at Holmes with a gadget-packed desk which triggers various trapdoors, projectiles and other deadly instruments which Holmes has, of course, already figured out for himself.

The two don’t meet again until the end, and the tone is never quite so flippant, but there’s still lots of fun in the way that Holmes ventures from London to NYC to see old flame Irene Adler (Charlotte Rampling) who is a grand Broadway dame and not quite the femme fatale expected from the stories. Gig Young is a promoter rejoicing in the name Mortimer McGrew and Santa himself David Huddlestone is Inspector Lestrade. London looks much like New York here in that everywhere looks like a studio lot, but there’s a nice twist involving the building of the NYC subway, and the central mystery, involving the theft of gold bullion, is a really great mystery in that the solution is elegant, guessable but ingenious.

Chuck in a jaunty score by Richard Rodney Bennett and Sherlock Holmes in New York is a more-than-decent oddity, with big-stars, a universally known IP, and a quaint if unspectacular treatment from tv specialist Sagal. It’s a little dry and dusty in places, but the star-power carries it through, and makes it something of a hidden gem.