“To think we fought a war to keep these barbarians in the commonwealth.”
After once again foiling Moriarty’s (John Huston) latest devious plans Sherlock Holmes (Roger Moore) returns to his London flat at 221 B Baker Street. Holmes’ friend Dr. John Watson (Patrick Macnee) remarks that the paper has an announcement that Irene Adler (Charlotte Rampling) will be performing on stage in New York. Holmes and Adler had a relationship in the past and she now sends Holmes a ticket to the opening night of all her performances, even though he never attends. Holmes does receive a ticket for the New York opening, but it is torn to pieces. Realizing something is wrong, Holmes and Watson take the first boat to New York City.
It’s not long before Holmes understands that Moriarty is involved. That night at the theater Irene doesn’t show up. The management says she is ill and her understudy will be taking her place. Getting her address Holmes and Watson race to her home. Eventually Holmes learns that Irene has a son named Scott (Geoffrey Moore) and that he has been kidnapped. A note, addressed to Holmes, is sent to Irene’s home. The note tells Holmes to refuse to cooperate with the police and to give no excuse or the boy will die.
Shortly after that Holmes is approached by Mortimer McGrew (Gig Young) and Inspector Lafferty (David Huddleston) from NYPD. McGrew is the president of the International Gold Exchange. Holmes is told that the exchange has been robbed and they fear that should the news get out it would start a world war. They ask for Holmes to help. Knowing that everything is Moriarty’s doing, Holmes must decline to assist. But Holmes isn’t down for long. Knowing Moriarty the way he does Holmes launches his own plans to save Scott. If he can do that then there will be nothing in the way of his investigation into how Moriarty managed to steal all the gold in New York City.
“Sherlock Holmes in New York” was released in 1976 and was directed by Boris Sagal. It is an American made for television mystery based on characters created by Arthur Conan Doyle. The movie stars Roger Moore as Sherlock Holmes and Patrick Macnee as Dr. John Watson.
The film takes elements and characters from Arthur Conan Doyle stories “A Scandal in Bohemia” and “The Red-Headed League”. You could probably even toss in a little “Ocean’s Eleven” into the plot as well.
Patrick Macnee as Watson is just a little insipid and a bit annoying. He’s not as bumbling as Nigel Bruce was in the Basil Rathbone series but he’s not totally with it either. I wasn’t crazy about him in the role but he is not the worst Watson around.
Roger Moore is OK as Sherlock Holmes. The film does require his character to have more emotion than the character would normally have. At first Moore was not interested in playing Holmes but after reading the script he changed his mind. He remarked that there was more dialogue as Holmes than he ever had in 120 “The Saint” episodes and two James Bond films. Irene Adler’s son Scott is played by Moore’s real son, Geoffrey Moore.