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Incident at Victoria Falls
UK / France / Italy / Belgium / Luxembourg / USA 1992
produced by Frank Agrama, Alessandro Tasca, Daniele Lorenzano, Harry Alan Towers (executive) for Harmony Gold, Bank Paribas Luxembourg, Banquet et Caisse D'Epargne de l'Etat, Silvio Berlusconi Communications
directed by Bill Corcoran
starring Christopher Lee, Patrick Macnee, Steven Gurney, Sunita Singh, Anthony Fridjohn, Claudia Udy, Neil McCarthy, Jay Pillay, Richard Todd, Claude Akins, Dale Cutts, Alan Coates, Margaret John, Jerome Willis, Jenny Seagrove, Joss Ackland, Kessie Govendor, Hywell Williams, Kenway Baker, Sangeeta Jina, Dominic Makuwachuma, Ron Smerczak, Michael Brunner
story by Gerry O'Hara, screenplay by Bob Shayne, based on characters created by Arthur Conan Doyle, music by Eric Allaman
Sherlock Holmes, Sherlock Holmes (Christopher Lee)
review by Mike Haberfelner
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The British gouvernment hires Sherlock Holmes (Christopher Lee) to
bring a priceless diamond, the Star of Africa, which might belong
to some African tribe by the way, safely to Great Britain, so it's off for
him and Watson (Patrick Macnee) to South Africa - but before Sherlock can
even get his hands on the diamond, it's stolen. Sherlock is of course
quick to round up a group of suspects, and before you know it, he embarks
on a train journey and later a safari with all of them. Suspects
include: Shady businessman Mavropolis (Anthony Fridjohn), his fiancée the
Maharani (Sunitha Singh), her maybe-lover Chandra Sen (Jay Pillay), her
actual lover Morrison (Neil McCarthy), Morrison's airheaded wife (Claudia
Udy) and a mysterious black man (John Indi), who is from the tribe
that claims the Star of Africa for itself. The group is rounded out
by former American president Teddy Roosevelt (Claude Akins) and Guglielmo
Marconi (Steven Gurney), inventor of wireless telegraphy. Need I say that
many people get murdered on this little expedition, including all those
whom Sherlock suspected. Eventually though, Sherlock seems to be on the
right track when he and Watson follow the Maharani (whose fiancé hs been
killed) and Morrison (whose wife has been killed) as they follow the
mysterious black man into a cave, where they find the treasure of his
tribe, which they were after all along. Then though the cave caves in,
killing both the Maharani and Morrison, but with her dying breath, she
assures Holmes she and Morrison had nothing to do with the murders - which
Sherlock believes, too. Returning to the others, Sherlock learns that
Teddy Roosevelt and Marconi have left for London to attend the burial of
King Edward II, and suddenly Holmes is overly keen to arrive in London
before them. In London, during the burial, Holmes unmasks Marconi to not
be Marconi at all but a gambler, killer and all-around villain who has
killed all those people and used Teddy Roosevelt's film camera to smuggle
the Star of Africa out of Africa. With the baddie arrested, the
diamond retrieved and the case solved, Holmes returns the Star of
Africa to ... to whom it actually doesn't belong at all, the British
crown. This African Sherlock Holmes-adventure
features many plotholes, often strains logic beyond breaking point, and
pretty much pulls a baddie out of the hat in the end rather than leading
to it by superior deduction - and yet, the film is quite some improvement
over its predecessor, Sherlock
Holmes and the Leading Lady: Basically, the writing is much
smoother, the narrative moves along much more swiftly, the number of
actual historical figures Holmes has to mingle with has been cut down
considerably, and at least they are all important to the plot, the romance
angle that spoiled the first movie is completely dropped here, and
Christopher Lee seems to find into the role much better. All of this
doesn't make Incident of Victoria Falls a masterpiece, not even one
of the better Sherlock Holmes-movies, but in a way it's alright at least.
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