Sherlock Holmes "The Case of the Cunningham Heritage" #1.1 (1954) (TV)

Nice introduction to the series, 11 December 2008

"The Case of the Cunningham Heritage" is a nice introduction to the 1954 series creatively titled Sherlock Holmes. Ronald Howard plays Holmes and Howard Marion-Crawford is Watson. Both are more than adequate in their roles and present a nice change of pace for viewers more familiar with either the Rathbone films or the Brett television series. Howard gives Holmes a bit more humanity (for lack of a better word) than I've seen elsewhere. As for Crawford, fortunately he doesn't play Watson as the bumbling fool as Nigel Bruce often did. The pair is very capably joined by Archie Duncan as Inspector Lastrade. The Lastrade role is much larger than what's often found, but the character makes a nice foil for Holmes.

Being the first episode, "The Case of the Cunningham Heritage" is more concerned with character development than anything else. There's a murder, but it's hardly worth going into. The murder and its solution are ancillary to the viewer getting a feel for the characters. I, for one, appreciated this aspect of the episode. It sets a solid foundation for future installments. And, at less than 30 minutes in length, there's not much time for an overly involved mystery anyway.

Overall, not a bad way to get things started. I think a 6/10 is about right for this episode. I'm looking forward to watching the rest of the series.

6/10