Sherlock Holmes oder Der sonderbare Fall vom Ende der Zivilisation wie sie uns bekannt ist

Considering that this pointless little comedy was sandwiched between the two terrific Fawlty Towers seasons, and written around the same time as the best Python movie, "Life of Brian", it is amazing to me how Cleese could possibly have co-written such a lame script. Perhaps it was McGrath's fault to an extent? The two had already collaborated once on a monstrously unfunny flop called "The Magic Christian".

TSCOTEOCAWKI starts off fairly well with the murder of Kissinger, and then a decently written, pythonesque skit in the White House. From there it goes gradually downhill. The movie gets worse and worse by the minute, culminating in a finale that was simply too embarrassing to watch. I'm embarrassed just thinking about it now! It's the kind of material that 16 year-old comedy hopefuls would write for a high-school play. Moronic and unfunny to a fault.

When I first saw Kissinger/Gropinger, I thought it was Peter Sellers with make-up. However, Sellers would have done his homework and spoken the way Kissinger really speaks. This other actor did a poor imitation, voice-wise...

This 1-hour English mystery film spoof has a lot of brilliant moments, but also a lot of average moments. The latter are probably due to the small budget of a production for regional television.

The overall plot is zany but coherent, even though it serves primarily as a means to hold various funny scenes together. I am not sure why some reviewers seem to find it confusing.

The plot starts when someone kills Henry Kissinger, sorry, Gropinger, through the simple expedient of stealing his diary, leading him to address an Arabic crowd with "Shalom! Mazeltov!" The last surviving relative of Sherlock Holmes' classical adversary Professor Moriarty claims responsibility for the crime and announces the intent to end civilization as we know it.

This naturally leads to representatives of the police forces of the 5 continents (Europe, Asia, Africa, America, Australia) to meet in London, decide not to do anything, and mostly get killed off one by one during their meetings. And to the last relative of Sherlock Holmes being called in. Played by John Cleese, today's Mr Holmes has his office in 221B Baker Street. He works together with the senile but bionically enhanced last relative of Dr Watson, played by Arthur Lowe. Their housekeeper Mrs Hudson is played by John Cleese's then wife Connie Booth, also of Monty Python fame.

Due to the incompetence of Holmes and Watson, the perfectly disguised Moriarty manages to kill all the most famous TV detectives as well as James Bond. But who is Moriarty really? And will Holmes and Watson manage to save civilization as we know it (= US hegemony?), after all?

The humour is generally even more over the top than in Monty Python's Flying Circus (1969). It includes some immensely quotable lines. In some ways it reminds me of Douglas Fairbanks' short silent Sherlock Holmes parody The Mystery of the Leaping Fish (1916), which managed to be even more extreme in a similar direction.

If it weren't for various deficiencies due to an evidently hurried production, I would probably rate this film a 9 or 10. As it is, I think it deserves a rating somewhere between 7 and 8 if you like British humour (as I do).

You can do a lot with a little cash. Blair Witch proved that. This film supports it. It is no more than a sitcom in length and complexity. However, because it has John Cleese as Sherlock Holmes it manages to be hilarious even on a budget that couldn't afford a shoestring. The highlight of this film is Arthur Lowe as the sincere, bumbling Watson, his dimness and slowness foils Cleese's quick-tempered wit. If you ever run across the film watch it for a quirky laugh or two.

For 1975, this was it! A typical John Cleese spoof that is meant for laughs. Connie Booth is added to the cast alongside her then husband Cleese. A surprise addition of the cast is late actor Arthur Lowe who has more laughs than Cleese. A strong supporting actor from other films such as IF... and The Ruling Class, Lowe is perfect as the stupid but love able side kick. For just a 55 minute feature, The Strange Case of the End of Civilization as We Know it is a quick, yet fun ride that pokes fun at just about everything "detective like" in English and American media. Holmes, Bond, Columbo, etc.

Not the most successful television project John Cleese ever did, "Strange Case" has the feel of a first draft that was rushed into production before any revisions could be made. There are some silly ideas throughout and even a few clever ones, but the story as a whole unfortunately doesn't add up to much.

Arthur Lowe is a hoot, though, as Dr. Watson, bionic bits and all. "Good Lord."