The Strange Case of the End of Civilization as We Know It

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.

If you enjoy Cleese & all the British 'Pythonesque' humour of the time, then this little gem is absolutely hilarious.

Arthur Lowe is a real treat!

I saw this with friends on TV when it first came out, and its classic quotes have formed a part of our jokes for 30 years, and will do forever! I have it on tape and it is continually appreciated.

Perhaps some reviewers are taking it too seriously.

I can't believe it is now only available in the US (NTSC of course), and not in UK, where it should be an essential part of the history of British humour!!

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."

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 ; Absurde, n'est-il pas? (1969). It includes some immensely quotable lines. In some ways it reminds me of Douglas Fairbanks' short silent Sherlock Holmes parody Le mystère du poisson volant (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).

The strange case has been made through studies that kids will laugh when presented with something out of place, like a funny face, if the face is made by someone with whom they are acquainted, but they will repel if it's presented by a stranger. This conveys that our reactions to inconsistencies, oddities, unanticipated discrepancies with normalcy and established ranks will differ in terms of particular circumstances. If the incongruity happens in a context where it's threatening, it'll dispose us toward a threatened reaction. This is maybe the seed of the horror genre. On the other hand, if the context is one that is distinguished as non-threatening, where the possibility of hurt and fear has been withheld, the scenarios are opportune for humor.

We follow the attempts of Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Watson and various governments to stop all civilization from being destroyed, but everyone is too terminally stupid or apathetic to be successful at it. We need not worry about the targets of all the brutality and cruelty in blacker realms of comedy, including slapstick, because they're not completely human.

It's an accelerated, often hilarious jaunt that heckles at just about everything mystery, espionage or potboiler in English and American media. Holmes, Bond, Columbo, etc., little more than a vaudeville act in breadth and elaboration. The peak of this film is Arthur Lowe as the guileless, blundering Watson, his stupidity and listlessness always counterblowing Cleese's temperamental ingenuity.