It was supposed to really be Sherlock Holmes' "final problem." Conan-Doyle fully intended to have Holmes and Moriarty locked in a death grip and falling into the Reichenbach Falls. Conan-Doyle was an ambitious writer and had grown tired of milking his cash cow for all those years. He had better, longer things in mind -- and he produced them too, only nobody remembers "The White Company." But when the story was published, such an outcry was raised against the ending that Holmes was brought ashore, an IV drip was initiated, CPR was applied, the Heimlich maneuver exercised, a chi square one-sample test and principal component analysis computed, a quick Coombs test done, his troubling archetypes disposed of by Dr. Carl Jung, and finally the Holger Nielsen method of artificial respiration brought the detective back from the brink and he lived to soldier on in stories of declining interest.
This particular tale, Holmes' apparent death aside, has some unique elements. For one thing there is occasional narration by Watson and, in the final shot, he actually turns and addresses the audience. Then, too, the final sequence was filmed on location in Switzerland and the majestic landscape is caught in swooping helicopter shots. And the real Reichenbach Falls is featured in the climax, although care had to be taken not to put onto the screen any of the modern facilities that are to be found there. (Brett and Burke both stayed at The Hotel Sherlock Holmes.) Finally, that drop down the face of the falls is extremely well done. Two stuntmen were lowered on thin wire cables by winches. The drop was done at about 30 miles an hour and stopped only a few feet above the water.
A sad ending shouldn't keep anyone from seeing this episode, especially since you now know it was fraudulent, if you didn't before.
This particular tale, Holmes' apparent death aside, has some unique elements. For one thing there is occasional narration by Watson and, in the final shot, he actually turns and addresses the audience. Then, too, the final sequence was filmed on location in Switzerland and the majestic landscape is caught in swooping helicopter shots. And the real Reichenbach Falls is featured in the climax, although care had to be taken not to put onto the screen any of the modern facilities that are to be found there. (Brett and Burke both stayed at The Hotel Sherlock Holmes.) Finally, that drop down the face of the falls is extremely well done. Two stuntmen were lowered on thin wire cables by winches. The drop was done at about 30 miles an hour and stopped only a few feet above the water.
A sad ending shouldn't keep anyone from seeing this episode, especially since you now know it was fraudulent, if you didn't before.
