T seems that one of the most maligned Holmes films (with the exception of any picture starring Dudley Moore) is the 1975 Gene Wilder auteur comedy The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes’ Smarter Brother (see the IMDB entry). I’m haven’t actually seen this film for nearly twenty years (and even then, it was a chopped-apart television version), but I might soon get my chance again. Last month, it was finally re-released on DVD. R.J. Carter at the media review site The Trades has a mostly positive review:

When crucial papers are stolen from Queen Victoria’s trusted aide, the world turns to Sherlock Holmes to solve the case.

Unfortunately, he’s not available. But Sherlock delegates the case to a lesser known S. Holmes — his younger brother, Sigerson (Wilder). An inventor, a fencer, and a darned fine singer, Sigerson is nonetheless bitter about the fame heaped upon his older brother, “Sheer Luck” Holmes.

Read the rest. Holmes fans, of course, will no doubt recall the name Sigerson from a complete different context….