Numerous actors have portrayed Sherlock Holmes on the big screen over the course of the past century, but nobody comes close to Eille Norwood, who starred as Arthur Conan Doyle’s legendary sleuth in 45 shorts and two features for Stoll Pictures between 1921 and 1923. The entire Stoll Collection of Sherlock Holmes films is currently being restored by the BFI, and the first fruits of that invaluable effort were screened at this year’s London Film Festival Archive Gala, which took place in the suitably Victorian surroundings of Alexandra Palace.
When you churn out features with François Ozon's regularity, it’s inevitable you can sometimes be caught coasting. The Crime is Mine is a fun but forgettable screwball pastiche in which a high-profile murder trial sparks a media frenzy, with echoes of Roxie Hart (1942). Struggling actress Madeleine (Tereszkiewicz) sees the courtroom as the ultimate stage to showcase her talents. She falsely admits to killing a lecherous impresario, enlisting her similarly penniless roommate Pauline (Marder) as her lawyer, in the hope that this will be the break they both need.
