A brooding period piece, Sherlock Holmes marked a radical departure for co-writers Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond with its revisionist portrait of the great detective as a towering, tortured egoist and drug addict with homosexual inclinations. The recently reassembled version of the film restores the full dimensions of Wilder's bold intertwining of a classic detective thriller with a nuanced psychological study. Wilder's careful attention to details of gesture, costumes and sets is evident throughout this ambitious film, which also boasts a darkly comic and sophisticated screenplay.