A Search for Unearned Wealth
The film begins in 1856 India where the British troops are fighting in the India Mutiny. Indian Prince Achmed carries a strong box into the fort for safekeeping. He is betrayed by a sergeant, who later claims no knowledge of the Prince or his disappearance. Then we see Watson discussing Holmes' paper decades later. Miss Morstan visits Holmes to solve a problem. Her father, a retired army Captain, had disappeared six years earlier. But every year she received a valuable pearl in the mail. This year it was a warning letter. Miss Morstan has a map from her father; what does it show? Holmes, Watson, and Miss Morstan visit Thaddeus Sholto in Lambeth. [Their speech has strange overtones.] Major John Sholto had been sending a pearl each year, but wanted to give half the treasure to Miss Morstan.

When they visit Bartholomew Sholto they find him murdered inside a locked room! The treasure has disappeared. The police are called. Holmes deduced how it happened. Inspector Jones uses the "facts" to solve the murder mystery. Later Holmes sends Watson to fetch Toby. Professor Morgan diagnoses the poison and its source. Holmes tracks the unknown visitors to a hired boat on the river Thames. [There is dramatic language between Holmes and Watson.] Smith's steam launch was found, plans are made to intercept it. But Inspector Jones has his own plans. There is a confrontation with the villains, and Holmes triumphs. The stolen treasure was lost, no one can claim it.

The ending to this film deviates from the original story. It is not an improvement over the original. The outdoor scenes show a bigger budget was used, but the changed story is a negative. The background to this story tells how India was looted to enrich some Englishmen. In those days people could keep and bear arms without any restrictions. One lesson from this film is to avoid treating assumptions as "facts". [Or was that a ruse?]

If only Sherlock Holmes had been played by a different actor...
Sir Arthur Conan Boyle's The Sign of Four is a great novel, though this televised version was a bit of a disappointment.
In this mystery Sherlock Holmes has his hands full with an unusual assassination (made possible by an exotic poison) and a mysterious disappearance.

The major setbacks (as other reviewers have also pointed out) are:
1) The poor choice of actor for the leading role of Sherlock Holmes in Matt Frewer; obnoxious, conceded, and overall not likeable, his was a terrible performance indeed.
2) The ending which seems to be the result of someone's improvisation, and which deviates from the writer's original.

In short, it's an interesting plot, a great setting, and a mediocre cast.
Though far from being a masterpiece, by no means is it a bad movie, as it will provide for an evening's entertainment.

astounding kid friendly Holmes adventure
I have never seen a Sherlock Holmes quite like this one! I had setled into my chair and prepared to take a long nap when BAM!
Matt Frewer's Sherlock Holmes grabbed me by the collar and took me along on an adventure! Mr Frewer is a 3-D Sherlock like no other! This may not be the truest version of the Sign of Four, but it is a vibrant adventure and Frewer's Holmes is so energetic he almost bounds off the screen. I shared this with my children and they adore Mr Frewer's performance. Try this one if you are a Sherlock Holmes fan and looking for a Holmes that will keep your kids highly entertained.

Awful Acting and Change Done to the Climax Ruins Everything
The second installment of Sherlock Holmes series of "Hallmark Entertaiment" is worse than its preceding one, "The Hound of Baskervilles," or "the canine mystery" as this irritating Holmes of this series might quip. The Max ... no, Matt Frewer Holmes interpretation still looks unconvincing besides Jeremy Brett (though I do not say the latter is perfect), and in this film you are in for another atrocious deed done to the beloved original.

That is the script, which starts promisingly. As you know, the story of the mysterious "Four Signs" originates in India, and the film starts there (no, not that real India, but in the soundstage) where a rich Indian merchant's tresure is violently stolen. Now, years later, a certain lady Miss Morstan visits Sherlock Holmes to consult about the enigmatic message and pearls sent to her from an anonimous source. So far, the film is faithful in contents and in spirit.

However, in the second half of the film, it commits an unforgiveable crime. The famous hair-raising chase scenes on the Themes which tesitifies the genius of Conan Doyle is replaced by a silly conclusion culled directly from the B Western movies. Add to that, the fate of Miss Morstan is also changed, as if the company wanted to torment poor Dr. Watson forever.

Only Kenneth Walsh's Watson looks like real, which qualifies the two stars I give here. When Miss Morstan, who should be a Victorian lady in distress, speaks like a modern American woman in the 20th century, you have nothing to recommend. And you see the exaggerated mannerism of the sleuth, which makes the entire film even worse. Stick to Jeremy Brett or Basil Rathbone.

Max Headroom's Folly
This production of " The Sign of the Four" is worse than the same team's "Hound of the Baskervilles." Two reasons: The obnoxious Matt Frewer has more screen time, and it's longer. The rest of the production closely follows the hideous blueprint of its predecessor. To begin with, the acting is atrocious. Aside from Frewer's horrendous performance (the less said about this, the better) we are treated to the worst Mary Morstan on film. This Canadian actress (her name is best forgotten) repeatedly drops her accent in mid-sentence, displays the polish of a truck driver, and acts with all the subtlety of a Public Access TV host.

I presume that the low budget explains the appalling technical problems: bad cutting, amateur lighting, plastic sets, and a scarcity of extras on the streets of London. It may also explain the idiotic reworking of the final sequence in which the showdown occurs on the docks, rather than on the water. Authentic steamboats cost money.

Only one thing rises above the carnage that used to be Doyle's "Sign of the Four-" the fine Dr. Watson of Kenneth Welsh.