Fails the Bechdel test
The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes
1970. Directed by Billy Wilder, written by Arthur Conan Doyle and Billy Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
1 / 3
Fails
-
Yes
1. At least two women
6 women characters. 5 of them speak. -
No
2. Who talk to each other
Our parser found no scene where two women talk to each other. -
No
3. About something besides a man
Not reached: the film fails an earlier rule.
Second opinion
Not rated bechdeltest.com readers haven't rated this film.
The film
Director Billy Wilder adds a new and intriguing twist to the personality of intrepid detective Sherlock Holmes. One thing hasn't changed however: Holmes' crime-solving talents. Holmes and Dr. Watson take on the case of a beautiful woman whose husband has vanished. The investigation proves strange indeed, involving six missing midgets, villainous monks, a Scottish castle, the Loch Ness monster, and covert naval experiments. Can the sleuths make sense of all this and solve the mystery?
- Released
- 29 Oct 1970
- Genres
- Adventure, Comedy, Crime
- Rated
- PG-13
- IMDb
- 7 / 10
- Metascore
- 75 / 100
- Awards
- 3 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Holmes 357 lines, man
- Watson 284 lines, man
- Gabrielle 105 lines, woman
- Mycroft 79 lines, man
- Rogozhin 57 lines, man
- Mrs. Hudson 33 lines, woman
- Queen Victoria 30 lines, woman
- Petrova 12 lines, woman
- Cabbie 9 lines
- Grave-Digger 8 lines
Full cast, 21 people
- Robert Stephens as Sherlock Holmes
- Colin Blakely as Dr. John Watson
- Geneviève Page as Gabrielle Valadon
- Christopher Lee as Mycroft Holmes
- Tamara Toumanova as Madame Petrova
- Clive Revill as Nikolai Rogozhin
- Irene Handl as Mrs. Hudson
- Mollie Maureen as Queen Victoria
- Stanley Holloway as Gravedigger
- Catherine Lacey as Woman in Wheelchair
- Peter Madden as Von Tirpitz
- Michael Balfour as Cabby
- James Copeland as Guide
- John Garrie as First Carter
- Godfrey James as Second Carter
- Robert Cawdron as Hotel Manager
- Alex McCrindle as Baggageman
- Frank Thornton as Porter
- Paul Hansard as Monk
- George Benson as Inspector Lestrade
- Anne Blake as Madame
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 3 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 2% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 106
Hover, tap or tab to a bar to see those scenes: where they happen and who's talking.
Show the numbers
| Scenes | Women's lines | Men's lines |
|---|---|---|
| 1 to 3 | 0 | 2 |
| 4 to 6 | 0 | 4 |
| 7 to 9 | 10 | 49 |
| 10 to 12 | 10 | 35 |
| 13 to 15 | 3 | 53 |
| 16 to 18 | 12 | 90 |
| 19 to 21 | 0 | 28 |
| 22 to 24 | 0 | 2 |
| 25 to 27 | 4 | 16 |
| 28 to 30 | 15 | 39 |
| 31 to 33 | 1 | 0 |
| 34 to 36 | 12 | 11 |
| 37 to 39 | 31 | 76 |
| 40 to 42 | 0 | 8 |
| 43 to 45 | 3 | 60 |
| 46 to 48 | 12 | 22 |
| 49 to 51 | 12 | 17 |
| 52 to 54 | 6 | 38 |
| 55 to 57 | 0 | 8 |
| 58 to 60 | 3 | 11 |
| 61 to 63 | 0 | 6 |
| 64 to 66 | 0 | 9 |
| 67 to 69 | 3 | 16 |
| 70 to 72 | 6 | 48 |
| 73 to 75 | 4 | 35 |
| 76 to 78 | 0 | 29 |
| 79 to 81 | 30 | 41 |
| 82 to 84 | 0 | 0 |
| 85 to 87 | 3 | 4 |
| 88 to 90 | 6 | 9 |
| 91 to 93 | 0 | 3 |
| 94 to 96 | 0 | 3 |
| 97 to 99 | 5 | 17 |
| 100 to 102 | 0 | 3 |
| 103 to 105 | 0 | 3 |
| 106 to 106 | 0 | 18 |
The evidence
- Straight from the script
- Counted from the script and the credits
Tap an exhibit to open it.
Exhibit A: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 19 are women's.
191 lines from women, 813 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
6 women and 15 men in the cast. 5 women and 12 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 7 of 1,023.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 69 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 16% of the words (1,741), men 84% (9,128). Women have 19% of the lines, so their lines run shorter than men's.
Exhibit D: the test the other way
Two named men talk to each other about something besides a woman. It passes the reverse test.
Conversations between two named characters
Two women
0
Two men
87
Exhibit E: behind the camera
1 of the 10 people in these jobs is a woman.
Across the whole crew, 5% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Billy Wilder (man)
- Written by
- I. A. L. Diamond (man), Billy Wilder (man)
- Produced by
- Billy Wilder (man)
- Shot by
- Christopher Challis (man)
- Edited by
- Ernest Walter (man)
- Music by
- Miklós Rózsa (man)
- Production design by
- Alexandre Trauner (man)
- Costumes by
- Julie Harris (woman)
- Cast by
- Lesley De Pettit (gender not listed)
The crew, department by department
-
Production
0 women, 2 men, 5 not listed
-
Art
0 women, 3 men, 3 not listed
-
Sound
0 women, 4 men, 1 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
1 women, 0 men, 2 not listed
-
Other crew
0 women, 2 men, 1 not listed
-
Directing
0 women, 2 men, 1 not listed
-
Writing
0 women, 3 men
-
Camera
0 women, 1 men, 1 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 59 on average. Men: 49 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Geneviève Page 42, Tamara Toumanova 51, Mollie Maureen 66, Catherine Lacey 66, Irene Handl 68
Men
Robert Stephens 39, Colin Blakely 40, Clive Revill 40, Christopher Lee 48, Stanley Holloway 80
Exhibit G: the money
It made 15% of what it cost.
- Budget
- $10 million
- Box office
- $1.5 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 106 scenes and 1,023 lines of dialogue. How the test works
