Comic Book Plus Forum
Comic And Book Related => Comic Talk => Topic started by: Andrew999 on December 15, 2020, 08:02:49 AM
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Watched this last night: Brilliant
Sherlock Holmes and the Christmas Pudding
https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=53434
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Watched this last night: Brilliant
Sherlock Holmes and the Christmas Pudding
https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=53434
I agree. I loved ALL the episodes in that great 1950s series. I saw them all many, many years ago. It ranks almost up there with Basil Rathbone's feature film version, but not quite. I read all of Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories as a youth, and loved the mystery genre because of that introduction.
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I just put that in and am watching as I write. The OTHER Ron Howard has great Holmesian features ( unlike Morton Downy JR whose long lashed, curly haired brunette Holmes I refuse to look at ). Watson ( Howard Marion Crawford ) is shot out of a steroid cannon but the show satisfies me as a Holmes fan. The distinctive signature of producer Sheldon Reynolds is also on another favorite Claude Raines film THE MAN WHO LIKED TO WATCH TRAINS. And, if I am not mistaken he produced I DREAM OF JEANNIE.
Unbelievably, I found a 6 disc Holmes dvd set at the DOLLAR STORE which contains the complete Ronald Howard series, all of the Rathbone radio shows, 9 films including a new favorite THE DEADLY NECKLACE starring Christopher Lee, and even a pamphlet format book of A STUDY IN SCARLET.
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That's a pretty impressive DVD set.
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I've been working my way thru SHERLOCK HOLMES the last couple years.
Crazy enough, I started getting the Ronald Howard TV series on DVD. This was the 1st complete TV series I've upgraded from VHS to DVD. (The 2nd was the Adam West BATMAN.) Although they didn't have the best source material, it was still such a massive upgrade, I've watched the entire series 3 times so far. I really enjoy his youthful, enthusiastic Holmes, and Crawford's loud, boisterous Watson.
I then got the 1965 Douglas Wilmer BBC series. 11 of his 13 episodes still exist. I can't describe how much I love these. Nearly all of them were later also done by Jeremy Brett, and it's fun to compare the versions. Right now, I really prefer Wilmer over both Cushing AND Brett! It's the damnable BBC's own fault they didn't get him back to do more.
Next up was the 1968 Peter Cushing BBC series-- tragically only 6 episodes of which were NOT wiped by the idiots at the BBC. They include the 2-part adaptation of "The Hound Of The Baskervilles", which is infinitely more authentic to the book (though still not perfect) than the 1959 Hammer film Cushing also appeared in.
And then most recently I got the MPI box set of all 14 Basil Rathbone films. The 12 by Universal have all been restored from the best-possible sources, and what a joy it is to watch ALL 14 movies in sequence in such decent condition. (One bizarre quirk, is that right in the middle of "...The Voice Of Terror", there a short part where the picture and sound are not QUITE in synch. The beginning and end of the film are fiine. How do you put that much work in and get something like that wrong?)
I'm watching each of these sets at least twice each before moving on. When I'm done with Rathbone (in about another 6 weeks) I'm planning to go after what I can find of the 5 Arthur Wontner films from the 1930s. I've long had 2 of them on tape, and have recently seen 2 more (I think) on Youtube. I'm pretty sure they're not all available as one set, but, we'll see...
I taped all of the Jeremy Brett's off of PBS back in the 80s, but eventually, I'll probably look into upgrading those as well. But there's so many others I want to go after first.
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What a terrific labour of love! I feel that I should join you in the journey.
There are also two great Russian Sherlock series:
The first, light-hearted but authentic, much-loved Vasily Livanov version (1979 - 86) is on a par with Jeremy Brett for period detail. There are subtitles:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhujgY6m0RQ&list=PL3c4pJ1oNZtPTN0VToNUgu3nwASAW8moO
The series was so popular that Livanov, though a Soviet Russian, was awarded an OBE by the Queen!
But I think the more recent 2013 series was even better:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkRzaPiES4s&list=PLaw0Yv2GH8P8Xt8wcdxwbA7iJf7UsYfrk
I can't readily find a copy with subtitles - but I'm sure there must be a DVD or something out there. There was only one series because the actor (the great Andrei Panin) who played Watson died in an accident. Igor Petrenko makes a terrific vulnerable Sherlock with Watson acting as his anchor.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherlock_Holmes_(2013_TV_series)
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Something bizarre I ran across early this year... "SHERLOCK HOLMES AND DR. WATSON" (1979), a TV series starring Geoffrey Whitehead & Donald Pickering.
This was made by Sheldon Reynolds, the same guy who did the 1954 series with Ronald Howard & H. Marion Crawford. While that show was made in France with French & English actors by an American producer (and, insanely, never seen in England), this one was made by an American producer in POLAND, with English & Polish actors & technicians.
MOST of the episodes are remakes of the Ronald Howard episodes. CRAZY!!! (Why does Harry Allan Towers come to mind?) The show clearly has a bigger budget and looks much more lavish than its 1954 counterpart, but somehow, isn't nearly as much fun.
I've never seen Whitehead in anything else, and while I have seen Pickering several times (on DOCTOR WHO and RETURN OF THE SAINT, among other things), he's just a bit too low-key and stiff compared to Crawford.
A number of the episodes were posted on Youtube, and I watched with keen interest. Some of them are brand-new, I don't know if any of them were Doyle adaptations. I only know of about 3 Ronald Howard episodes that were adaptations.
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Something bizarre I ran across early this year... "SHERLOCK HOLMES AND DR. WATSON" (1979), a TV series starring Geoffrey Whitehead & Donald Pickering.
This was made by Sheldon Reynolds, the same guy who did the 1954 series with Ronald Howard & H. Marion Crawford. While that show was made in France with French & English actors by an American producer (and, insanely, never seen in England), this one was made by an American producer in POLAND, with English & Polish actors & technicians.
MOST of the episodes are remakes of the Ronald Howard episodes. CRAZY!!! (Why does Harry Allan Towers come to mind?) The show clearly has a bigger budget and looks much more lavish than its 1954 counterpart, but somehow, isn't nearly as much fun.
I've never seen Whitehead in anything else, and while I have seen Pickering several times (on DOCTOR WHO and RETURN OF THE SAINT, among other things), he's just a bit too low-key and stiff compared to Crawford.
A number of the episodes were posted on Youtube, and I watched with keen interest. Some of them are brand-new, I don't know if any of them were Doyle adaptations. I only know of about 3 Ronald Howard episodes that were adaptations.
Your comment on the 2 Sheldon Reynolds series was unclear. Are you saying that the 1954 series, with Ron Howard, was NEVER shown in The UK??? I find that hard to believe, and thought I had seen some of its episodes while in England, during the 1960s.
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As usual, I forget where I read this. But apparently, the 1954 Ronald Howard series-- made in FRANCE-- was not show in England at the time it was first broadcast. In a similar situation, when DOCTOR WHO went to Paris to film "City of Death" for its 17th season, NOBODY in Paris was familar with the English show. It had never been run there! Crazy, isn't it?
One would think a show that starred 2 English actors and a Scotsman (Archie Duncan) would eventually turn up somewhere on English TV.
I have the impression the '54 series was mostly intended for the American market. I wonder if the 1979 series ever made it to America-- or England? I never heard of it at all until about a year ago.
Another thought that crossed my mind just earlier tonight... as much as I love both Douglas Wilmer & Nigel Stock in the '65 BBC series, I wonder if anyone at the time ever considered bringing back Howard & Crawford for the '65 series?
Oddly enough, right after they did those 13 episodes, Wilmer teamed with Crawford in the 2nd & 3rd FU MANCHU films with Christopher Lee. (Lee & Crawford were the only actors who were in all 5 of those.)
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I've never seen the 1979 Geoffrey Whitehead series so I must catch up with that.
I can confirm though that Geoff is a familiar face on British TV - one of those workaday actors who bring gravitas to any supporting role - most recently as the father-in-law in the sitcom Not Going Out.
Holmes fans might also want to check out Detective Anna:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSll1UODqBU
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In the middle of my 2nd run of the Rathbone HOLMES films on DVD. While some are arguably better or less than other, there seems to be a general concensus that "THE SCARLET CLAW" (tonight's film) may be the best. It's got MORE mood than Fox's "HOUND" (which it borrows a lot from), some very good detectrive work, several clever, unexpected plot twists, and at least 2 things that the Fox version of "HOUND" was missing. These are the bit where Holmes tells the intended victim near the end that they must face the danger or live the rest of the life in fear (this also turned up in "THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES" with Rathbone giving this advice to Ida Lupino), and a mysterious something that GLOWS in the dark as it crosses the countryside.
Several actors in this film appeared in multiple Rathbone films, and the more I watch the series, the more I can see the director was using a sort of "ensemble cast" of actors who kept appearing again and again, playing different characters each time. One of the murder victims in this one, for example, was played by Miles Mander, who in the next film played the main villain!
I also have a strong suspicion that the character of Potts, the postman, was the visual inspiration for the comics character "Willie Lumpkin". They look IDENTICAL. Jack Kirby was a known movie fan.
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New Netflix series The Irregulars looks as though it might be interesting:
https://www.whats-on-netflix.com/news/netflixs-sherlock-homes-spin-off-the-irregulars-everything-we-know-so-far/
Darci Shaw is predicted for great things
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Prof - funny you should mention Willie Lumpkin. I just yesterday found this out.
The character of WIllie Lumpkin was originally created for a syndicated, daily comic strip by writer Stan Lee and artist Dan DeCarlo. Lee had initially submitted samples of a strip about a New York City beat cop, but was told by his editor that it was too "big city-ish" and that he wanted a friendly mailman to better appeal to mainstream America.
Willie Lumpkin, which was only published in 1960, drew humor from the people and situations Willie Lumpkin would encounter along his mail delivery route in the small town of "Glenville."
Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby then introduced their comic book version of Willie Lumpkin in Fantastic Four #11 (February, 1963). The comic book Lumpkin is depicted as being significantly older than in the comic strip; though the character's good nature was retained, as were references to his past as a mailman in Glenville which in the comic books was located in Nebraska.
https://comicvine.gamespot.com/willie-lumpkin/4005-15288/
This was a one-panel gag strip. I've seen a couple of examples.
Stan actually did a cameo as Willie Lumpkin in the Fantastic Four movies.
Cheers!
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The distinctive signature of producer Sheldon Reynolds is also on another favorite Claude Raines film THE MAN WHO LIKED TO WATCH TRAINS. And, if I am not mistaken he produced I DREAM OF JEANNIE.
Okay, I had to look that up.
SIDNEY SHELDON. ;D
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Whatta ya think-- "Willie Lunkpin"? The actor who plays the mailman was in several Rathbone Holmes films. In this one, he wore multiple disguises... including that of the mailman.
(https://palewriter2home.files.wordpress.com/2020/04/the-scarlet-claw-19441-e1573226696706.png?w=600)
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My take on Stan is that he was a very inspired magpie as a creator, and most of these guys were avid movie watchers, so I am quite prepared to believe that Stan was influenced by this character.
Cheers!
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Now.. to answer a question from the other thread (heh)...
Arthur Wontner did 5 Holmes films:
1 - THE SLEEPING CARDINAL (US title: SHERLOCK HOLMES' FATAL HOUR)
Long believed lost, a US print turned up, and is now available in multiple formats ("public domain"), apparently, a better print than the 3 later ones available. I'm getting this with a PILE of other misc. stuff on a 3-disc set.
2 - THE MISSING REMBRANDT (loosely based on "Charles Augustus Milverton") -- CURRENTLY "LOST"
3 - THE SIGN OF FOUR -- This added a sequence at a "fun fair" (I wonder if that came from some OTHER Holmes story?) which later turned up in both "THE SPIDER WOMAN" (Rathbone) and "THE SIGN OF FOUR" (Ian Richardson).
4 - THE TRIUMPH OF SHERLOCK HOLMES (based on "The Valley Of Fear")
5 - SILVER BLAZE (US title: MURDER AT THE BASKERVILLES)
I've long had videotape copies of 4 & 5, copied from rentals, I think. Poor quality, but you do what you can. I figure even if the DVDs are poor quality, they'll still be an upgrade from the videotapes, just as the Ronald Howard box set certainly was.
I've seen 1 & 3 on Youtube, have ordered 1, and am looking forward to getting 3, 4 & 5 on DVD.
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Well, I spent about a half-hour doing research at Ebay, and the items I wanted were cheap enough, so I wound up getting all 3 movies in one go.
Oddly enough... THE SIGN OF FOUR, THE TRIUMPH OF SHERLOCK HOLMES and MURDER AT THE BASKERVILLES are available separately, or as twofers (both FOUR and TRIUMPH -- or-- FOUR and MURDER-- who can say why?). I've also seen a "threefor" with one of those, plus A STUDY IN SCARLET and insanely, DRESSED TO KILL-- which makes no sense.
I mean, why not all 3 Wontners? The only package I saw with all 3 also had 5 RANDOM Ronald Howard episodes and a pile of RANDOM radio shows. Who puts together these things?
Also absurdly, one version of TRIUMPH, which clearly has a photo of Arthur Wontner on the case, says in LARGE letters, "BASIL RATHBONE". Would you feel safe buying a product like that?
Anyway, my total for the 3 films was $9.35, which is pretty good. The FOUR / TRIUMPH twofer was listed as "BRAND NEW", which I tend to prefer, as you never know who might have done what before, with something used.
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Then there is this one. This here is a really terrible print tho. and no translation or subtitles.
Holmes & Watson Madrid Days 2012 Spanish
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-ADA9KcuiQ
Holmes & Watson. Madrid Days
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holmes_%26_Watson._Madrid_Days
This one I saw in the theatre and really enjoyed it.
Young Sherlock Holmes
Speaking of Billy Wilder
The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes
Robert Stephens
Colin Blakely
Irene Handl
Stanley Holloway
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DT7RAOE0Pw
And here is an interesting site
The Arthur Conan Doyle Encyclopedia
This page
https://www.arthur-conan-doyle.com/index.php/Sherlock_Holmes_(movie_1932)
Link to
1932 Sherlock Holmes movie directed by and starring Clive Brook.
And no, not attempting one-up-man-ship, just really into Sherlock Holmes.
And this one I haven't seen yet, but it got good reviews.
Mr. Holmes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxQBNEkG3QQ
And no, not attempting one-up-man-ship, just really into Sherlock Holmes.
Cheers!
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I am always in too much of a hurry!
Here we have as complete a list of Sherlock on Screen as you will ever find.
Also Conan Doyle Home movies and other Doyle works including Professor Challenger and Brigadier Gerard.
Conan Doyle on screen
https://www.arthur-conan-doyle.com/index.php/Conan_Doyle_on_screen#A_Life_in_Movies
Doyle was always frustrated that adulation for Holmes eclipsed his other characters and writing.
On the TV shows I prefer Elementary to Sherlock.
Sherlock Holmes Nev?ben is a Hungarian movie and
Шерлок Холмс is Russian. (TV series 2013)
Sherlock North is a projected Finnish TV series which looks really interesting.
At the bottom of the page under 'Adaptations' they mention the 5 episodes of the Librarians in which Moriarty appeared as the villain. And I can't recommend that show too highly.
I've got a lot to delve deeper into here.
Cheers!
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I've never heard of The Librarians but as Panther's recommendations are usually good, I've added it to my list of things to watch (now embarrassingly long).
I note the first episode is available here as a starter:
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=the+librarians
I can't recommend the 2013 Russian Holmes series highly enough. The relationship between Holmes and Watson is electric (and not altogether friendly) and the visual arts on display - superlative:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFY9rw4Iji8
I agree Doyle's other characters are somewhat under-rated. The pompous Brigadier Gerard is a great read and would make a great TV character:
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/11247/11247-h/11247-h.htm
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The Librarians is available on Hulu. My dad's been watching it lately.
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I watched The Librarians on that well-known video-sharing site and loved it.
We don't subscribe to Hulu but I'll see if I can track down an alternative for gaining access to the rest of the series.
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Oh wow! I just found the 1976 version of "SILVER BLAZE" on Youtube.
Starring Christopher Plummer ("MURDER BY DECREE") and Thorley Walters ("THE DEADLY NECKLACE").
Never see this before...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8l7hs0tRCCo
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Oh wow! I just found the 1976 version of "SILVER BLAZE" on Youtube.
Thanks!
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I read about this film decades ago, and only just now finally got to see it. It was WONDERFUL!
The Jeremy Brett version was a bit padded out. The Arthur Wontner version was only a small part of a bigger movie. This was as close to PERFECTION as I could imagine.
Thorley Walters made a TERRIFIC Watson. It's downright criminal that "THE DEADLY NECKLACE" had Christoper Lee & Thorley Walters dubbed into English by OTHER actors. There's just no excuse for that sort of thing. Also, I feel when Douglas Wilmer and Walters were briefly in "THE ADVENTURE OF SHERLOCK HOLMES' SMARTER BROTHER", they totally stole that movie. (Since getting the 1965 TV series box set, Wilmer has become one of my TOP favorite Holmes.)
When I first saw "MURDER BY DECREE" in a theatre, Christopher Plummer struck me as one of the most "human" Holmes I'd ever seen. Here, he actually reminds me of 2 other favorites of mine-- Ronald Howard and Ian Richardson, both of whom exhibited great enthusiasm and joy at their work. As I watched Holmes' mind spinning, figuring out the mystery, coercing the rival stable manager, and deciding not to explain anything until after the race, I was laughing half the way.
This may be the best version of this I've seen, and if it hasn't been, someone REALLY ought to do a proper DVD release from a decent source material.
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Never seen this - so looking forward to watching it tonight
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You probably know this already, but cases like this where English-speaking actors in a foreign-language film are dubbed by someone else usually occur because the dubbing rights were bought by a company specializing in dubbing foreign films. The dubbing company has no connection to the original production and has no access to the original actors or the original English voice track (assuming one was even made). The films in which an English-speaking actor speaks his own lines (an Italian Broderick Crawford movie comes to mind) were probably intended from the outset to be released in English and non-English versions, so the original production company handled the English conversion on its own. Since they owned the English track and the rights to use it they didn't have to hire someone else to dub the actor.
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New Russian series - Sherlock: The Russian Chronicles.
Full series of eight now available with English subtitles.
Here's the first episode to get you started:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uns48W1Oe9c
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The Irregulars hits a popular streaming service this weekend. It will be interesting to see what people make of it - looks like an interesting mix of Sherlockiana, steam punk and fantasy:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Irregulars
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There have been several attempts to use the Irregulars as a series, since they are connected to Sherlock Holmes and are PD. both in comics and books. What I absolutely hate about this is the sheer mindlessness about
The Irregulars work for Dr Watson to solve increasingly supernatural crimes
So Vampires and Werewolves, right? How creative.
Absolutely everything now has to have 'the supernatural' in it. Holmes always worked to prove that incidents did not have any supernatural elements in it. Yes, Conan Doyle was interested in Spiritualism and Mediums but that had nothing to do with the way he portrayed the Character of Sherlock, who was all about rationalism.
Exploitation and another contemptible waste of time. There is so much you could do with the Irregulars if you do a realistic story against the backdrop of what was really going on in Victorian England and the British Empire at the time.
Bah Humbug! And although the Irregulars is a PD concept, they will probably now use legal power to lock up the name so nobody else can use it. Although nobody has been able to do that with Sherlock Holmes as yet, so maybe there's hope.
Now, if you search Wikipedia for the Irregulars, you will only get articles on the TV show.Well, of course!
If you want some broader information, you have to know something more about the concept and if you search for Baker Street Irregulars you will find this.
Baker Street Irregulars
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baker_Street_Irregulars
Where you will find this.
Netflix announced in 2018 that they were producing The Irregulars in which Sherlock Holmes is portrayed as a drug addict who takes the credit for cases solved by a group of children.[15]
But of course! Sherlock cannot possibly be portrayed as a positive male role model.
And you will also find this information,
They are street boys who are employed by Holmes as intelligence agents.
The original Baker Street Irregulars are fictional characters featured in the Sherlock Holmes stories of Arthur Conan Doyle. The group of street urchins is led by a boy called Wiggins. They run errands and track down information for Holmes. According to Holmes, they are able to "go everywhere and hear everything". Holmes also says that they "are as sharp as needles, too; all they want is organisation."
In the TV series, Wiggins isn't one of the Irregulars, and the team is led by two girls. This is what you get when a TV show is designed by a committee and you must revise everything to fit in with what a TV production company thinks you must do to a property in 2021,
No, I'm not a misogynist, I just detest revisionism.
No cheers!
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Here is the Baker Street Boys as portrayed by the BBC
The Baker Street Boys : Episode 1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lh92MrS7GkM
There were 8 episodes all now on Youtube.
There are 4 cases [stories] each a two-parter
The uploader chopped off the beginning credits on the second parts.
Strong Women? They don't come much tougher than Queenie and Rosie.
Cheers!
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Looks good - very high production values - that's my viewing settled for tonight
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WEIRD but FUN: Just watched "Sting Of Death", episode 11 of "The Elgin Hour" (2-22-1955), an adaptation of the Gerald Heard novel "A Taste Of Honey". This 45-minute LIVE TV drama starred Boris Karloff as "Mr. Mycroft" (apparently, Sherlock Holmes in retirement!) and also featured Robert Flemyng (who I've seen on THE AVENGERS, THE NEW AVENGERS, and in the Agatha Christie mystery "SPIDER'S WEB" with Penelope Keith). I kept staring at Flemyng's face the whole show, trying for the life of me to remember, "Now WHERE have I seen this guy before?" While I've seen both his AVENGERS episodes multiple times ("You Have Just Been Murdered" and moreso "To Catch A Rat"), it was really the AC film with Penelope Keith where he stood out the most.
The novel this was based on was later adapted as the 1966 film "THE DEADLY BEES" from Amicus, adapted by Robert Bloch & directed by Freddie Francis!
(https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BOWE0YzM1OWQtZmYzZi00NmE0LWIyMDQtMjY3NjI1ODU4ZjVjXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMzI5NDcxNzI@._V1_.jpg)
It just occured to me (several days after-the-fact) that the character Flemyng plays, a college professor on holiday, is such a thoroughly-unlikable, antisocial misanthrope, he practically has to be physically DRAGGED into the story by the retired detective character, who eventually is trying to save the professor's LIFE! The only thing they share in common is an apparent love for using excessively-complex language. I'm suddenly reminded-- just a bit-- of Michael Gough's version of "Arthur Holmwood", who could be looked at arguably as the main character of Hammer's 1958 "DRACULA". My brother once said whichever character is changed the most during the course of a story, is the main character. I think that holds true in both cases.
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Interestingly, in the image you supplied, he bears a certain resemblance to the younger Michael Kitchen of Foyles War and a couple of James Bonds.
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0457655/
Robert Flemyng had an interesting career. Was also in an episode of Danger Man among other things.
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0281866/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0
Cheers.
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I'm slowly working my way thru a number of adventure shows from the 60s. DANGER MAN is not on my list yet, but is definitely on the agenda. The thing I'm most looking forward to is that my local PBS station annoyed me no end in the 80s when they FAILED utterly to get ahold of the early half-hour episodes. I've only seen 4 of them, the only ones then available to rent on videotape. And I've always been a fan of half-hour adventure shows. They don't wear out their welcome...
Strange but true: of all the TV adventure heroes of the 60s, John Drake was the one whose personality most reminded me of ME in the 80s. On the other hand, the one I most wanted to be like... was Simon Templar. :)
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Yeah - the first series is particularly good - the stories gallop along and have not aged at all:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMVQrIEYlIU&list=PLFR78Uf6Xh3h6p0yarqddRcupV7zFfUSo
I wanted to be like Simon Templar too - but sadly was more like Benny the Ball in Top Cat
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WEIRD but FUN: Just watched "Sting Of Death", episode 11 of "The Elgin Hour" (2-22-1955), an adaptation of the Gerald Heard novel "A Taste Of Honey". This 45-minute LIVE TV drama starred Boris Karloff as "Mr. Mycroft" (apparently, Sherlock Holmes in retirement!) and also featured Robert Flemyng (who I've seen on THE AVENGERS, THE NEW AVENGERS, and in the Agatha Christie mystery "SPIDER'S WEB" with Penelope Keith). I kept staring at Flemyng's face the whole show, trying for the life of me to remember, "Now WHERE have I seen this guy before?" While I've seen both his AVENGERS episodes multiple times ("You Have Just Been Murdered" and moreso "To Catch A Rat"), it was really the AC film with Penelope Keith where he stood out the most.
The novel this was based on was later adapted as the 1966 film "THE DEADLY BEES" from Amicus, adapted by Robert Bloch & directed by Freddie Francis!
(https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BOWE0YzM1OWQtZmYzZi00NmE0LWIyMDQtMjY3NjI1ODU4ZjVjXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMzI5NDcxNzI@._V1_.jpg)
It just occured to me (several days after-the-fact) that the character Flemyng plays, a college professor on holiday, is such a thoroughly-unlikable, antisocial misanthrope, he practically has to be physically DRAGGED into the story by the retired detective character, who eventually is trying to save the professor's LIFE! The only thing they share in common is an apparent love for using excessively-complex language. I'm suddenly reminded-- just a bit-- of Michael Gough's version of "Arthur Holmwood", who could be looked at arguably as the main character of Hammer's 1958 "DRACULA". My brother once said whichever character is changed the most during the course of a story, is the main character. I think that holds true in both cases.
Just watched Sting of Death, great little yarn, I highly recommend it.
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Tonight I watched "THE MAN WHO DISAPPEARED" (1951) which starred John Longden & Campbell Singer. It's a loose adaptation of "The Man With The Twisted Lip", which I have already seen with both Douglas Wilmer and Jeremy Brett (and it's a tough call which one I like better). This one "plays" with the story, changing the structure, leaving out a lot but also adding an entirely different sub-plot to explain the actions of Neville Sinclair.
I thought I'd seen this on Youtube some time ago, but the only bit I thought I recognized tonight was a shot of a warehouse with Tower Bridge in the background. Now I'm not sure, because nothing else about this seemed familiar.
Longden is a bit too harsh-looking and sounding to be my idea of Sherlock Holmes, and I can understand why this TV pilot was unsold.
(https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-GC-NMVFf4mA/U9vHv8LArOI/AAAAAAAAMeU/HRP2rYAznqg/s1600/John+Longden+in+Meet+Mr+Gallagher+(1954).jpg)
However, Campbell Singer was an EXCELLENT Watson. I was reminded a bit of Howard Marion Crawford who played Watson in the 1954 TV series 3 years later. But I also recognized his face. Turns out, I'd seen him in 2 episodes of THE AVENGERS, but moreso, he was the 1st of 4 different actors to plays Chief Inspector Claude Eustace Teal opposite Roger Moore on THE SAINT. And in my view, he was by far THE BEST. That's bugged me for a long time now, why they went thru 3 different actors, none of whom stuck around, before they finally got ivor Dean, the one who did stick around, and he was my LEAST-favorite of the four! (He was just plain annoying in the role.)
(https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRsg-Xp-jTCP9imWd8GR3cKMsnrI8ZWDnDUr4A6AN_LfNEkc-F1vKsPkvpXOZLITI5ud7A&usqp=CAU)
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I thought I'd seen this on Youtube some time ago, but the only bit I thought I recognized tonight was a shot of a warehouse with Tower Bridge in the background. Now I'm not sure, because nothing else about this seemed familiar.
Most likely much of the exterior shots were recycled for a number of episodes.
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It's amazing how many attempts at a SHERLOCK HOLMES tv series were made in the late 40s & 1950s: Alan Napier, Basil Rathbone, John Longden, Alan Wheatley, Michael Clarke Lawrence. (This beats out Mike Hammer.)
And it took an American producer filming in France to pull it off. ;D
The Ronald Howard - H.Marion Crawford series from 1954-55 wound up being the very first TV series that I upgraded to DVD after already having it on videotape. Even with no one having the best source materials, the DVD box set was still a massive improvement, and I've watched the entire run 3 times already. I think it's a shame that it didn't have a 2nd season!
It took Sheldon Reynolds 25 years to do another HOLMES series, but the ones I've seen were disappointing, compared to his earlier one. And most of the episodes, apparently, were near-exact remakes of the earlier scripts.
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Although I mostly agree, I did rather like the second Sheldon Reynolds series - the Polish-made one with British actors Geoffrey Whitehead, Donald Pickering and Patrick Newell
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If the entire series is available on DVD, I'll probaby go after it eventually.
I just felt, apart from them doing inferior, less-entertaining remakes of 1954 stories, despire having a clearly-larger budget and the show looking more lavish, ALL the lead actors were STIFF and lifeless by comparison. (I've only seen 4 episodes so far.)
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I have recently found that there are some really early Holmes films on Youtube.
Here are some of them.
Sherlock Holmes (1916)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFYd-Ip5kUI
Sherlock Holmes 1922 silent
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mt_tFWp3bmg
John Barrymore - also great cinema organ accompaniment.
THE COPPER BEECHES (Silent 1912) Georges Treville as Sherlock Holmes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMgoNx-vv40
THE MUSGRAVE TREASURE (Silent - 1912) Georges Tr?ville as Sherlock Holmes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfQ0i86xQhw
Georges Tr?ville starred in a number of two reeler Sherlock Holmes films in 1912. These films were produced in collaboration with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle who adapted and supervised production of the films. These were made by a French Company, ?clair, and filmed in England.
There were 7 in total.
Then there was this.
SHERLOCK HOLMES Unsold TV Pilot 1951. The Man Who Disappeared w/ John Longden
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FM8CdVU4HOA
'Watson, what do you think of this view?'
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I haven't seen it yet but I note The Irregulars has been a big hit - ranking second on viewing in the UK, so no surprise that a second series has been commissioned.
The supernatural has featured prominently in Sherlock books - but mostly as parody - I'm curious to know what it does to the canon when played straight.
For Poirot fans, I came across these little gems the other day:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpNGGxGWmGI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MPZbhpdxPU
As far as I'm aware, Austin Trevor was the first screen Poirot.
Anyone know of any Poirot comic books? I don't recall any but the character has a comic book feel to him, so I would have thought he was a natural for an adaptation
Who knew, by the way, that Agatha Christie may have ripped off the Poirot character from two other existing characters - Marie Belloc Lowndes? Hercules Popeau and Frank Howel Evans' Monsieur Poiret?
You can compare by downloading Popeau Intervenes for free here:
http://public-library.uk/ebooks/76/98.pdf
Lowndes also wrote The Lodger - one of Hitchcock's scariest films:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qFiw5VtmyI
Meanwhile, I've just finished watching all five series of Bates Motel - brilliant acting from Freddie Hightower and the guy who plays Sheriff Romero but I felt the final series allowed the spiralling plot lines to get out of control - others may think differently.
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There are a number of Poirot, and Christie, comic adaptations in France.
https://www.ligneclaire.info/agatha-christie-bd-59941.html
https://la-ribambulle.com/hercule-poirot-1/
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"YOU FILTHY FROGGY EAVESDROPPER!"
"BELGIAN heavesdropper, madame."
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As far as I'm aware, Austin Trevor was the first screen Poirot.
THANKS!!!
I just watched "LORD EDGEWARE DIES" a couple weeks ago, but looking around, was somehow under the impression that "ALIBI" was still a "lost" film. I've bookmarked it, will probably be the NEXT thing I watch on Youtube.
The general concensus of most comments is that the actors playing Poirot & Hastings look like they should have been swapped. My impression is that Austin Trevor got the role of Poirot because he could speak 2 languages fluently. In some spots, it actually seems to work better if you close your eyes and listen while they talk (heh).
I've now seen 3 different versions of "LORD EDGEWARE DIES", the others, naturally, being with Peter Ustinov and David Suchet. Ustinov did 3 TV-movies for CBS, all updated to the 1980s, and this one ("THIRTEEN AT DINNER") was not bad. (Only the one with Jean Stapleton is annoying-as-hell to sit thru.) When I was doing my last AC marathon, I made a point to watch both versions I had back-to-back. A problem with the CBS-TV films is the casting. They tend to be a DEAD giveaway. You'll have ONE big-name actor and a bunch of obscure character actors, and without fail, the BIG-name turns out to be the killer. That's just not fair. You either need ALL obscure actors, or ALL big-names. Otherwise it removes half the fun.
I forget if it was spelled out in any of the 3 versions... but, while watching the Austin Trevor version, I recall distinctly the moment when I figured out THE MOTIVE for the murder. it was when we found out that the new widow was planning to marry an even-richer titled Lord... who was a 'leader" in the CATHOLIC CHURCH. There it was. He would not marry a DIVORCED woman, but he would marry a WIDOWED one. During one of the other versions, I once asked myself, "Can we blame all the murders in this story on RELIGION ?" Seems so!
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I just found out the 1955 German TV version of "HOUND" had "no record", and so is "lost". Hmm.
On the other hand... THIS is wild...
BEES SAAL BAAD (1962 film)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bees_Saal_Baad_(1962_film)
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I'm a big fan of early sixties Bollywood (definitely the Golden Age) - basically anything with Shammi Kapoor or Dev Patel from that period is worth watching - so this version of Hound is a must as it stars the delightful Waheeda Rehman:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GugFfaNBo0I
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One thing I love to do sometimes is watch a film with NO idea what it's about before I start watching.
"ALIBI" (1929) is a pre-code crime pic which shows the cops to be AS BAD as the crooks! There's no way this could have been made after 1935. I was only familiar with 2 actors in it, Chester Morris (who later starred in the BOSTON BLACKIE film series) and Regis Toomey (who played Det. Bernie Ochs in "THE BIG SLEEP" and was later a regular on one season of RICHARD DIAMOND with David Jansen.
This had nothing whatsoever to do, of course, with "ALIBI" (1931), the LOST film that was Hercule Poirot's 1st appearance onscreen... ;D
One of my favorite bits in "THE BIG SLEEP" (1946) is when Bernie invites his old pal Phiil down to the docks to see a limo they just pulled out of the river. As they walk away, Bernie casually says...
"This doesn't look like how YOU'd handle it, Phil."
As he's about to say something else, Phil suddenly realizes what Bernie just implied...
"Now WAIT a minute! I didn't do this!"
Bernie, already knowing this, smiles.
"WHAT were you gonna say, Phil?"
I always prefer when a P.I. has a FRIEND on the force he can deal with, instead of some A**H*** he has to argue with and be constantly accused of doing bad things by.
This is also why I like Pat Chambers on both MIKE HAMMER tv series-- particularly the one in the Darren McGavin series (which I never saw until last year, and am currently totally hooked on). Depending on the case and the circumstances, Pat may occasionally give Mike a bit of a hard time, but usually knows his old friend is on the up-and-up.
It was genuinely hilarious how in the movie "I, THE JURY" (1953), Pat (Preston Foster) deliberately goes out of his way to set Mike up to track down certain people, because he knows Mike is NOT hampered by official bureacracy the way he is.
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I thought I'd post this radio show here while I still had the bookmark handy...
THE SPECKLED BAND starring Cedric Hardwicke (1945)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDItX2l35js
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I was doing some research on what's available out there the other day. Part of it was enlightening, part was frustrating.
For example... there's a quartet of silents that are availble on at least 3 different packages...
THE COPPER BEECHES (1912 / Georges Treville)
THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP (1921 / Eille Norwood)
THE DYING DETECTIVE (1921 / Eille Norwood)
THE DEVIL'S FOOT (1921) / Eille Norwood)
Now get this. Grapevine Video has these 4 as 1 package. Period.
Synergy Entertainment has a pair of 3-disc box sets listed as "SHERLOCK HOLMES ARCHIVE COLLECTION", which contain a number of raritities, comedies, a cartoon, a musical, a puppet show, a short film with chimpanzees (!!!!!), but also for no damn reason, one of the Rathbone films. This also has these 4 silents, split up over the 2 volumes (when by rights, all 4 should have been in 1 of the volumes).
The Video Celler has a single disc that has these 4-- PLUS 1 MORE...
THE MUSGRAVE TREASURE (1912 / Georges Treville)
This annoys me. I'd already decided to get the 2 Synergy volumes, for all the misc. stuff, some of which is really quite fun. There's no point getting the Grapevine package. But the Video Cellar package, has ONE film on it NO other package I've found yet has. But this means paying (possibly) $20 for ONE silent film. Oy. Makes me wonder, was "THE MUSGRAVE TREASURE" found recently, since the other 2 packages were released? I can't imagine any other reason for this happening...
Further... Georges Treville did 8 silents, and it looks like only 2 of them are not "LOST".
MEANWHILE... Eille Norwood did 45 shorts and 2 features. A total of 47 HOLMES films!! Astonishing.
At the moment, only 3 are commercially available (as detailed above). HOWEVER... it seems Andrew Lloyd Webber currently holds the rights to ALL of his films... but for the last 10 years, has done NOTHING with them. Fans are hoping he will.. as it would be a major hole filled if that many "missing" Holmes films suddenly were available on the market.
And apparently, Norwood's "THE SIGN OF FOUR" was recently screened at some prestigious film festival. But it hasn't been released on DVD or anything.
In addition to all this... an outfit named Flicker Alley is currently selling TWO "BluRay/DVD dual format" packages, containing RECENTLY-found and restored silents:
SHERLOCK HOLMES (1916 / William Gilette)
DER HUND VON BASKERVILLE (1929 / Carlyle Blackwell Sr.)
The 2nd of these ALSO contains the 1914 HOUND as a bonus!!!
DAMN, I'm looking forward to getting these!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And finally (for this post)...
SHERLOCK HOLMES (1922 / John Barrymore) is also available.
I was planning to go after some 1930s films next, but it looks like I have older stuff to go after first.
;D
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Is "the dying detective" really a Holmes story?
I've watched a film in the series of stories that competed with the Homes stories back in the day where the dying detective is definitely not Holmes and has no connection to any Holmes character.
The detective solves his own murder as he lays dying of a slow acting poison.
Yes, it it, and was done by Jeremy Brett as part of his final series.
HOWEVER! I just ran across another film with a similar plot: "D.O.A."
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9e/D.O.A._%281950_poster%29.jpg)
Wikipedia page:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D.O.A._(1950_film)
Full movie on Youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Bpld0nGL2I
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Adventure_of_the_Dying_Detective
This is, maddeningly, the ONLY Jeremy Brett episode I am MISSING!!!
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0646183/
By the way, when you hit "quote", you CAN edit it down so as to not have to include the ENTIRE message, especially if it's a long-winded one like mine (heeheehee).
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By the way, when you hit "quote", you CAN edit it down so as to not have to include the ENTIRE message, especially if it's a long-winded one like mine (heeheehee).
I usually do but get lazy sometimes.
I looked through the episode guides for "the Rivals of Sherlock Holmes" but couldn't find the film I mentioned.
Don't remember the exact title. Perhaps it was suggested by the Holmes story, though not even noticeably based on it.
All the action, such as it was, took place in a European hotel room. The bedridden detective with only his brilliant mind and memory worked out exactly what led to his murder before succumbing to the effects of the poison. It looked as if he was going to survive but once he had solved this final case he passed away quietly.
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I have a list of different SH productions here, unfortunately the list is not very detailed, but I think it still gives a good overview. If necessary, Auntie Google needs to help for more information. ;)
If I had all of these movies and series, I would be a very happy person. ;D
SHERLOCK HOLMES LIST
01. Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1905) Maurice Costello
02. Sherlock Holmes (1908) Viggo Larsen
03. Den graa dame (1909) Viggo Larsen
04. Arsene Lupin contra Sherlock Holmes (1910) Viggo Larsen
05. Sherlock Holmes contra Professor Moriarty (1911) Viggo Larsen
06. Den stjaalne millionobligation (1911) Alwin Neuss
07. Hotelmysterierne (1911) Einar Zangenberg
08. The $500 Reward (1911) Mack Sennett
09. Flamme d'argent (1912) Georges Treville
10. Le ruban mouchete (1912) Georges Treville
11. Le mystere de Val Boscombe (1912) Georges Treville
12. Sherlock Holmes Solves the Sign of the Four (1913) Harry Benham
13. A Study in Scarlet (1914) James Bragington
14. Detektiv Braun (1914) Alwin Neuss
15. Der Hund von Baskerville, 1. Teil (1914) Alwin Neuss
16. Der Hund von Baskerville, 2. Teil (1914) Alwin Neuss
17. A Study in Scarlet (1914) Francis Ford
18. Das dunkle Schloss (1915) Eugen Burg
19. Der Hund von Baskerville, 3. Teil (1915) Alwin Neuss
20. Der Hund von Baskerville, 4. Teil (1915) Alwin Neuss
21. The Crogmere Ruby (1915) Hector Dion
22. The Crimson Sabre (1915) Hector Dion
23. The Valley of Fear (1916) H.A. Saintsbury
24. Sherlock Holmes (1916) William Gillette
25. Die Kassette (1917) Hugo Flink
26. Der Erdstrommotor (1917) Hugo Flink
27. Der Schlangenring (1917) Hugo Flink
28. Was er im Spiegel sah (1918) Ferdinand Bonn
29. Der Hund von Baskerville, 5. Teil (1920) Willy Kaiser-Heyl
30. Der Hund von Baskerville, 6. Teil (1920) Willy Kaiser-Heyl
31. The Hound of the Baskervilles (1921) Eille Norwood
32. The Devil's Foot (1921) Eille Norwood
33. The Yellow Face (1921) Eille Norwood
34. The Priory School (1921) Eille Norwood
35. The Red-Haired League (1921) Eille Norwood
36. A Case of Identity (1921) Eille Norwood
37. The Tiger of San Pedro (1921) Eille Norwood
38. The Man with the Twisted Lip (1921) Eille Norwood
39. The Dying Detective (1921) Eille Norwood
40. The Resident Patient (1921) Eille Norwood
41. The Empty House (1921) Eille Norwood
42. The Copper Beeches (1921) Eille Norwood
43. The Beryl Coronet (1921) Eille Norwood
44. The Noble Bachelor (1921) Eille Norwood
45. The Solitary Cyclist (1921) Eille Norwood
46. A Scandal in Bohemia (1921) Eille Norwood
47. The Six Napoleons (1922) Eille Norwood
48. The Musgrave Ritual (1922) Eille Norwood
49. The Greek Interpreter (1922) Eille Norwood
50. The Second Stain (1922) Eille Norwood
51. The Naval Treaty (1922) Eille Norwood
52. The Boscombe Valley Mystery (1922) Eille Norwood
53. The Abbey Grange (1922) Eille Norwood
54. Charles Augustus Milverton (1922) Eille Norwood
55. The Norwood Builder (1922) Eille Norwood
56. Black Peter (1922) Eille Norwood
57. The Reigate Squires (1922) Eille Norwood
58. The Stockbroker's Clerk (1922) Eille Norwood
59. The Golden Pince-Nez (1922) Eille Norwood
60. The Bruce Partington Plans (1922) Eille Norwood
61. The Red Circle (1922) Eille Norwood
62. Sherlock Holmes (1922) John Barrymore
63. The Mystery of the Dancing Men (1923) Eille Norwood
64. The Missing Three Quarter (1923) Eille Norwood
65. The Three Students (1923) Eille Norwood
66. Silver Blaze (1923) Eille Norwood
67. The Mystery of Thor Bridge (1923) Eille Norwood
68. The Blue Carbuncle (1923) Eille Norwood
69. The Gloria Scott (1923) Eille Norwood
70. The Stone of Mazarin (1923) Eille Norwood
71. The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax (1923) Eille Norwood
72. The Final Problem (1923) Eille Norwood
73. The Final Problem (1923) Eille Norwood
74. The Speckled Band (1923) Eille Norwood
75. The Cardboard Box (1923) Eille Norwood
76. The Crooked Man (1923) Eille Norwood
77. His Last Bow (1923) Eille Norwood
78. The Engineer's Thumb (1923) Eille Norwood
79. The Sign of Four/Das Zeichen der Vier (1923) Eille Norwood
80. Der Hund von Baskerville (1929) Carlyle Blackwell
81. The Return of Sherlock Holmes (1929) Clive Brook
82. The Sleeping Cardinal (1931) Arthur Wontner
83. The Speckled Band (1931) Raymond Massey
84. Le roi bis (1932) Martin Fric
85. The Missing Rembrandt (1932) Arthur Wontner
86. Lelicek ve sluzbach Sherlocka Holmese (1932) Martin Fric
87. The Hound of the Baskervilles (1932) Robert Rendel
88. The Sign of Four: Sherlock Holmes' Greatest Case (1932) Arthur Wontner
89. Sherlock Holmes (1932) Clive Brook
90. A Study in Scarlet (1933) Reginald Owen
91. The Triumph of Sherlock Holmes (1935) Arthur Wontner
92. The Three Garridebs (1937) (TV) Louis Hector
93. Der Hund von Baskerville (1937) Bruno Goettner / Siegfried Schuerenberg
94. Silver Blaze (1937) Arthur Wontner
95. The Hound of the Baskervilles/Der Hund von Baskerville (1939) Basil Rathbone
96. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes/Die Abenteuer des Sherlock Holmes (1939) Basil Rathbone
97. Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror/Stimme des Terrors (1942) Basil Rathbone
98. Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon/Die Geheimwaffe (1943) Basil Rathbone
99. Sherlock Holmes in Washington/Verhaengnisvolle Reise (1943) Basil Rathbone
100. Sherlock Holmes Faces Death/Gespenster im Schloss (1943) Basil Rathbone
101. The Spider Woman/Das Spinnennest (1944) Basil Rathbone
102. The Scarlet Claw/Die Kralle (1944) Basil Rathbone
103. The Pearl of Death/Die Perle der Borgia (1944) Basil Rathbone
104. The House of Fear/Das Haus des Schreckens (1945) Basil Rathbone
105. The Woman in Green Die Frau in Gruen (1945) Basil Rathbone
106. Pursuit to Algiers/Gefaehrliche Mission (1945) Basil Rathbone
107. Terror by Night/Juwelenraub (1946) Basil Rathbone
108. Dressed to Kill/Jagd auf Spieldosen (1946) Basil Rathbone
109. Arsenio Lupin (1947) Jose Baviera
110. The Adventure of the Speckled Band (1949) Alan Napier
111. Sherlock Holmes: The Man Who Disappeared (1951) (TV) John Longden
112. The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone (1951) (TV) Andrew Osborn
113. Der Hund von Baskerville (1955) (TV) Wolf Ackva
114. Sherlock Holmes ja kaljupaeisten kerho (1957) (TV) Jalmari Rinne
115. The Hound of the Baskervilles/Der Hund von Baskerville (1959) Peter Cushing
116. Sherlock Holmes und das Hasband des Todes (1962) Christopher Lee
117. A Study in Terror/Sherlock Holmes groesster Fall (1965) John Neville
118. The Double-Barrelled Detective Story (1965) Jerome Raphael
119. Une aventure de Sherlock Holmes (1967) (TV) Jacques Francois
120. L'ultimo dei Baskerville (1968) (TV) Nando Gazzolo
121. La valle della paura (1968) (TV) Nando Gazzolo
122. The Best House in London (1969) Peter Jeffrey
123. The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes/Das Privatleben des Sherlock Holmes
(1970) Robert Stephens
124. Touha Sherlocka Holmese (1971) Radovan Lukavsky
125. The Hound of the Baskervilles/Der Hund von Baskerville (1972) (TV) Stewart Granger
126. Das Zeichen der Vier (1974) (TV) Rolf Becker
127. Sherlock Holmes cleverer Bruder (1975) Douglas Wilmer
128. Sherlock Holmes in New York (1976) (TV) Roger Moore
129. The Seven-Per-Cent Solution/Kein Koks fuer Sherlock Holmes (1976) Nicol Williamson
130. Silver Blaze (1977) (TV) Christopher Plummer
131. The Hound of the Baskervilles/Der Hund von Baskerville (1978) Peter Cook
132. Sherlok Kholms i doktor Vatson: Krovavaya nadpis (1979) (TV) Vasili Livanov
133. Goluboy karbunkul (1979) (TV) Algimantas Masiulis
134. Sherlok Kholms i doktor Vatson: Znakomstvo (1979) (TV) Vasili Livanov
135. Murder by Decree/Mord an der Themse (1979) Christopher Plummer
136. Priklyucheniya Sherloka Kholmsa i doktora Vatsona: Okhota na tigra (1980)
(TV) Vasili Livanov
137. Priklyucheniya Sherloka Kholmsa i doktora Vatsona: Korol shantazha (1980)
(TV) Vasili Livanov
138. Priklyucheniya Sherloka Kholmsa i doktora Vatsona: Smertelnaya skhvatka
(1980) (TV) Vasili Livanov
139. Priklyucheniya Sherloka Kholmsa i doktora Vatsona (1980) (TV)
Vasili Livanov
140. Priklyucheniya Sherloka Kholmsa i doktora Vatsona: Sobaka Baskerviley/
Der Hund von Baskerville (1981) (TV) Vasili Livanov
141. Sherlock Holmes (1981) (TV) Frank Langella
142. Sherlock Holmes (1982) (TV) Paul Guers
143. Priklyucheniya Sherloka Kholmsa i doktora Vatsona: Sokrovishcha Agry (1983)
(TV) Vasili Livanov
144. The Sign of Four/Im Zeichen der Vier (1983) (TV) Ian Richardson
145. The Hound of the Baskervilles (1983) (TV) Ian Richardson
146. The Case of Marcel Duchamp (1984) Guy Rolfe
147. Seung lung chut hoi (1984) Fat Chung
148. The Masks of Death (1984) (TV) Peter
149. Young Sherlock Holmes/Das Geheimnis des verborgenen Tempels (1985) Nicholas Rowe
150. Priklyucheniya Sherloka Kholmsa i doktora Vatsona: Dvadtsatyy vek
nachinaetsya (1986) (TV) Vasili Livanov
151. The Return of Sherlock Holmes/Eine Pfeife in Amerika (1987) (TV) Michael Pennington
152. The Sign of Four/Im Zeichen der Vier (1987) (TV) Jeremy Brett
153. The Hound of the Baskervilles/Der Hund von Baskerville (1988) (TV) Jeremy Brett
154. Without a Clue/Genie und Schnauze (1988) Michael Caine
155. Testimony/Die Zeugenaussage (1988) Rodney Litchfield
156. Hands of a Murderer/Sherlock Holmes muss sterben (1990) (TV) Edward Woodward
157. Sherlock Holmes en Caracas (1991) Juan Manuel Montesinos
158. The Crucifer of Blood (1991) (TV) Charlton Heston
159. Sherlock Holmes and the Leading Lady (1991) (TV) Christopher Lee
160. Incident at Victoria Falls (1992) (TV) Christopher Lee
161. The Hound of London (1993) (TV) Patrick Macnee
162. Sherlock Holmes Returns/Die Rueckkehr des Sherlock Holmes (1993) (TV) Anthony Higgins
163. Fu er mo si yu zhong guo nu xia (1994) Fan Ai Li
164. Sherlock Holmes: The Case of the Temporal Nexus (1996) (TV) Patrick Macnee
165. J'en suis! (1997) Rheal Guevremont
166. The Hound of the Baskervilles/Der Hund von Baskerville (2000) Matt Frewer
167. The Royal Scandal/(2001) (TV) Matt Frewer
168. The Sign of Four (2001) (TV) Matt Frewer
169. Sherlock Holmes a Trouville (2001) Herve Ganem
170. O Xango de Baker Street (2001) Joaquim de Almeida
171. The Case of the Whitechapel Vampire/Der Vampir von Whitechapel (2002) (TV) Matt Frewer
172. The Hound of the Baskervilles (2002) (TV) Richard Roxburgh
173. Sherlock (2002) (TV) James D'Arcy
174. Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Silk Stocking/Seidenstrumpfmoerder (2004) Rupert Everett
175. Baker Street Irregulars (2007) (TV) Jonathan
176. I Am Bob (2007) Humphrey Ker
177. Sherlock Holmes (2009, 2011) Robert Downey Jr.
178. Sherlock Holmes (2010) Ben Syder
TV-Shows
01. Your Show Time: The Adventure of the Speckled Band (Alan Napier
as Sherlock Holmes, Ep.10, 1949)
02. Sherlock Holmes (Alan Wheatley as Sherlock Holmes, 6n, 1951)
03. Suspense: The Adventure of the Black Baronet (Basil Rathbone as
Sherlock Holmes, Season 5 - Ep. 3, 1953)
04. Die Galerie der grossen Detektive - Sherlock Holmes liegt im Sterben
(Ernst Fritz Fuerbringer as Sherlock Holmes, 1, 1954)
05. Sherlock Holmes (Ronald Howard as Sherlock Holmes, 39n, 1954-1955)
06. Detective: The Speckled Band (Douglas Wilmer, Season 1 - Ep. 8, 1964)
07. Sherlock Holmes (Douglas Wilmer as Sherlock Holmes, 13n, 1964-1965)
08. Sherlock Holmes (Erich Schellow as Sherlock Holmes, 6n, 1967-1968)
09. Sherlock Holmes (Nando Gazzolo as Sherlock Holmes, 6n, 1968)
10. Sherlock Holmes (Peter Cushing as Sherlock Holmes, 16n, 1968)
11. Arsene Lupin (Henri Virlojeux as Sherlock Holmes, 4n, 1971/1973)
12. Les grands detectives: Le signe des quatre (Rolf Becker as Sherlock Holmes, 1975)
13. Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson (Geoffrey Whitehead as Sherlock Holmes, 24n, 1980)
14. Fantasy Island: The Case Against Mr. Roarke/Save Sherlock Holmes
(Peter Lawford as Sherlock Holmes, 1982) TV
15. The Hound of the Baskervilles (Tom Baker as Sherlock Holmes, 4n, 1982)
16. Young Sherlock: The Mystery of the Manor House (Guy Henry as Sherlock Holmes, 8n, 1982)
17. The Baker Street Boys (Roger Moore as Sherlock Holmes, 2n, 1983)
18. Remington Steele:- Elementary Steele (Peter Evans as Sherlock Holmes, 1984) TV
19. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes/Sherlock Holmes (Jeremy Brett as Sherlock
Holmes, 13n, 1984-1985)
20. The Return of Sherlock Holmes/Die Wiederkehr von Sherlock Holmes (Jeremy
Brett as Sherlock Holmes, 11n, 1986-1988)
21. Alfred Hitchcock Presents/Alfred Hitchcock zeigt: My Dear Watson (Brian Bedford
as Sherlock Holmes, 1989) TV
22. Father Dowling Mysteries/Ein gesegnetes Team: The Consulting Detective
Mystery (Rupert Frazer as Sherlock Holmes, 1991) TV
23. ITV Telethon: Telethon '92 (Jeremy Brett as Sherlock Holmes 1992) TV
24. The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes (Jeremy Brett as Sherlock Holmes, 9n, 1992-1993)
25. The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes (Jeremy Brett as Sherlock Holmes, 6n,1994)
26. Le retour d'Arsene Lupin: Herlock Sholmes s'en mele
(Jossif Surchadzhiev as Herlock Sholmes, 1995) TV
27. Funcion de noche: Oscar y Sherlock (Francisco J. Basilio as Sherlock Holmes, 1996) TV
28. Sherlock (Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock Holmes, 13n, 2010-2012)
29. Elementary (Johnny Lee Miller as Sherlock Holmes, since 2012)
P.S.
A friend of mine met SH in person in London a few years ago. ;D
(https://s18.directupload.net/images/210415/hlimdjmi.jpg)
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Prof, I posted a link to the John Barrymore Holmes back on April 1[ and not as an April Food Joke!
Here tis!
Sherlock Holmes 1922 silent
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mt_tFWp3bmg
John Barrymore - also great cinema organ accompaniment.
Good Print too!
ComicKraut,
Great work! A great Resource!
Cheers!
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I'm glad to help, but the list isn't really from me ::) , I've compiled it piece by piece over the years from the Internet, from general public sources.
Thank you for the link to the 1922 film with John Barrymore. :)
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Amazing what you learn.
So the guy who played Sherlock most often in the movies was Eille Norwood:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eille_Norwood
Who'd have thunk it?
There are quite a few of his movies available on Youtube - just search for him by name:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtsSS6Fxjlg
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Not the same by any means but this fan film production of Dying Detective is quite fun:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDoxZD6E_88
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I think it was the Nitrateville.com message board where I found the list of Eille Norwood films, and the info that, of all people, Andrew Lloyd Webber had acquired the rights to the entire series, but for over a decade, had SAT on them and not done anything to have them issued on DVD. What a box set or 3 that would make!
Not mentioned there (but I found this elsewhere DECADES ago:
THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES (1921 / 15 shorts)
THE FURTHER ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES (1922 / 15 shorts)
THE LAST ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES (1923 / 15 shorts)
This, in addition to 2 feature films, all with Eille Norwood (47 in all).
That may be the same site that discussed how a rivalry between 2 studios resulted in most of Norwood's films NEVER having been released in the USA back in the 20s.
Reportedly, MOST of them are intact, and prints reside at the BFI (British Film Institute), yet, as far as I know, only 3 of the shorts are currently available on DVD-- from several different companies. (I've got 1, and will have the other 2 very soon.)
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The detective solves his own murder as he lays dying of a slow acting poison.
While not a detective the protagonist of the noir film D.O.A. decides to spend his last hours finding out who poisoned him. I recommend the original film, I'm not sure if I saw the remake or not.
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This is precisely what irks me about copyright restrictions. These films are a century old and anyone with even slightest claim to being a "creator" is long dead, yet some rich bozo is able to prevent the other 8 billion people in the world from seeing them without his say-so. Ridiculous.
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the noir film D.O.A.
Bought this on a cheap DVD copy years ago. Excellent.
Edmond O'Brien and the young and gorgeous Pamela Britton in one of her few leading roles.
Some of you may remember her as the next-door neighbour in 'My Favourite Martian'.
Obviously when I was very young and very hormonal, she made an impression on me in that show! She still had it.
This print is excellent.
D.O.A. - Dead on Arrival - 1949. [My birth year - and a great year it seems to have been too.]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbJ4BKhsCrM
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This is precisely what irks me about copyright restrictions. These films are a century old and anyone with even slightest claim to being a "creator" is long dead, yet some rich bozo is able to prevent the other 8 billion people in the world from seeing them without his say-so. Ridiculous.
While "Public Domain" can mean quality HELL for fans-- like how the Arthur Wontner or Basil Rathbone films are available in COUNTLESS horrible packages-- I'd think the upside should be, when somebody like MPI puts out something like their 14-film SHERLOCK HOLMES box set, with all 12 Universal Films RESTORED over a 10-year-process-- they should advetise that thing to the hilt, and basically drive all the other inferior crap into oblivion.
By the way, if anyone knows or hears about any SUPERIOR Arthur Wontner HOLMES packages, please let me know. I really like those 4 films, but from what I've read, all the current versions out there are of relatively-similar POOR quality.
I did read where someone said some TV stations in England actually do have FAR-BETTER prints than anything anybody has bothered to put out on DVD. Criminal!
Makes me think some enterprising soul with the right equipment, could, in theory, RECORD them off the air, and run off DVDs that would be BETTER than those currently being sold. ;)
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Makes me think some enterprising soul with the right equipment, could, in theory, RECORD them off the air, and run off DVDs that would be BETTER than those currently being sold.
A 'Holy Grail' would be if someone back in the day actually did privately record TV shows that currently don't t exist because they were written over. And these then came to light. Like some of the early BBC shows.
I remember back in the day my boss had gear to record shows he was interested in, and that was the mid-to-late 70's.
Cheers!
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I started recording shows off the air in November 1979, some time before video stores were even a thing.
For most of this time, the "crown jewels" of my collection were "THE NEW AVENGERS", which was only ever shown here on The CBS Late Movie, 3 times, and only the 2nd time, mostly intact.
(https://www.britishclassiccomedy.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/New-Avengers-7804.jpg)
Finances kept me from buying DVDs for a long time, but now that I am, the entire run of "THE AVENGERS" is definitely on my "upgrade" list, as the 3 different eras, divided by CBS, PBS and A&E, were all BUTCHERED in very different ways.
PBS ran the Diana Rigg & Linda Thorsons in the late 80s...and every single episode were fuzzy as hell, suggesting they were all illegal bootleg copies. (When the DVDs came out in the early 2000s, Patrick Macnee suggested as much-- he said "all" previous commerially-available copies were bootlegs.)
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Just found this item
Sherlock Holmes and the Leading Lady (1991) [1/2]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jl6esIzJLJk
Christopher Lee, Patrick Macnee, Morgan Fairchild
Then there was Sherlock Holmes the Musical.
Individual songs here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oimAjsqVcu8&list=PLP6rUs1dyhLz2TmpcV1hgaXHuYOX7bnqv
Very Gilbert and Sullivan
Not sure if this is the same production - haven't listened to it yet. Download link
Sherlock Holmes musical starring Fritz Weaver and Inga Swenson, and an obscure horn-based prog/psych band
Various Artists - Baker Street OCR (1965) https://www16.zippyshare.com/v/5Zud8h5u/file.html
Cheers!
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Yet more Sherlock Holmes movies
[Post modified]
Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Silk Stocking [2004] by Simon Cellan Jones
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSzByrsibIs&list=PLXo9EuZ6PqmXDCn0CL5d7MjhlRxTNT85G&index=17
Sherlock Holmes | Full Adventure Movie
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qK5uHzOQkIc
This thing is a TV movie. Not wonderful. Its just called 'Sherlock Holmes' If you like corny B-grade movies you might like this. Sherlock Holmes + Dinosaurs [Spoiler]
Ben Syder [who he?] as Sherlock Holmes; Gareth David-Lloyd [from Torchwood] as Dr. John Watson
The portrayal of Watson is stronger than that of Holmes. The scene where Sherlock upstages Watson at an autopsy made me want to punch him out. Came across as arrogant rather than clever.
The Case of the Whitechapel Vampire (2002)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeJWsOqvuhs&list=PLXo9EuZ6PqmXDCn0CL5d7MjhlRxTNT85G&index=3
Matt Frewer as Sherlock Holmes, Kenneth Welsh as Dr. Watson.
Both of these have been acting for years, but no stand-out roles.
Sherlock Holmes and Vampires.
Too much dialogue for mine.
Not on Youtube but I will track it down;-
Sherlock Holmes Incident at Victoria Falls (1992)
Sherlock in Africa Christopher Lee as Sherlock and Patrick McNee as Watson.
2 part TV production I think.
Cheers!
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Yet more Sherlock Holmes movies
[Post modified]
Sherlock Holmes | Full Adventure Movie
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qK5uHzOQkIc
This thing is a TV movie. Not wonderful. Its just called 'Sherlock Holmes' If you like corny B-grade movies you might like this. Sherlock Holmes + Dinosaurs [Spoiler]
Ben Syder [who he?] as Sherlock Holmes; Gareth David-Lloyd [from Torchwood] as Dr. John Watson
The portrayal of Watson is stronger than that of Holmes. The scene where Sherlock upstages Watson at an autopsy made me want to punch him out. Came across as arrogant rather than clever.
Saw some of this film years ago when Superteam productions was still active. It was basically an INDY production. I'm surprised it made it to TV.
Only really bad thing about it is the sound track. The back ground music is far too loud throughout and at times makes understanding the dialogue impossible. The low tone of the Sherlock actor's voice along with too much background noise made his lines pretty much indecipherable .
All the elements of the film separately were just fine, but they were not well integrated.
The actor who played Mycroft also played Malcom Reed, the weapons officer of the ship in the TV series "Star Trek Enterprise".
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Matt Frewer as Sherlock Holmes, Kenneth Welsh as Dr. Watson.
Both of these have been acting for years, but no stand-out roles.
Sherlock Holmes and Vampires.
Well, I'm going to have to eat crow. Posted before I actually watched the film.
Frewer and Welshdo an excellent job as Holmes and Watson, but the plot is one that could have taken half an hour and therefore the movie is too drawn out. Pity.
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Last night's film: "SHERLOCK HOLMES" (1916), starring William Gillette, adapting his own stage play, which had been running since 1899 and by which point he'd done over 1300 performances of. He's the one who established Holmes wearing a deerstalker hat and smoking a curved "meerchaum" pipe.
This was considered lost for generations, until that negative was found, mis-filed, in France. It was restored and put out by an outfit called Flicker Alley. The box has 3 discs: a Blu-Ray, a DVD, and a 3rd one with multiple extras, including 3 silent shorts that I think should have been part of that "Archive" pair of boxes I got earlier.
I don't yet have a BluRay player (been planning to get one for months now), so as yet I can't say what the difference is. But the regular DVD, the film looks to me to be the sharpest, cleanest silent I've ever seen. The daytime tints border on almost making it a color film. And I agree with many of the IMDB reviewers who say the acting is far more natural than one might expect from a silent film this old. Plus, the directing may be unique for a film from this era. I've never seen slow fades from long shots to close-ups or back again in any other silent.
It must have been a bizarre thing, to take a live stage play and translate it into a silent film. It'll be interesting to compare this with the tape I have of Frank Langella's version of the play, done around 1980. That was actually done as a play, on stage, simply recording the live performance in front of an audience with a video camera. I'm of the belief that there should be at least one such recording made of every play, for posterity's sake. I wish I could see Julie Andrews in "MY FAIR LADY". It's criminal she wasn't cast in the movie version.
The story includes elements of "A Scandal In Bohemia" (a royal person trying to retrieve letters from an ill-advised romance), "The Final Problem" (Moriarty contrives to get Holmes alone to confront him), "The Retired Colorman" (NOT one reviewer mentioned this, it's where the gas-chamber scene came from, I only know if it because Douglas Wilmer did that story in 1965) and "A Study In Scarlet" (Holmes captures someone posing as a cabbie by asking them in to pick up a valise).
Funny enough, parts of this are very familiar to me, as I believe they were used in the first Arthur Wontner film from 1931, "THE SLEEPING CARDINAL" alias "SHERLOCK HOLMES' FATAL HOUR". In both, Moriarty assumes a disguise, and comes to Holmes' office to kill him in person. Also, Moriarty's underground lair is nearly identical.
The play was filmed again only 6 years later, in 1922, with John Barrymore. I have that on order right now. It'll be interesting to see, even though apparently everyone feels it's a disappointment compared to the Gillette version.
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/02/William_Gillette_in_Sherlock_Holmes_by_Essanay_Studio.jpg/800px-William_Gillette_in_Sherlock_Holmes_by_Essanay_Studio.jpg)
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Tuesday night, I watched the 2nd disc of extras. First up was a half-hour feature where one of the restoration team talked about the involved process of assembling and cleaning up the film, adding the proper tints in, and translating the French version BACK into its original English. So much of what they did is similar to what I've been doing with old (and foreign) comics the last few years, I couldn't help but be fascinated.
One of the extras was a 1912 short "A Canine Sherlock Holmes", in which a detective sends his dog out to do his work for him. This is extremely delightful and fun to watch.
Another extra is a short French film in which a man dreams of being a policeman, which features BIZARRE visual tricks the likes of which I've only ever seen in a MUTT & JEFF cartoon-- but, this is live action! Jaw-dropping.
Seems to me both of these should have been on those "Archive" box sets.
I've already ordered the next 2 silent packages I need, and should be picking the next one up tomorrow.
Incidentally... I just found out today that Doyle's "The Retired Colorman" was published in 1926, which means, unless it was written but held back for MANY years, it couldn't have been the inspiration for the "gas chamber" sequence in the Gillette stage play. Which makes me wonder if that part of the play might have instead inspired Doyle when he wrote his short story?
It's been stongly suggested over the years that Agatha Christie's "TEN LITTLE INDIANS" may have been partly inspired by the original Holmes film, "A STUDY IN SCARLET" (1932), which came out several years before Christie wrote her novel.
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I decided to take someone's advice, and contact the British Film Institute via their web site:
I've recently read that "most" of the 47 SHERLOCK HOLMES starring Eille Norwood (45 shorts & 2 features) are known to be intact and held at the BFI. My suggestion is that you please consider putting these out on DVDs. There were 3 sets of shorts (15 each), so one could conceivably put them out as 4 or 5 DVD boxes, or even one "complete" set (as complete as currently exists).
I've recently seen 3 of them that are currently commercially available, and the quality was such that it only makes me want to see more. I'm certain there would be a market for this, especially if the discs were available as all-region (the USA is a huge market).
Hey, you never know what ONE letter might stir up!
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Dug out my "the Complete Sherlock Holmes" story collection yesterday. Usually I have a hard time finding a book among all this clutter (aprox 2,000 hard covers), but Sherlock wasn't hard to find at all because it stood out as the thickest book in its stack.
I got this book along with the complete plays of William Shakespeare many years ago.
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My dad has a CD-Rom of the Complete Sherlock Holmes.
It's just as thick as the other CD-Roms. ;)
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This week's film: "SHERLOCK HOLMES" (1922), starring the legendary John Barrymore.
This is wild. It's based on William Gillette's stage play, and tells the SAME story... but, in as completely-different a fashion as I could ever imagine. The first 25 minutes is like a prologue to the play, then it focuses on things in different ways, and finally reaches its climax a whole scene or two before the play ended. The entire major sub-plot about the Crown Prince and the letters is NEVER resolved when "THE END" comes onscreen! Outragious.
While the 1916 film (thought lost for 94 years) is absolutely PRISTENE in its clarity, following the restoration, this film, though said to have been "restored", still looks like it needs to be. But, no complaints. It definitely watchable, and is a very FUN watch. I do have the feeling some bits are missing, like in the scene where Moriarty goes to Holmes' flat to kill him. There's a jump in there, and after, Moriarty says, "You've rejected my offer..." Except, he never made one. Also, the gas works scene seems to resolve far too quick. I feel like I blinked and missed something.
According to Wikipedia, there've been 2 reconstructions of the film, one in the 80s, another in 2008, but, there are "about 26 minutes of footage still missing". YIKES! So I wasn't imagining things.
Still, NO regrets on buying this.
There's 2 actors I know who are in this. Prince Alexis, who foolishly allowed his ascension to the throne to derail his romance, is played by a very young Reginald Denny, who I remember so well from Hitchcock's "REBECCA". And Forman Wells, Moriarty's protoge who Holmes set on the path of right (in a new scene added to the story), is William Powell!
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/83/Sherlock_Holmes_%281922%29_2.jpg)
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At the IMDB, there's a whole pile of scathing, negative reviews of this film. Some focus on the directing, but most on the story. and most seem oblivious that it's an adaptation of the 1899 stage play.
As I said before, the entire first act was new, added on, showing the "future detective" while he was in college... and, apparently, knew Watson at the time. And while trying to figure out what his place in life might be, and how the world worked, one of the things that baffled him was the meaning of "love". He had a VERY brief encounter with a girl who helped him, and that stuck in his memory for years. Later, she turned out to be at the center of the crime plot. He also has a very early, utterly naive encounter with Moriarty, which convinced him of the path his life should take.
It struck me, this VERY WELL may have inspired a film I never liked... Spielberg's "YOUNG SHERLOCK HOLMES". Nobody at the IMDB mentioned that film, either!
I realize the Gillette film was STILL LOST at the time most of the reviews of the 1922 film were posted... but, still. In a way, the 1922 film could almost be compared to the 1943 "PHANTOM OF THE OPERA", in that, while allegedly a REMAKE of the earlier film, made so many changes to it, it's amazing it's still recognizable as the same story.
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At the IMDB, there's a whole pile of scathing, negative reviews of this film
Well, for mine, a a big negative social media pile-on can indicate something good and of interest.
If I was a lemming, I would turn around and not follow with the mob.
A print of the 1916 William Gillette Sherlock Holmes is obtainable on RareLust.
https://rarelust.com/
I haven't looked at it yet - it is listed as a 'High Definition' print, so presumably its a restored version.
From the same source you can find the two part,
Sherlock Holmes Incident at Victoria Falls (1992) [I think Telemovie?] This is a Curate's egg of a production or should I say, Dog's Breakfast?
Christopher Lee and Patrick McNee do their usual excellent job as Holmes and Watson, but the film, in my opinion, just uses the characters for an excuse to take the production crew and a group of actors for a holiday in Africa.
And of course, improbably, many of the Key penultimate scenes are played out with Victoria Falls visible in the background. Made to promote tourism on a grant from the government? Probably.
Also involved in the story are, Lllly Langtry, Lord Roberts, Theodore Roosevelt, Gugliamo Marconi and [Spoiler - but not by much] Raffles.
The plot is dull and mostly obvious. Holmes uncharacteristically makes consistent mistakes and berates himself for doing so and Patrick McNee is obliged to play Watson as something of a buffoon. Which is not how Conan Doyle wrote him. That started with Nigel Bruce and both of them had to work with what they were given and I don't blame the actors. Martin Freeman, it occurs to me, plays Watson as someone with a short fuse who is always losing his cool and on the verge of walking out on Holmes.
I think that if Lee had to say ' Quick Watson, there's not a moment to lose!' one more time and just manage to jump on one more train at the last minute, I would have punched somebody, and probably so would he.
Most of the actors do a good job with what they are given.
Claude Akins does a very good Teddy Roosevelt and shows what he was capable of if he wasn't always cast as heavies. Actually he was good as an ape in 'Battle for the Planet of the Apes'. Which also wasn't one of the better films.
For mine the most interesting actor was the little-known Alan Coates who has done very little work as an actor. IMDB knows little about him. A global search brings up nothing.
He looks like serious British Leading Man material. Here he plays hotel manager Stanley I. Bullard [ In a subplot]. For a while there I thought he was a younger Hugh Bonneville [Downton Abbey]
Glad I watched it tho.
So, question,
Which film or TV Watson is closest to Doyle's original character?
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Just as Peter Cushing (with John Mills) did Holmes & Watson in semi-retirement in "THE MASKS OF DEATH" (1984) from Tyburn Films (a company that hired an awful lot of Hammer vets behind the cameras), so Christopher Lee (with Patrick Macnee) did Holmes & Watson in semi-retirement several years later, in a PAIR of TV films...
SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE LEADING LADY
SHERLOCK HOLMES: INCIDENT AT VICTORIA FALLS
Curious thing about both of these: like the earlier "QUATERMASS" with John Mills (also known as "THE QUATERMASS CONCLUSION"), the films were written in such a way as to allow them to be watched in 2 different formats: as 2-part/4-hour "mini-series", or, as shorter "feature" versions (available that way on videotape). They did this, by including completely EXTRANEOUS, un-necesary sub-plots, that could be included in the longer versions, but which are not important to the plot, so when they're removed for the shorter versions, you don't notice (unless you've see the longer versions).
At the same time, Lee also did a book-on-tape of "THE VALLEY OF FEAR", a story that Jeremy Brett failed to do (but which Clive Merrison, presumably, did in his radio series). What amazed me, is that, like Basil Rathbone did in his 2nd set of book-on-LP readings in the 1960s, Lee did "VOICES"-- as in, ALL the voices. And if you didn't know, you might never guess. DAMN, he had skills he rarely got a chance to use!
Last week I saw the 1916 William Gillette "SHERLOCK HOLMES" on DVD. My GOD, it is simply the sharpest, clearest, cleanest silent film I've ever seen, and based on the documentary included with it, BY GOD, yes, it is an INCREDIBLE work of restoration. Gillette & his fellow actors, surprisingly, did much more "natural" actig than one would expect from a silent film, and even the director's work seemed decades ahead of its time.
This week, I saw the 1922 John Barrymore "SHERLOCK HOLMES" on DVD. From reading about it, it was the work of a MASSIVE "reconstruction" and further "restoration" that stretched from 1970 to 2001, with the DVD being issued in 2009. It still looks like it could USE a "restoration", as the picture has lots of specs and dirt, but I had NO trouble enjoying it. On top of that, though, I've since read it STILL has about 26 minutes MISSING. Whoa.
The fascinating thing is HOW DIFFERENT is is from the 1916 film, yet recognizably tells THE SAME STORY. The first 25 minutes act as a NEW prologue to the play's story, showing Holmes (and Watson) in college, Holmes being touched emotionally by a young woman who showed him kindness, and a tentative, NAIVE meeting with Moriarty as he tries to learn about the world, and decide what path his life should go in. All this takes place BEFORE the orignal story of the play finally starts.
IMDB reviewers complained about Holmes falling in love, but this was in the 1899 play. I came away feeling that especially the new prologue may have inspired "YOUNG SHERLOCK HOLMES", but somehow, I found this film more palatable, despite its physical imperfections.
NEXT week I'm looking forward to the 1929 HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES, made in Germany, lost for decades, found in a church in Poland with Czech intertitles, restored to near-full length with the help of ANOTHER incomplete print with French intertitles. I've seen a trailer-- it looks STUNNING!!!!! And, apparently, several "new" sequences written for the film, later turned up VERBATIM in various OTHER films, including the Hammer "HOUND" and the Ian Richardson "HOUND". This kind of thing always fascinates me, when one film adaptation is actually influenced by an EARLIER film adaptation, as much or more than the original source material. I've been running into it all the time with Edgar Allan Poe adaptations-- movies that took whole sequences from COMIC-BOOKS, rather than Poe.
The 1929 "HOUND" is from the same outfit, Flicker Alley, that put out the 1916 "SHERLOCK HOLMES". I am SO looking forward to getting my hands on it.
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Which film or TV Watson is closest to Doyle's original character?
Absurdly, I've read so few of the original stories, it's hard for me to say. Judging from that famous short film of Arthur Conan Doyle speaking, HE seems to think that Watson is "dim-witted". Hmm.
In any case, my favorites include...
Howard Marion Crawford
Andre Morell
Nigel Stock
James Mason
David Healy
David Burke
Edward Hardwicke
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I know no one will ever be satisfied with anyone else's opinion in the great Watson's Brain debate. I've read all the stories and books several times (admittedly, many of them quite a while ago) and the impression I have of the text Watson is that's he a stolid, upstanding 19th century Englishman. He's intelligent though not imaginative. He can be trusted to be where he needs to be and do what needs to be done with stiff upper lip firmly in place. He's no action hero, but he's ready for action, revolver at the ready, when called upon. Over time age slowed him down and he settled into a more comfortable life, but he was still willing to pitch in when Holmes needed him.
The truth is that this is a profile of a rather uninteresting character. In the stories that didn't matter. Since Watson was telling the story, and since he didn't have a big ego, he could go for long stretches without having to do anything. The focus was on Holmes and we, the reader, didn't expect Dr W to spend much time talking about himself.
A screen Watson has to be a completely different character. He's constantly on camera and he can't just sit there and read The Times. For Watson to work onscreen a writer must fill out details of Watson's personality, his attitudes, his behavior, that weren't necessary in the stories. Holmes changes from one film to another, yes. But since Doyle described his personality so thoroughly, portrayals of Holmes are more similar than portrayals of Watson, who is reinvented for each new project.
I don't have the obsessive drive to see every film and TV series on the subject and my viewing has been spotty. I know the Rathbone-Bruce films better than anything because they were the ones that filled TV screens and revival cinemas during my younger days. I love Nigel Bruce the actor but I hold him personally responsible for the Watson-as-boob tradition. In his day movies had to have comic relief characters, and that's how Bruce played Watson. He got sillier as the series progressed. I wonder if the "big hit" Holmes series had begun in the 1950s instead of the 1930s, whether Watson would have been played the same way.
When I think of Nigel Bruce's Watson I think of the classic catchphrase, "Holmes, you never cease to amaze me!" From Bruce's Watson this was an explosion of wide-eyed admiration, like a proud parent praising a child. I picture "my" Watson lowering his newspaper with the wisp of a smile and an approving nod, admitting almost grudgingly, "Holmes, you never cease to amaze me."
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Howard Marion Crawford has been said to be the "first" really great Watson on screen. He was in the 39 TV episodes made in 1954-55 with Ronald Howard. His Watson was intelligent, capable, tough, loyal, at times with a short temper and could also be counted on in a fight. In one amusing incident, he was seen giving Holmes tips on how to punch somebody's lights out. I believe more than once, Holmes's youthful exuberance and narrow focus led him to yell out, "HOLMES, this time you've gone TOO FAR!"
In an early episode, he's horrified at the idea of Holmes breaking into someone's house to investigate a crime. In a later episode, he does so himself without batting an eye.
(https://w.notrecinema.com/images/usercontent/star/howard-marion-crawford-photo_171791_49429.jpg)
I've read that a 2nd season was in the planning stages, but, for whatever reason, never happened. A real shame. Since I upgraded my PBS videotapes to a DVD set (the FIRST tv series I did this with!), I've watched the entire series twice, and a few key episodes, more times.
A decade later, Crawford was the only actor aside from Christopher Lee to appear in all 5 of Harry Alan Towers' FU MANCHU films, as Dr. John Petrie.
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My 2 cents on Dr Watson's mental aptitude is this. No one even in the 19th century could become a British military surgeon if he was less than above average. Not that there weren't some butchers in the trade.
A Dr might have many wrong ideas, but that is because he was taught those wrong ideas at a medical school.
Watson was not a deep thinker, at least compared to Holmes, nobody equaled Holmes anyway. He took too much at face value, he mostly minded his own business and really wasn't that interested in a case till Holmes fired his imagination.
Only when Holmes asked his opinion did his lack of complex thinking show itself. Holmes was showing off his superior mind. He needed a combination foil and straight man for this.
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Up until last year, I'd never seen ALL 14 Rathbone-Bruce HOLMES films back-to-back (except one time recently when I watched them on Youtube). Now, since getting the MPI box set (where the 12 Universals have all been thoroughly restored-- effectively making EVERY other package with any of them out there totally inferior and redundant), I've watched the set twice, and I think I can safely say I've enjoyed them all more than I ever did before.
I'd go so far as to offer the view that there ISN'T a bad film in the set!
Some of my favorite moments are those occasions when Nigel Bruce's Watson will say something, and Rathbone's Holmes picks up on it, and although Watson didn't have a clue, what he said allows Holmes to solve a mystery he might have taken much longer to figure out. It's really a case of two good friends who do work better together than apart.
In the 1960s, Rathbone did 2 sets of "book on LP" readings of the original stories. In the first 2, "The Speckled Band" and "The Final Problem" (my introduction to both), he read the stories in his own voice. Since Watson is narrating them, this means Rathbone was doing Watson!
However, decades later, I got a complete set of them on cassette tape. In the later readings, Rathbone did "voices". For example, he had one voice for the narrator, one for Holmes... but when he did Watson, you'd SWEAR you were hearing Nigel Bruce! I thought it was a wonderful and amazing tribute to his friend, who'd passed away long before he did them.
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My 2 cents on Dr Watson's mental aptitude is this. No one even in the 19th century could become a British military surgeon if he was less than above average.
Exactly.
And Watson's medical skills are manifested on more than one occasion.
The producers of SHERLOCK noted this and wrote Watson for Martin Freeman to portray him as returned from Afghanistan with some degree of post-traumatic stress disorder.
SHERLOCK is also one of the few adaptations of Holmesian material that includes Watson's wife, Mary.
Her existence, [she features briefly in the latter stories], is just ignored.
Here is a thought.
Given that Holmes was based on Dr Joseph Bell who was Conan Doyle's mentor and of whom he wrote,
' It is most certainly to you that I owe Sherlock Holmes and though in the stories I have the advantage of being able to place him in all sorts of dramatic positions, I do not think that his analytical work is in the least an exaggeration of some effects which I have seen you produce in the outpatient ward.
Is it possible that Watson's role and relationship with Holmes reflects Conan Doyle's estimate of himself next to Bell?
Watson is also clearly a literary device used to explain Holmes actions and more the story along.
Cheers!
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I'm not a huge fan of any of the Holmes films. They're ok. I've watched some of them a few times, not only the Rathbone version. I much prefer the original stories, some of the radio plays and certain of the comic adaptations, plus, of course Sherlock and the Jeremy Brett series. There is a strange and interesting interpretation of Holmes in a 4 issues series of small graphic novels by Ian Edginton and I.N.J. Culbard of the 4 novels.
https://theslingsandarrows.com/sherlock-holmes-the-sign-of-the-four/
The adaptations of Sherlock in manga style are enjoyable, credited to Moffat, Gatiss and Jay.
Edginton is also responsible for Victorian Undead which, I'm certain, will offend Holmes purists.
https://sciencefiction.com/2019/02/06/comic-archive-victorian-undead-sherlock-holmes-vs-zombies-2010/
and despite my dislike of all those zombie/vampire shows on tv, I really enjoy the 2 collections - V Zombies and vs Dracula. There is a short with Jekyll and Hyde but I can't lay my hands on it right now.
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Once you get into alternative Holmes stories the subject is never-ending.
Just take a look at this lot
Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
https://www.fantasticfiction.com/series/further-adventures-of-sherlock-holmes/
Don't assume these are rubbish. It is a testament to Doyle's mastery of the principles of the short story that it is very difficult to write an unreadable Holmes story. Oh, it can be done, but mercifully, rarely.
the writer Loren D Estleman has written
Sherlock Holmes vs Dracula, Dr Jeckel and Mr Homes and a volume of Short stories
'The Perils of Sherlock Holmes'
One of the more curious items is the three Mycroft novels written by - of all people 'Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
The series is apparently a bit of a radical departure - surprise - and has been adapted into - I think - at least two graphic novels by now - here is the first.
Mycroft Holmes and the Apocalypse Handbook [England's Titan books]
https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-1-78585-300-5
That's as much as I want to say at the moment about Myroftt spin-off series.
Some of the best and most interesting Sherlock versions in comics are the French ones- more about those another time.
In fact, Prof, if he cloned himself, could start another blog thread on comic versions of Sherlock.
Paw can probably tell us about any Italian ones, and ComicKraut any Deutsch ones.
Cheers!
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Speaking of Dr Bell
Just yesterday my sister commented on what her heart doctor had told her about our family MD. He said he was "a marvelous doctor", not just good or even great but "Marvelous". In fact our family doctor has a reputation for diligent research and an investigative mind among all the medical professionals in the area.
I'm also reminded of the TV series "House" Gregory House is an investigator as much as anything else. His mind is constantly working on a medical mystery of some sort which often leads to his investigating the patient and their families and contacts. Not a likeable person at all, but he gets the job done. He seldom cares about the patient, just the challenge of the mystery to be solved.
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DER HUND VON BASKERVILLE (1929)
This was AMAZING. Right from the start, I fell in love with the mostly-piano music score. The opening scene in the story, unlike the novel, shows Sir Charles discussing the legend of the hound with his friends, the night he wound up dying under mysterious circumstances. This was exactly like the 1968 BBC TV version with Peter Cushing.
The bulk of the movie, surprisingly, follows the novel pretty closely, although it does simplify things quite a bit. For example, despite Jack's obvious intense jealousy, Beryl is never revealed to be his wife, but merely his ward. (In the 1939 Fox version with Basil Rathbone, she was Jack's sister.) Also, while Charles was lured out to the moors by Laura Lyons, the actual reasons for it never come up, and we never find out that she was in fact Frankland's daughter. On the other hand, we see Jack MURDER Laura to keep her from talking, which inspired a similar turn of events in the 1983 Ian Richardson version.
The last act of the film does manage to deviate in a fun way from the original story, in that Holmes discovers a secret underground tunnel that connects Baskerville Hall with Stapleton'e house, which is how Jack was able to sneak in and steal Sir Henry's boot, it's where Jack kept the dog, it's where Jack made Beryl a prisoner near the end, and it's where Holmes nearly gets killed when Jack floods it with water. (Shades of Chaney's "PHANTOM OF THE OPERA"!)
The directing, the lighting and the camera-work are all superb. Something I only found out days before seeing it, director Richard Oswald was the father of Gerd Oswald, who in the 1960s directed 2 episodes of STAR TREK and 14 episodes of THE OUTER LIMITS. Wow! I think that explains why "OL" looked the way it did so often-- it was the influence of German expressionism.
The restoration was done from 2 different prints-- one with Czech titles and a "home movie" version (NO KIDDING!) with French titles. The differences are glaring-- mostly-clear and very poor quality-- but without the lesser sections, even more of the film would be missing than still is. Chunks of the 2nd & 3rd reels are filled in with STILL PHOTOS, in the manner I've seen previously with "METROPOLIS" and "LOST HORIZON", so some key points in the story are there, but go by very quickly. This includes Henry's arrival at the Hall, his first meetings with Barrymore, Jack & Beryl. Fortunately, the bulk of the film-- and arguably all the best parts-- are still intact.
I immediately took an extreme liking to Carlyle Blackwell as Holmes. George Seroff as Watson is a lot more light-hearted, but from what I've read, this was one of the very first Holmes films to ever make the Holmes-Watson relationship a big focus of the story. There's a real joy in Watson when he finds Holmes hiding out on the moors, in a scene very similar to-- but in my view-- DONE BETTER than it was in the 1988 Jeremy Brett version! "Your cigarette brand betrays you."
Betty Bird as Beryl is very pretty, while Franz Rasp as Jack is a DEMENTED lunatic on the level with "The Joker". Holmes must have had a lot of trouble holding back telling Watson right away who the murderer was. It was so obvious!
(https://silentfilm.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Hound-of-the-Baskervilles_LibHero-1-1280x720.jpg)
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Fascinating article about Anthony Edward Brett, alias "Eille Norwood", who did 45 SHERLOCK HOLMES shorts & 2 features from 1921-23, which were never seen in the US due to Samuel Goldwyn trying to sue the English film studio to prevent competition (GREEDY CAPITALIST BASTARD!).
I've seen 3 of the shorts so far, they're terrific.
https://www.ihearofsherlock.com/2014/05/1923s-sign-of-four-at-san-francisco.html
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I just viewed Eilie Norwood's Sign of Four, my first Norwood Holmes. I found it surprisingly good. Funny that Norwood's real name was Brett. I wonder if he is Jeremy's distant ancestor. My favorite scene was the police inquest, where Holmes feigns napping while the police inspector holds court. I'd never have thought one could put across "disdainful smartass" in a silent film, but Norwood certainly does it. I laughed aloud. Only the shoe-polish "Hindus" smacked of old-fashioned silent cliches. I liked the use of double exposures to illustrate Holmes' deductions. The London location shots were wonderful, a glimpse seen through the time machine window.
In the print I watched on YouTube, well-meaning fans had added a music-and-effects track. It was a nice idea, but the serial-style music, apparently culled from Fox Holmes movies, often clashed with the more subdued parts of the film (it was perfect, though, for the climactic speedboat chase). They also cut in snippets of spoken dialogue that sort of matched words spoken on screen. This was a disastrous choice and I quickly turned off the speakers and watched the movie "dry."
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I was flipping thru the DVD-- something I don't normally do-- and I re-watched a key scene, which I suddenly realized, I had mis-interpreted Monday night.
Stapleton was talking with Laura Lyons, but the inter-title mentioned "Beryl". I thought it was a mistake. NO IT WASN'T! What somehow slipped right by me the other night was a quite vital piece of dialogue:
"What are these tickets? You promised you would leave Beryl!"
OH MAN. This is the ONLY clue in the entire film that Beryl WAS Jack's WIFE!!
Unlike the novel (and at least 2 other film versions), where Laura believed Jack was planning to marry her, here, Laura actually KNEW Jack was married-- and was planning to divorce his wife. This is the only version where this is the case.
Ohhhh, I don't think the later Production Code would have liked THAT!
Ever since I really got to see so many other versions, has a peculiarity of the 1939 Fox version really stood out. In the Rathbone film, Beryl (Wendy Barrie) is Jack's SISTER. She somehow has NO knowledge of her heritage, or any inkling of Jack's murderous plans. So she's NOT involved with any deviousness toward Henry. Apparently this was done to get around the Production Code. But, as a result, this means, Henry would be marrying HIS OWN COUSIN. A distant cousin, of course, but still...
Isn't it sometimes hilarious, the kind of twisted results of late-1930s Hollywood CENSORSHIP ?
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I've got the 1923 SIGN OF FOUR bookmarked to watch.
What I can't figure is, this film is apparently NOT commercially available. So HOW THE HELL did it get put up on Youtube?
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this means, Henry would be marrying HIS OWN COUSIN. A distant cousin, of course, but still...
Isn't it sometimes hilarious, the kind of twisted results of late-1930s Hollywood CENSORSHIP ?
Marriage of cousins was a very common practice among British nobility up through the mid 20th century. In fact it wasn't that uncommon among all classes anywhere in Europe at the time.
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The 1939 Fox "HOUND" is considered one of the "classic" versions, and it's one of my top faves, but there are some strange things about it, no doube a result of when it was made.
They left out the Laura Lyons sub-plot entirely, made Dr, Mortimer much older and married, and added the "seance" bit to try and make it spookier (but it's still nowhere near as sppoky as the 1937 German version... OR. Universal's "THE SCARLET CLAW").
They also left out another key bit, which is when Holmes tells Henry, he MUST follow Holmes' instructions, OR, he will be forever living in the shadow of death. Instead, Holmes PRETENDS the case is over, and he's going back to London, leaving Henry no clue his life is in fact STILL in peril. Oddly enough, this key bit of the story DOES turn up in the sequel, with Holmes giving this very same instructions to Ida Lupino's character!
I've now contacted 3 different organizations about possibly putting the Eille Norwood films-- and some others--out on DVD...
British Film Institute
(via their website)
FLICKER ALLEY, LLC
P O Box 931762
Los Angeles, CA 90093
Email: info@flickeralley.com
Phone: 323.851.1905
SHOUT FACTORY
1640 S. Sepulveda Blvd.
Ste. 400
Los Angeles, CA 90025
info@shoutfactory.com
Hey, why not? I know from experience, you NEVER know what ONE letter might lead to.
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Does anyone here recognize a Sherlock Holmes film that begins with the discovery of a human torso on a beach, the only identifiable mark being a seaman's tattoo?
Later a curse is read that includes the line "and none shall go whole to his grave".
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Could that be The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Private_Life_of_Sherlock_Holmes
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Could that be The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Private_Life_of_Sherlock_Holmes
No. The film I spoke of is a much older B&W film of the 30's or 40's. Not sure if a Rathbone film or not.
I remember the film you speak of and its nothing like the film I spoke of.
This may be it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_House_of_Fear_(1945_film)
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Does anyone here recognize a Sherlock Holmes film that begins with the discovery of a human torso on a beach, the only identifiable mark being a seaman's tattoo?
Later a curse is read that includes the line "and none shall go whole to his grave".
YYES!!! It's the very 1st Holmes film I ever saw, and I have only recently watched the RESTORED version of it on DVD, TWICE!
It's "THE HOUSE OF FEAR" with Basil Rathbone & Nigel Bruce. It's very loosely based on "The Five Orange Pips".
(If I'm wrong I'll be very surprised.)
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The House of Fear is on YouTube, but doesn't seem to start the way you describe. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wHPT3rS5bI
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The House of Fear is on YouTube, but doesn't seem to start the way you describe. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wHPT3rS5bI
At 10:28 into the film Holmes is told of the curse of the Allister family ( the previous members being blown apart or eaten by cannibals, etc.)and Drearcliffe house where "none goes whole to his grave".
I probably have the order of events confused, or the film may have existed in a shorter edited form for TV.
PS
It just occurred to me that what I remembered most clearly was not the film itself but the lead in teaser when the film was shown on a local channel back in the early 60's. I remember one channel showed a different Rathbone Sherlock Holmes film every saturday.
We could only pick up about three regular TV networks but there were a dozen or so small UHF stations vying for viewers and some had extensive film libraries. I may have actually seen the original uncut version of Metropolis on one of these channels, probably the last time it was shown due to the film breaking every few minutes.
Knoxville Tn is nearby and was and perhaps still is the home of many who were involved in writing scripts for the movies and TV. An unusual number of highly respected authors lived there or spent a lot of time there as well.
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I've tuned in movies already in progress many times, sometimes the same film, missing less each time (heh). Some of my favorites, I originally walked in on the middle of.
With TCM, there was a stretch where I used to go to their website, where they had a monthly schedule posted in advance. I'd create my own "calendar" of films I might potentially want to watch. That was the only way I could know what films were coming on when, and stop turning them on at random.
My first exposure to Sherlock Holmes was in the late 60s (I think) when Philly's Channel 17 ran the Basil Rathbone films on Saturday nights at 11 PM. They ran 13 of them in rotation. Some I watched multiple times, one or two, only once. It's odd how that happened.
From the book "THE GREAT MOVIE SERIES", I learned there were 14 Rathbone films. Maddeningly, the 1st one-- "THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES" -- had been YANKED out of circulation in 1959, so as not to "compete" with the new version from Hammer Films. Absurd! I'm glad they don't pull this S*** anymore.
So, my first exposure to "HOUND" was when 17 ran the Peter Cushing film on a Saturday afternoon in 1972. As it happens, the SAME day, ABC ran their unsold pilot starring Stewart Granger. Imagine, 2 versions of the same story in one day. Crazy enough, I haven't seen the Granger film since then, but if it's available out there, I plan to get a copy of it before long.
The Rathbone film was reissued to theatres around 1979, but as happened with so many things, I missed it. Sometime later, it turned up on a local Philly channel. I initially taped it off whatever UHF channel that ran it, then, maybe a decade or more later, rented a copy of it from my video store, and made a (slightly fuzzy) copy.
I watched all 14 Rathbones in sequence for the first time ever about 3 years ago, on Youtube. Then last year I got the MPI box set, with all 14, and have watched it twice so far.
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My first exposure to Sherlock Holmes
I had seen 'Young Sherlock Holmes' about when it came out.
Oh, then you NEED to see the 1922 "SHERLOCK HOLMES" with John Barrymore.
For a film based on the stage play, the entire first act (about 25 minutes) was all-new material, and when I saw it the other week, I SWORE that part of the film almost had to be the main inspiration for "YOUNG SHERLOCK HOLMES".
The funny thing is, I hated the Spielberg film, yet I enjoyed the Barrymore one. Weird, huh?
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Got the Rathbone box DVD set 7 or 8 years ago and watched all of them.
I've been trying to watch anything I buy these days TWICE before moving on (the time frame involved can vary). Monday nights have become my Sherlock Holmes night, with special snacks each time (pizza, bacon cheese fries, calzones, etc.). I've been making a real "event" of it. I spent 28 WEEKS watching the Rathbones. 14 the first time around, 14 the 2nd time. Then I started buying films from the 1930s. And earlier.
Considering I've seen most of these back when I was a little kid, some many times, it blows my mind HOW DAMN MUCH I enjoyed the entire set. Some will argue about which films are better or less than the others, and while that may be, I enjoyed ALL of them immensely. The fact that the 12 Universals have all been extensively "restored" to look the best they've probably ever been in my lifetime goes a long way. There's a set of trailers included, and looking at those, really reminds you of HOW BAD some of these films have looked on TV for decades.
One thing I got a tremendous kick ot of, was after all this time, suddenly realizing that the Universals utilized a sort of "stock company" of actors, many of the same people who kept turning up in film after film playing different roles. I hadn't seen anything quite this extensive like that since watching the Maury Chaykin-Timothy Hutton "NERO WOLFE" tv series.
One amusing example, the guy who played Stapleton in the 1939 "HOUND" turned up as the Prince in 'PURSUIT TO ALGIERS". I kept looking at the guy and thinking, "Why does he look familiar?" Heh. ;D
Even the one many consider the least of the "World War 2" stories, "...IN WASHINGTON", I get a kick out of the main villain being George Zucco, with Henry Danielle being one of his main henchmen. (That's 2 Moriarty's in 1 film!) I particulary like the bit where Holmes insists the man who has the microfilm doesn't realize it. And, of course, at the end, he proves it... when he TAKES it back from Zucco!
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Oh S***. I accidentally hit the wrong button and deleted a message. I gotta be more careful at this board. Seems a glitch in the design that a moderator should be able to do that, BY ACCIDENT. Sorry!
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This was posted by THE AUSTRALIAN PANTHER:
Quote
My first exposure to Sherlock Holmes
You know what, I have no idea. Have to think about that.
Seems like I've always been aware of Holmes.
Became more aware only in the last 20 years.
Read all Conan Doyle's Holmes stories about 15 years ago, and since then many many althernate Holmes and spin-off book series, I had seen 'Young Sherlock Holmes' about when it came out. Got the Rathbone box DVD set 7 or 8 years ago and watched all of therm.
Probably some Holmes films were on TV late at night when I was too young to remember the details.
(I had to hit "go back" several times to grab and copy this. My apologies!)
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This was posted by THE AUSTRALIAN PANTHER:
Quote
My first exposure to Sherlock Holmes
You know what, I have no idea. Have to think about that.
Seems like I've always been aware of Holmes.
Became more aware only in the last 20 years.
Read all Conan Doyle's Holmes stories about 15 years ago, and since then many many althernate Holmes and spin-off book series, I had seen 'Young Sherlock Holmes' about when it came out. Got the Rathbone box DVD set 7 or 8 years ago and watched all of therm.
Probably some Holmes films were on TV late at night when I was too young to remember the details.
(I had to hit "go back" several times to grab and copy this. My apologies!)
My first exposure to Sherlock Holmes was watching the 1930s and 1940s feature films on TV. When TV started getting into homes in Western Canada around 1954-55, there were few regularly-scheduled TV shows, other than live TV, and a couple hours each evening with some American and British shows. The major entertainment was watching feature films from the 1930s and 1940s (mostly British and US). I loved the US Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce series, and the few British Holmes films from the 1930s. They made me interested to read "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes", "The Return of Sherlock Holmes", and "The Hound of The Baskervilles" in book form, checked out from my local and school libraries. I also found a few Holmes comic books from the 1940s and early 1950s amongst my cousins' comic books One or two of them were Classics Illustrated, and there were a couple from other publishers. They were okay, but a little disappointing.
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I found Holmes through the stories way back when I was early teens. I loved them. Still do. The films were ok and I remember seeing The Hound with Basil Rathbone first time and loving it, but some of the others in the run were boring and I've tried to watch them again and never got to the end. Perhaps the faux London sets annoyed me. I did enjoy Christopher Plummer in Murder By Decree but that could also be because of my interest in the ripper.
( There's an excellent tv show with Rupert Penry Jones, the always enjoyable Phil Davis - the taxi driver in Sherlock - , and the strange Steve Pemberton, in Whitechapel. A review said, "It is all in the worst possible taste and bloody good fun")
Much later I listened to the radio plays with Clive Merrison and Michael Williams and earlier episodes with John Gielgud. But my favourite Holmes is still Jeremy Brett.
As for the comic adaptations, I've already mentioned some of them and as someone mentioned, some of the French stories are excellent.
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I've wracked my brain trying to recall when I first met Sherlock Holmes, but as has already been said, he seems always to have been around. I'm pretty sure it was early in junior high school (for non-Yanks, that's around age 11-12). The library had an old omnibus "complete stories" volume which I devoured. At the time old Hollywood movies were a staple of late-night TV and I saw some of the Rathbone films then. In college, a freshman English teacher, Clive Miller, ran a weekly movie series. He showed nice prints of classic and semi-classic films. It was there I saw most of the Golden Age greats and not-so-greats, including several Rathbone Holmes films. During the Holmes fad in the late 70s (?) I bought the two-volume Annotated Sherlock Holmes set. I enjoyed all the cultural and historical background. Though I like the character and the movies I've seen, I'm not a rabid Holmes fan and haven't watched most of the newer material. For instance I've not seen a single Jeremy Brett episode. I did see The Private Life when it came out. I enjoyed it then but I barely remember it.
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I briefly considered doing an Arthur Conan Doyle blog project (to go along with Jules Verne & Edgar Allan Poe) but I've long since given up on it. There's just TOO MUCH of any one of these "classic" authors to do more than one. Especially when one begins investigating comics from overseas.
A TON of SHERLOCK HOLMES comics are to be found, for example, just in the Mexican TESORO DE CUENTOS CLASICOS series alone. This home-grown "Classics Illustrated" started out reprinting Dell Comics, then quickly switched to originals by Mexican writers & artists. At some point they began featuring SHERLOCK HOLMES and ARSENE LUPIN comics regularly, later switched to Asian mythology, and then, in the early 70s, becoming an anthology focused on vampire stories. All without changing the title of the series!
You can browse the covers at the Tebeosfera database site in Spain...
https://www.tebeosfera.com/colecciones/tesoro_de_cuentos_clasicos_1957_sea_novaro.html
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#86 (Oct6'64)
(https://www.tebeosfera.com/T3content/img/T3_numeros/8/6/tesoro_de_cuentos_clasicos_1957_sea_novaro_86.jpg)
#90 (Feb'65)
(https://www.tebeosfera.com/T3content/img/T3_numeros/9/0/tesoro_de_cuentos_clasicos_1957_sea_novaro_90.jpg)
#91 (Mar'65)
(https://www.tebeosfera.com/T3content/img/T3_numeros/9/1/tesoro_de_cuentos_clasicos_1957_sea_novaro_91/w-423_tesoro_de_cuentos_clasicos_1957_sea_novaro_91.jpg)
#92 (Apr'65)
(https://www.tebeosfera.com/T3content/img/T3_numeros/9/2/tesoro_de_cuentos_clasicos_1957_sea_novaro_92.jpg)
Holmes returns in #161 (Jan'71), but the later stories appear to be originals rather than adaptations, most dealing with supernatural mysteries.
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NOVELAS INMORTALES #136
(Novedades Editores / Mexico / 1980)
(https://thumbs.worthpoint.com/zoom/images1/1/0513/21/1980-novelas-inmortales-comic-conan_1_8244d0528e3ab477181628a1fb6468f1.jpg)
This DIGEST-size series of home-grown Mexican "Classic" adaptations ran for at least 859 issues, and also did several other Arthur Conan Doyle stories, but the only SHERLOCK HOLMES I've found so far is their version of "The Hound of the Baskervilles".
Some sellers on Ebay are putting these up for sale a few at a time, and every so often I try to go there looking to see if I can find issues I haven't seen before. I download the cover images and add the info to my own slowly-growing index... and if any POE comics turn up, GRAB 'em before they disappear!!!
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JOYAS DE LA LITERATURA presenta CLASICOS DE TERROR #3
(Novedades Editores / Mexico / Aug 30 1999)
(https://http2.mlstatic.com/D_NQ_NP_2X_799856-MLM26935802678_032018-F.webp)
JDLL is a COLOR series from the same publisher as the B&W NOVELAS INMORTALES, with entirely-DIFFERENT versions of many of the same stories!
CLASICOS DE TERROR was a short-lived reprint series focvusing on "horror" stories. I have not yet found which issue of JDLL featured "The Sussex Vampire", but here's the reprint! That cover painting of Holmes looks noticably like Peter Cushing!
JDLL also did a number of NON-Holmes Doyle stories, including "THE LOST WORLD".
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Thank you prof. Reminded me that there was a Spanish Holmes movie produced recently.
I think it was this one.
Holmes & Watson. Madrid Days (2012)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-ADA9KcuiQ
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2108535/?ref_=ttls_li_tt
Also Here is a fan-made list of Holmes movies and TV shows.
All Sherlock Holmes Movies and Series
https://www.imdb.com/list/ls066973103/
Almost certainly needs updating.
More from me later.
Cheers!
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I don't actually have any of those Mexican comics. I might, if I could read Spanish... or, was doing a HOLMES blog project. The POE blog project turned out to be far more enormous than I could ever have imagined. I can barely keep up with that, and certain items (like the one I'm working on now) are so time-consuming, I wonder at times if I'll ever get much farther into it.
If I get my new computer set up (it's disgraceful I haven't done it yet), and then get a copy of LIGHTWAVE... well, that may be it for me and the "classics".
We'll see.
Friday I picked my my new Blu-Ray player. Fortunately, TODAY, I opened the box. Now, I KNEW it probably didn't have "RCA" jacks, only an "USB" jack. The online ad specified it did not come with a cable. But, I had ALREADY bought a USB cable-- AND, a comverter box!!!! -- several months ago, just in case I needed them.
But when I opened the TINY little remote... it required 2 "AAA" batteries. As it happens... I had 2 "AAA" batteries from a 4-pack. BUT!!!!! -- one of them was LEAKING.
SON OF A B**** !!!!! >:(
Oh well. I'll be out at work tomorrow. While I'm out, I will be getting batteries. Because I have ONE movie I haven't seen yet, and it's A BLU-RAY.
Talk about getting right down to the (heh) "wire".
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I said that I would have more to say about Arsene Lupin and that I would use the Sherlock Holmes thread to do so. Reason being that Maurice Le Blanc created Lupin as a French 'response' [my choice of word] to Arthur Conan Doyle's creation Sherlock Holmes.
That can wait, but here I'm concerned with the current Netflix 'Lupin' series. This is a French series. I noted that the series is called Lupin and stars Omar Sy, who is pretty obviously of African extraction. As I've said on CB+ before, I don't like revisionism, so I was prepared to dislike it on principle.
Too quick.
It seem the character is, and I quote, 'Diop, a Senegalese immigrant brought to Paris as a child by his father., who gives his son, a novel containing the adventures of Lupin - before Diop's father is framed for theft, imprisoned and die by his own hand.
Maurice Leblanc's Arsene Lupin becomes a kind of Spiritual guide to the young Diop.
The series apparently continuely refers back to Leblanc's work and guides Diop's choices in life.
The creator, 'frontrunner' in US terms, George Kay has said, 'He uses the LeBlanc novels as inspiration and a get-out-jail-free card when he is stuck, taking ideas from the book and using them in new and different ways.
Leblanc was much more prolific than Conan Doyle having written 17 novels and 39 novellas. Like Holmes there have been many 'new' books and treatments'
This series has taken off in a big way, I imagine some of you have seen it and have comments to make.
' 'According to Netflix, Lupin is their second biggest original debut of all time.
It's in Netflix's top ten , first place in France, Belgium and Germany and 5 in Australia.
It doesn't appear to be a predominantly cerebral show like Holmes. It is described as having, 'extravagantly engineered high-speed chases, fast and gaudy escape set-pieces set against Parisian landmarks, and interesting scripts, an action blockbuster for grown-ups'
Well, I don't subscribe to Netflix and have no plans to do so, and I still have some reservations, but I will keep my eyes open for it, and hopefully will enjoy it.
Cheers!
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Following a pile of appearances in TESORO DE CUENTOS CLASICOS, Arsene Lupin was spun off into his own series, with the same artist (I believe), who also did some issues of EL MONJE LOCO.
Arthur Conan Doyle was more productive than many realize, it's just that maybe HALF of all his books did not involve SHERLOCK HOLMES.
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it's just that maybe HALF of all his books did not involve SHERLOCK HOLMES.
I misspoke there! I have (somewhere under one of my book piles ) the complete works of Conan Doyle.
It was. as I'm sure you are well aware Prof, a source of deep frustrating to him that nothing else he wrote was anywhere near as successful as the Holmes stories. Which is why he tried to kill Holmes off.
I was referring to the CANON, not the entirety of Doyle's work.
Cheers!
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Looking for a late night movie to watch, I came across these two - was actually looking for the movie - The Strange Door- at the time.
? la mani?re de Sherlock Holmes - Un film d'Henri Lepage (1955)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAz3d9XIt18
This is set in the 1950's and quite what it has to do with Holmes I don't yet know, having not yet watched it.
Sherlock Holmes : Le Signe Des Quatre | S?rie Culte | Archive INA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKKq9cY-Egc
Yes, The sign of Four.
This seems to be an episode of a French TV show called 'Les Grands Detectives'. If there are episodes of this show starring some of the other characters shown in the title of the episode, then its a series I would like to have in totality.
Enjoy!
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I just ran across one of the strangest stories.
It seems the first (of many) film adaptations of THE SIGN OF FOUR was made in early 1913 by the Thanhouser Film Corporation, and starred Harry Benham & Charles Gunn as Holmes & Watson. Until yesterday, I had NEVER run across this one.
It seems that in January 1913, while the finished film was at the processing house, there was a catastroiphic fire, and the ENTIRE place burned to the ground, taking with it ALL the negatives for the completed film. SHOCKING!
So, while the studio was being rebuilt, a newspaper article appeared noting the studio was planning to REMOUNT the film... and, they DID. Same studio, same script, same cast of actors. The 2nd version premiered in theatres on February 25, 1913.
I know some films involve multiple takes, sometimes months or more apart, as in the Liz Taylor "CLEOPATRA", the Roger Corman "THE TERROR", the Howard Hughes production "HIS KIND OF WOMAN", or, just about every film Stanley Kubrick ever did. But this was the first time I've heard of a studio making an ENTIRE FILM twice, back-to-back, because of it being destroyed before they were able to run off any prints.
I went to at least a half-dozen websites, and only ONE of them mentioned the film's current status:
"UNCERTAIN".
So... NOBODY knows if any prints or negatives still exist, but they don't want to actually call it 'LOST", either. Go figure. ;D
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DER HUND VON BASKERVILLE (1914)
Now this was really wild! More crime-comedy almost than murder mystery. You know right from the beginning that Stapleton is the killer. After several attempts on Sir Henry's life, Henry writes to invite Sherlock Holmes to look into the matter. Stapleton blows up the mail box so the letter never gets sent... then, disguises himself as Holmes!
It get real fun when the real Holmes reads an account of Sir Henry in the newspaper, then tells Watson he wants to go take a look at this "Sherlock Holmes". A really interesting bit of tech shows up when Holmes calls Watson via an electronic computer screen, and then we see Watson take an elevator to go to Holmes on another floor.
The butler, Barrymore, had been helping Stapleton early-on, but refuses to do so anymore, and so Stapleton frames him for the crimes. But Holmes figures this out, and recruits Barrymore as his assistant. The wildest part of the film has to be when Holmes is briefly trapped in a bizarre underground lair beneath Stapleton's house, where the hound is kennelled.
More so than even the 1959 Hammer film, it's like they used Doyle's story as a rough starting point, then concocted an entirely-original new story around it. This was apparently based on a 1907 stage play by the same screenwriter, Richard Oswald.
Crazy enough, actor Alwin Neuss had played Holmes once before this, in "Den stjaalne millionobligation" (1911), and "DER HUND" was so successful, it spawned multiple sequels, several of them with Stapleton, Barrymore, Sir Henry & his fiancee all returning for new adventures & dangers. It doesn't look like any of the other films are known to survive. The only known copy of "DER HUND" was apparently found in an archive in Russia.
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It appears that Alwin Neuss starred as Sherlock Holmes in 7 different films!
(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/proxy/D6v00gQKwTjDwjd-Jx3OON3Kxfuz1zfpMCYieWMz4P2yIXmXV_eP7ug5xbbfhRPhl5mBJoetlDfGF40)
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SHERLOCK HOLMES (1932)
Clive Brook appeared as Holmes in 3 films. THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES (Paramount / 1929) was apparently the very 1st Holmes film with sound. Although not a lost film, at the moment, this is not in circulation. He then appeared in a short vignette in PARAMOUNT ON PARADE (Paramount / 1930). the only copy I've seen of this for sale was a rather pricey one from a seller in Germany, who failed to mention what "Region" the disc was!
And then 2 years later, he appeared in SHERLOCK HOLMES (Fox / 1932). This is a case of false advertising! The credits allege it is "based" on William Gillette's stage play. That may be, but this is not an adaptation of the play-- rather, it's a SEQUEL to it! It picks up right where the play ends. Holmes is planning to retire from detecting and marry Alice Faulkner. Meanwhile, Moriarty is in the dock being convicted of murder, but swears that the 3 men responsible for his being there will all die before he does. I can see where this opening somewhat inspired the 1939 20th Century-Fox film THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES, except in that one, Moriarty was declared not guilty and freed, whereas in this one, he escapes from prison and murders the first man on his list.
In this story, Holmes has a long-standing feud with Scotland Yard detective Colonel Gore-King. More annoying than any Lestrade I've ever seen, he derides everything Holmes says, does or suggests, even when he (and his young protoge Billy) correctly figure out where the body of the murdered Judge was hidden.
Moriatry recruits a group of assassins and gangsters from several countries, who wind up going on a Chicago-style rampage, after it appears Holmes has been tricked into shooting Gore-King dead. But the two have formed a truce, and faked the murder to bring Moriarty out of hiding. Holmes further decudes the crime wave is merely a distraction from a bigger job-- robbing the bank owned by Alice's father, by tunnelling into it from the shop next door (shades of "The Red-Headed League").
Truthfully, this film reminds me, more than anything, of a mid-40s Universal Holmes film-- except, without Rathbone & Bruce. At least, unlike nearly every silent film before it, Watson is shown to be a reliable friend (rather than a non-entity, or left out entirely). But I've never seen "roaring 20s" style gangster violence in a Holmes film before!
The one wrong note, for me, sadly, is Alice Faulkner. Miriam Jordan's pretty enough, but while I could accept Holmes admiring Irene Adler or Violet Hunter for their intelligence, Alice just seems a typically self-centered, vapid female.
Gore-King is played by Alan Mowbray, who wound up appearing n a couple of the Rathbone films, including a turn as Colonel Sebastian Moran in "TERROR BY NIGHT". The best part of the film is after his seeming murder, when he puts aside his former derision of Holmes and they truly become allies in the fight. It reminds of the change in Arthur Holmwood (Michael Gough) in the 1958 Hammer version of "DRACULA".
The Judge was C. Montague Shaw, who was The Clay King in "FLASH GORDON'S TRIP TO MARS" (1938) and Dr. Huer in "BUCK ROGERS" (1939).
Dr. Watson, who's only in the film briefly, is played by Reginald Owen, who a year later starred as Holmes in A STUDY IN SCARLET (1933). He's probably best remembered as Ebineezer Scrooge in the 1938 version of "A CHRISTMAS CAROL".
Moriarty is played by Ernest Torrence, known for a whole string of rotten villains in silent films.
Comic relief is supplied by Herbert Mundin as a bar owner. I remember him mostly from "TARZAN ESCAPES" and "THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD". His scenes look like they could have stepped right out of a late-50s Hammer Film, when it came to giving the audience a few laughs in between more intense scenes.
I enjoyed this for what it was, though I doubt it'll ever become a favorite of mine. I suppose there's a number of reasons why this film is virtually forgotten. Truthfully, it looks like it could use a nice restoration job. The picture I could tolerate, but the sound on the disc was so low, I had to crank my stereo ALL the way up to hear. I doubt I could hear it at all if I was running it thru that adapter box I needed to use with my Blu-Ray Player.
(https://i5.walmartimages.com/asr/144dae36-01d0-46d6-8857-6a2fc2b51b67_1.a2dd6ee0e312bc5528420fd6cee18d79.jpeg?odnWidth=450&odnHeight=450&odnBg=ffffff)
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I didn't get around to reading IMDB reviews until this morning. Whatta ya know, exactly ONE reviewer "got" that the 1932 film was a SEQUEL to the Gillette play, NOT an adaptation of it.
In fact, having now seen this, I suspect the 1939 Basil Rathbone film was not an adaptation either, but in its own way, more of a REMAKE of THIS film! The difference being, set back in the proper era, and completely eliminating any romance for Holmes (smart move).
Another reviewer noted something I had the very strong feeling of... which was, it felt more like a "BULLDOG DRUMMOND" film than a "SHERLOCK HOLMES". Apart from the "modern" setting, and the hardcore Chicago gangsters, you had the running sub-plot of a detective engaged to get married, who was REPEATEDLY putting off his promise to RETIRE and GET MARRIED in order to tackle ONE more case.
I've seen very few of the John Howard DRUMMOND films, but that seemed to be running gag in those, and was also done in the George Sanders FALCON films as well.
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Ladies and gentlemen, for the first time in 4 years of buying DVDs, I accidentally got a Region 2 disc, which I found out when I popped it into the machine and a BIG message came up on screen telling me it wouldn't play. Oops.
So I watched the 1914 "DER HUND VON BASKERVILLE" again. This is so much fun.
My favorite bits:
Holmes telling Watson, "I'm going to Baskerville Hall to take a look at this Sherlock Holmes."
Holmes finds a bomb with a burning fuse hidden in a chandelier, and casually announces, "The castle will explode in 20 seconds. Could you give me a light?" When the people in the room run for it, he pulls out a Derringer and SHOOTS the burning fuse, which falls to the floor, still burning, picks it up, and uses it to light his cigarette. HOW COOL can somebody be?
The butler walks in and announces, "Mr. Stapleton has returned, he wishes to say hello." Stapleton (not his real name!) is currently sitting in the room, DISGUISED as Sherlock Holmes. The look on his face when he KNOWS Holmes is now impersonating him is priceless.
Yes, this film has as little in common with its source material as most Hammer Films adaptations... but it's FUN, and I've already seen it twice in less than a month.
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/55/Alwin_Neu%C3%9F_by_Alexander_Binder_K1507.jpg/250px-Alwin_Neu%C3%9F_by_Alexander_Binder_K1507.jpg)
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"THE SPECKLED BAND"
(British & Dominions Film Corporation / UK / 1931)
Apparently the 3rd time this was filmed (after Georges Treville & Eille Norwood), this was the very 1st film with Raymond Massey! A real oddity, this was actually based on a 1910 stage play, and as a result, had several changes including several extra characters added, like Dr. Rylot's butler, his co-spirator house-keeper, and his Indian servant with the flute.
The strangest addition is Watson having had a computerized filing system installed in their HUGE Baker Street flat, with a trio of secretaries busy typing up details of crime cases for his files. Holmes himself has had a voice-recording machine added to this, and tells Watson "Every mistake you may have said has been recorded and will be held against you."
In this version of the classic story, Watson was a friend of Rylot's late wife, and a friend of his daughters, and gives testimony when the first of them is found dead. Holmes is intrigued by the case, but has to wait a full year until history gets around to repeating itself.
When he goes to the Stoke Moran mansion to investigate, he takes a job as one of the construction men needlessly ripping Helen's room apart. This is rather like how Basil Rathbone's Holmes was in disguise as a peddler in his version of "THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES", another case of his being in disguise that was NOT in the original story being adapted.
Holmes & Watson investigate Rylot's room before Helen's (a reverse of the short story), and when the intended crime is in progress, Holmes has Helen STAY in the room, on the bed, knowing that Rylot will only act if he SEES her there, via a hand-held mirror. This is the only version of the story I've seen where they SHOW Rylot and the snake BEFORE he inserts it into her bedroom.
Perhaps the most touching scene is the finale, where, after Watson invites Holmes to the wedding reception, Holmes aays, "Not in my line." "It comes to all of us!" After Watson leaves, Holmes says to himself... "Not all of us, Watson."
Someone online suggested this film looked and felt VERY much like the 1931 "FRANKENSTEIN" in style, and I agree. It's very slow, stodgy, primitive-seeming, and most of the acting is on a stage or silent film level. Except for Massey, who's relaxed, natural, energetic. Like Boris Karloff in Howard Hawks' "SCARFACE", he's by a wide margin the BEST actor in the film! And his career was only just getting started.
The sets are magnificent, and the main hall in Stoke Moran actually reminds me of the one in the 1958 "DRACULA"!
Now, the real tragedy here... is that over the years, this film has been CUT TO PIECES, at least 22 MINUTES is missing from it (including, it seems, MOST of the red-herring sub-plot about the gypsies), and the only available prints, the picture keep wobbling, jumping at almost constant cuts, and with terrible sound. OH, man, this makes the 1922 John Barrymore film look pristene by comparison. Most reviewers online express a strong wish that someone, somewhere might have a complete print of this, that would make it WORTH it for someone to perform a proper restoration on it. I know I'm one of them!
Knowing in advance of the terrible condition of the film, I went after a cheap (used) copy, seeing no sense in spending twice as much for "brand new". My copy arrived today, loose in the case, scratched all over the place... but, fortunately, it plays fine.
Now by comparison... whoever did this DVD, there's NO company listed anywhere. I suspect it was the "TCM Shop", since they were selling "manufactured on demand" NEW copies (but they said it was "not currently available" when I tried to order one direct from them). The packaging DAMN NEAR makes up for the wretched quality of the film print, as it's one of the NICEST-looking DVD boxes I've ever seen! This made me really glad I avoided getting it on a cheap "twofer" with the 1962 Chris Lee film, which apparently, was in nearly-as-bad shape on that disc. Especially since, only 2 MONTHS ago, that film has FINALLY been issued in WIDESCREEN. (Something to look forward to!)
(https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BZWExNTE4ZTAtNDgxNy00OTc3LTllYTQtZmYxNTc1NTBlY2ZiXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyOTMyMjYwNTA@._V1_.jpg)
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A STUDY IN SCARLET
(K.B.S. Productions Inc. / US / 1933)
I first saw this some years ago when someone sent me a copy of it on videotape. I liked it then, and enjoyed it even more tonight watching it on DVD.
Reginald Owen, who reminds me a bit of Ray Milland, may not LOOK like Holmes, but he certainly SEEMS like Holmes. The story by Robert Florey (who directed a pile of films in various genres & series, never seeming to get nailed down to any one) seems to have been based on Belgian writer Stanislas-Andre Steeman's 1931 detective novel "Six Hommes Morts". It also managed to pay tribute to bits of existing Holmes stories, including The Sign Of Four, The Red-Headed League, and The Five Orange Pips, with Reginald Owen writing the dialogue to give it as much genuine Holmes flavor as possible. The film, to me, really feels like a Universal Basil Rathbone film a decade early, only without Rathbone or Bruce. Oddly enough, it also appears to have inspired Agatha Christie, who I've become convinced was a fan of Doyle, when 6 years later she wrote "Ten Little Indians".
Watching the entire Rathbone series twice recently has also informed me of how many actors appeared in multiple films playing different parts. Future Rathbone alumni here include Alan Mowbray as Inspector Lestrade, Halliwell Hobbes as Malcolm Deering, Olaf Hytten as Merrydew's butler, and Billy Bevan as Will Swallow. The latter's genial pub customer reminds me of the sort of humorous characters Hammer Films often inserted into their otherwise intense horror films.
This is yet another film that's sadly fallen into public domain, and is one I would certainly appreciate seeing a really nice restoration done on!
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/3e/A_Study_in_Scarlet_%281933_film%29.jpg)
(https://i.ytimg.com/vi/ueRNl80R9Sc/maxresdefault.jpg)
(https://www.arthur-conan-doyle.com/images/thumb/8/82/1933-stud-owen-poster-quad2.jpg/626px-1933-stud-owen-poster-quad2.jpg)
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(https://alchetron.com/cdn/a-study-in-scarlet-1933-film-dab55955-1dec-4c09-9dff-16a9fae456e-resize-750.jpg)
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Prof said,
This is yet another film that's sadly fallen into public domain
I would have thought that was a good thing. For one, if somebody could find a copy, we could host it here in the appropriate section.
Cheers!
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On the other hand, the 12 Universal films with Basil Rathbone all having fallen into public domain DID NOT stop someone from performing a major RESTORATION job on them. The thing is, there are countless DVDs with those films out there.,.. but ONLY the MPI box set contains the restorations. At this point, WHY would anybody want to buy the others?
4 films I've gotten recently have been restorations, in fact, all 4 were considered "LOST" at one point!
1914 -- DER HUND -- found in a Russian vault. Poor condition, yet very watchable and lots of fun.
1916 -- SHERLOCK HOLMES with William Gillette -- the single CLEANEST-looking silent film I have ever seen. And as I've seen clips of how it looked "before", that only makes the restoration job they did on it all the more impressive. Absolutely-STUNNING to look at!
1922 -- SHERLOCK HOLMES with John Barrymore -- this was discovered in 1970, but was in such horrific, fragmented shape, it took 30 years to do a reconstruction job on it. As it stands, there's about 25 minutes still missing, and what we have looks like it STILL NEEDS a restoration... despite this, still watchable and fun.
1929 -- DER HUND -- Czech print of a German film found in Poland, with missing passages filled in with bits of a 9 MM home-movie edition from France, and still photos & text. Depending on which part of the film you're watching, it either looks STUNNING or awful-- but overall, this is my FAVORITE of these 4.
In addition, THE SLEEPING CARDINAL (1931) was long "LOST", but a US print (SHERLOCK HOLMES' FATAL HOUR) was found that was in better shape than the other 3 Arthur Wontner films. His 2nd film , THE MISSING REMBRANDT, is still... missing (heh). The other 3 are all available from MULTIPLE companies, in various stages of deterioration. Someone online said better prints of these have been seen on English TV, but, nobody has bothered putting THOSE copies out on DVD.
As it is, by accident, I wound up the other day with a 2nd version of his THE SIGN OF FOUR (1932). Comparing the 2 DVDs I now have, the new one is slightly more cropped than the other one, but, it has MUCH-CLEANER SOUND. (Now if only I was able to combine the picture from the one and the sound from the other...)
I have 2 copies of SILVER BLAZE (1937)-- one on videotape (copied from a rental), the other on DVD (a US print, MURDER AT THE BASKERVILLES, which is missing 6 minutes, including the entire opening scene of the film). Since this one WAS available on VHS decades ago in its UK version, I wonder if the UK version is out there somewhere on DVD? You would think so...
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Here is one only just posted on Youtube on July 22.
Sherlock Holmes: The Man Who Disappeared (1951)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ya3iTkeUilc
John Longden as Sherlock Holmes
[The Man Who Disappeared 1951 is a quality Sherlock Holmes mystery that was intended for a TV series. The film short was based on Arthur Conan Doyle's 1891 Sherlock Holmes story "The Man with the Twisted Lip".]
['He appeared in six films directed by Alfred Hitchcock: Blackmail (1929), Juno and the Paycock (1930), Elstree Calling (1930), The Skin Game (1931), Young and Innocent (1937) and Jamaica Inn (1939).']
Just about to watch it.
Cheers!
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I've got that on DVD, it was one of the rarities included in a 3-disc set, SHERLOCK HOLMES: THE ARCHIVE COLLECTION, Volume 1.
Longdon was okay, but Campbell Singer as Watson was the one who really impressed me. In 1962 he was the first of 4 different actors to play Inspector Claude Eustace Teal on THE SAINT with Roger Moore (the best of the lot). After the part was recast, a few years later he came back playing a different character. He was also in 2 episodes of THE AVENGERS and a lot of other things.
They "played" with the plot of this adaptation a bit, adding a different reason for the husband to have gone missing in disguise than was in the original. The story's also been adapted with Douglas Wilmer in 1965 and Jeremy Brett in the 80s. They're both good, but I think I prefer the Wilmer version a bit.
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There was a whole string of attempts to do a SHERLOCK HOLMES tv series in the 50s...
1949 - THE SPECKLED BAND -- an episode of "Your Story Time" with Alan Napier as Holmes, Evelyn Ankers as Miss Stoner, and Edgar Barrier as Dr. Grimesby Roylott. I've seen it twice so far, very enjoyable.
1950 - SHERLOCK HOLMES -- unsold tv pilot with Basil Rathbone! Considered "LOST".
1951 - THE MAN WHO DISAPPEARED -- John Longdon & Campbell Singer
1951 - SHERLOCK HOLMES -- 6-episode BBC series with Alan Wheatley & Raymond Francis. Like the later BBC series with Wilmer, Cushing & Brett, all adaptations of original Doyle stories. Apparently, went out live and was NEVER RECORDED!
1953 - THE BLACK BARONET -- episode of "Suspense" with Basil Rathbone & Martyn Green. Considered "LOST".
1954 - SHERLOCK HOLMES -- American producer working in France with French, English & Scottish actors. 39 episodes starring Ronald Howard & H. Marion Crawford. Although only very few are adaptations, most are original stories, I've come to love this as much or more than the Jeremy Brett series (it's generally a LOT MORE FUN). Apparently, a 2nd series was planned, but never happened! Many of these stories were REMADE by the same producer 25 years later... in Poland.
1955 - DER HUND VON BASKERVILLE -- German TV production with Wolf Ackva & Arnulf Schroder. "NO record". A shame, considering the 1929 & 1937 German films both apparently had some influence on ther 1959 Hammer version, I can't help but wonder if this one, made only 4 years earlier, might have as well.
1957 - THE RED HEADED LEAGUE -- epsode of "Odyssey" with Michael Clarke Lawrence. This is an odd one, as I'm sure I ran across this in a book on Holmes films I have, yet I have recently been UNABLE to find any mention of it online!
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SHERLOCK HOLMES
(Williamstown Theatre Festival / HBO Standing Room Only / 11-15-1981)
I just had to dig this one out, to compare with the William Gillette & John Barrymore films. While those are silents adapting Gillette's stage play, this is a film of an actual PERFORMANCE of the stage play. As such, it's probably far more authentic to the play than the Gillette film itself was.
Having been a regular theatre-goer for a few years in the early 90s, I can tell you, there's a unique style and energy about a LIVE stage play unlike anything else. Someone at the IMDB argued that this does not translate well to film or TV. I disagree. If you go in knowing what you're watching, you CAN enjoy it on those terms. AND BOY-- DID I !!! This had to be at least the 3rd time I've seen it, but having now seen those 2 silent films, I wound up appreciating this EVEN MORE than I did before. Apart from knowing the story, I also wound up knowing a number of the actors in this one.
Apparently, the version run on HBO cut the early part of the play, and replaced it with Watson reading into his diary about Holmes' "last" case, one the public was unaware of before. Then it went on from the point the villains are trying to coerce Alice Faulkner to reveal where she's hidden the love letters the royal prince wrote to her now-dead sister. After quite a build-up, Holmes arrives, and the audience burst into WILD applause!
Like many of the Rathbone films and the 2 with Ian Richardson, Gillette's story was an original, influenced by and peppered with references to several Doyle stories. These include "A Scandal In Bohemia", "The Sign Of Four", "The Final Problem", and I feel certain a couple others. The bit where Holmes figures out that Watson has moved his shaving table is familar, but I can't recall from where offhand. Being a stage-bound play, the big climax of "The Final Problem" was altered to take place first in a gas chamber, then in Watson's office. The bit of a disguised cabby invited in and having handcuffs slapped on actually comes from the climax of "A Study In Scarlet".
Oddly enough, using a gas chamber as a murder weapon turned up in "The Retired Colorman"-- except in that case, Doyle wrote the story 2 decades after Gillette wrote the stage play!
It was interesting to see a couple of scenes in the play that were visually expanded in the silent films. These include Billy getting into a fight while Moriarty goes to see Holmes face-to-face, or Alice hiding the letters in the shutters outside her bedroom window.
The cast includes Susan Clark (COOGAN'S BLUFF, MADIGAN) as Madge Larrabee, the brains of her husband-wife team; Tom Atkins (THE HOWLING) as Craigin, one of Moriarty's thugs, and George Morfogen as Moriarty, one of the more impressive versions I've seen outside of George Zucco.
Funny enough, 4 of the key characters were played by actors who all had STAR TREK
connections:
Billy, a part originally done onstage by a young Charlie Chaplin, is Christian Slater, so young as to be unrecognizable. He had a brief cameo in STAR TREK VI: THE UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY.
Bassick, Moriarty's right-hand man, is Dwight Schultz, before he starred on THE A-TEAM and later became a recurring character on STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION.
Larrabee, the very arrogant but not all that bright villain, is Stephen Collins, 2 years after STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE.
Sherlock Holmes, of course, is FRANK LANGELLA, 2 years after DRACULA, and a decade before he turned up in a 3-parter on STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE.
Most of this, I enjoyed immensely. It's played far more for laughs than the 1916 or 1922 films were. Oddly enough, while I did enjoy the ending of both the Gillette & Barrymore films, in this version, I didn't care as much for the ending, which involves Holmes deciding to give up being a detective, seeing Baker Street burned to the ground, and admitting he's fallen in love with Alice Faulkner. Oh well! This last bit is more interesting than it might be, in light of the 1932 Clive Brook film, which picks up EXACTLY where this story leaves off!
(https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0857/7038/products/593daac285650_386947b_1024x1024.jpg?v=1564362315)
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DER HUND VON BASKERVILLE
(Ondra-Lamac Film / Germany / 1937)
Before I dove head-first into the silents, I was very much looking forward to getting this. Now that I have, I wound up enjoying it immensely!
This was the 3rd German adaptation of Doyle's novel, and it seems all 3 had some influence on the famous 1959 Hammer version. The story starts in the past, showing the events of the "legend". But then, like the 1968 BBC version, it focuses on events leading up to Sir Charles' death. It's more than a half hour in before we finally get our first glimpse of Holmes. And what an unsual depiction it is! Holmes wears a turtleneck sweater, a leather jacket & a worker's cap-- as someone said, "Proletariat" instead of "Elite". What struck me as funny the first time I saw this, it seemed he wore the same outfit that Christopher Eccleston did on DOCTOR WHO-- the one some character joked made him look like a "u-boat captain".
As in most versions of the story, Holmes sends Watson to Dartmoor, but in this case, he never meets Sir Henry until the film's nearing its climax.
Perhaps the biggest change is the early introduction of Beryl, who admits to being a "distant cousin". She visits Sir Charles before his death, then hangs around and gets very friendly with Sir Henry. Watson, who briefly tries to hide his identity under a false name, eyes her as a suspect, since she might have been in line for the inheritance, until the existence of Henry became known.
In the end, we find out that Beryl and Stapleton are really brother and sister-- JUST like in the Rathbone film 2 years later, except, while she was somehow completely unaware of her heritage in that one, and innocent of the murder plot, here, she was known to be related from the first, but wanted no part of the murder plot once she found out about it.
Watson is shown to be really inteligent in this version, and quite capable of picking up the smallest clues on his own. Holmes works to his own methods, and only contributes key info where really needed. I think having a smart sidekick makes the hero look even smarter, which this film certainly does.
Stapleton, as played by Erich Ponto, is a light-hearted eccentric crank naturalist, who likes to sing to himself, and openly hates women. One reviewer suggested he might be the "best" version of the character ever seen on film!
One extended scene has Watson vising Stapleton (the naturalist) and using his telescope to see someone prowling around on the moors. This is similar to the 1959 film, where they made Frankland the local priest AND the naturalist. In the original story, of course, it was Frankland's telescope, but he was an entirely-different character. I'm reminded of how some years back, I watched a mini-marathon of several version of "HOUND" back-to-back, and TOOK NOTES to keep track of which characters were in each film.
Two things really make this film stand out for me. One is the dark, visual moodiness of it, which someone suggested totally blew the 1939 Rathbone film out of the water by comparison. The other, which somehow caught me completely by surprise this week, was the dialogue. The 1st time I saw this on Youtube, someone had posted it in German without subtitles. Later, I watched it again, with English subtitles. But this time, watching it on my mid-sized TV, I was suddenly struck by just HOW DAMNED FUNNY so much of the dialogue is. The interactions between so many characters had me laughing out loud in many places. The balance between "spooky" and "funny" has really upped this film in my eyes, even with its oddities.
One scene has Dr. Mortimer describing Sir Henry as a very calm, level-headed person... and then they CUT to Henry throwing a tantrum, angrily throwing something across a room, as he finds out one of his boots has been stolen at his hotel. This kind of quick-cut for contrast I've seen a lot, including the Tom Baker DOCTOR WHO story "Image of the Fendahl", where Leela described The Doctor as "gentle" just before we saw Baker KICK a crate in the room he was locked in. Nice comic timing in the editing.
I've seen 3 different versions of this on DVD available. Koch Media in Germany (2009 / no idea if this has subtitles or not), Rare Films and More (2016 w/ English subtitles and allegedly "improved image", which I can't confirm without the other discs), and Sinister Cinema (year unknown, DUBBED into English!). Oddly enough, I saw no point of getting the dubbed version, as I'd rather hear the actors in their own voices, and have no trouble reading subtitles-- although I must admit, a few of them went by WAY too fast, faster than I could read. I wound up scrolling back and using "pause" a few times.
The Rare Films And More disc is on a DVD-R (the seller made a point of telling me this), which played fine on my regular DVD player. The menu is a bit wonky, but I managed. In addition to optional subtitles, the disc also comes with an extra that would be at home on The HIstory Channel-- a 20-minute GERMAN newsreel showing the "peaceful" occupation of Denmark & Norway, "to protect those countries' neutrailty". OH REALLY??? I'm a bit baffled they didn't include the trailer for the film. The only thing that bugs me (but only a bit) is that they have a "Rare Films & More" logo in the corner of the screen for the entire length of the movie. That I could have done without.
This film gained some noteriety as being one of two that were discovered in Hitler's bunker after he committed suicide. :D
Bruno Guttner (Holmes) apparently only made 3 films, before entering the German army (he died sometime during the war), while Fritz Odemar (Watson) went on to quite a long career in German films. Fritz Rasp, rather spooky as Barrymore, had played Stapleton in the 1929 version!
(https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51-UhhbsBwL._SY445_.jpg)
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/6d/The_Hound_of_the_Baskervilles_%281937_film%29.jpg)
Barrymore & Beryl
(https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BNmFhMDFmNTYtYzM0MS00YTQxLTg3Y2EtM2E0ZjA3MThkYTczXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMjQwNDcwNjk@._V1_.jpg)
Watson & Stapleton
(https://www.rarefilmsandmore.com/Media/Uploaded/New%20Folder/5232.JPG)
Bruno Guttner as Holmes
(https://s26162.pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2021/04/300px-1937-houn-guttner-holmes.jpg)
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What struck me as funny the first time I saw this, it seemed he wore the same outfit that Christopher Eccleston did on DOCTOR WHO-- the one some character joked made him look like a "u-boat captain".
If I'm not mistaken the coat was supposed to be an actual U-boat captain's coat the Dr had purloined during a previous off screen time hopping adventure. It may have been a WW1 issued coat rather than WW2 issued.
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If I'm not mistaken the coat was supposed to be an actual U-boat captain's coat the Dr had purloined during a previous off screen time hopping adventure. It may have been a WW1 issued coat rather than WW2 issued.
That would make sense! I think it was Captain Jack who kidded him... "U-BOAT CAPTAIN?"
The 1st time I saw the 1937 HOUND, it struck me it had several things in common with the 1959 Hammer film. And the thought crossed my mind, how many cultural things connected England & Germany over centuries. The possibility that that film may also have influenced WHO decades later still, amused me no end.
I think it took 2 years after I saw those Eccleston episodes, before it suddenly hit me... between having a long black coat, and his general physique, Eccleston reminded me A LOT of William Hartnell's Doctor... only, when he would have been much younger, maybe middle-aged.
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SHERLOCK HOLMES (1916)
Re-watched this on Monday. Having just re-watched the 1981 recording of the live stage play, I wanted to see how it compared with the movie that actually starred the original cast of the play.
They CUT a lot of dialogue and humor in the movie adaptation. The play was like half comedy, but the film is mostly pretty serious. I coudln't help but get double-images in my head of the actors from the '81 performance, particularly Stephen Collins & Dwight Schultz. I thought Susan Clark was better looking as the smarter half of the Larrabees, but on the other hand, the girl who played Alice Faulkner in the 1916 film (and the original play) was MUCH PRETTIER.
There were a number of things mentioned but never seen in the play that they expanded visually in the film. This included the butler settng fire to the kitchen. Alice hiding the papers behind the window shutters, Billy fighting in the foyer with one of Moriarty's thugs, and bits of Watson at home or in his office when he just wasn't in those parts of the stage play.
Overall, the film version, being a SILENT film, seemed less developed story and character-wise than the play. On the other hand, I actually LIKED what they did with the ending in the film more than in the play. the play made a BIG DEAL about Holmes considering retiring from crime, with nothing left to live for since beating Moriarty, and deciding to MARRY Alice. It was played far more subtly in the film. Holmes admits he tricked Alice, and while he says he loves her, he also feels he would not be a suitable companion for her. She counters by saying, "Wait. I think we have a lot to talk about." and a TITLE card read... "AND HE STAYED." Nice. So it kind of left it up in the air, to the audience's interpretation, as to what did or didn't happen next.
Re-watching this, it struck me that Clive Brook kind of looked a bit like William Gillette, which was fitting casting, since Brook's 2 films both appear to be intended as SEQUELS to the play, which was the only thing Samuel Goldwyn had bought the rights to adapt (not Doyle's original stories). That distinction is specifically WHY the 47 Eille Norwood films from England went almost UNSEEN in America, as Goldwyn (THE BASTARD!) did al he cold to try and prevent their distribution here.
It reminds me a bit of the conflict between MGM and Edgar Rice Burroughs regarding competing film versions of TARZAN in the 1930s.
HOLMES
(http://www.jbkaufman.com/sites/default/files/styles/fullpage-image/public/MovieOfTheMonth/Holmes_0.JPG?itok=4F9HH7gH)
MORIARTY and HOLMES
(https://media.gettyimages.com/photos/movie-still-of-william-gillette-and-ernest-maupin-in-a-1916-version-picture-id526899740)
THE LARRABEES and the safe-cracker
(https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/fredericksburg.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/7/73/773c4005-9621-59c0-93c5-15c3fc57137b/5570cc4c2a5bd.image.jpg?resize=1200%2C892)
HOLMES and ALICE
(https://moviessilently.files.wordpress.com/2019/10/5139c-sherlock-holmes-1916-still-3.jpg)
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Restoration sample:
https://vimeo.com/128699218
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LELICEK VE SLUZBACH SHERLOCKA HOLMESA
("Lelicek In The Services of Sherlock Holmes")
(Elektrafilm / Czechoslovakia / 1932)
A few weeks back, I accidentally ran across this film at a Holmes-related website. I wrote it down in my index. Then, just as I was about to take a break from Holmes (figuring I'd gotten all the 1930s films I was going to), on an urge, I went to Ebay to see if anyone was selling this. Someone WAS! In fact, the seller, in The Czech Republic, clearly wanted to sell to buyers in America. The listing said, "English subtitles", it said "Region 0", and the prices were in US Dollars! And, the shipping was very reasonable. (Especially compared to Italy-- heh.) It was only a bit concerning that he included a warning that the disc "may not play on all US players", but, I figured, I have 3-- it ought to work on ONE of them.
Well, I ordered it, it got here 2-1/2 weeks before scheduled, and, yes, it DID play-- on both my Blu-Ray Player, and my computer DVD drive. But NOT on my regular DVD player, where, twice, it said, "unsupported disc". Well, no worries!
The entire menu was in Czech, so it was a bit challenging, but I found the English subtitles. I only wish the MANY extra features had subtltles, but what the hey. The quality of the film print is somewhat worn, but for a 1932 film, not bad, and it's certainly in MUCH better shape than the 1931 Raymond Massey "SPECKLED BAND". A lot of old films could use restorations. Right now, I think it's just a miracle I'm able to watch this at all!
The film is a COMEDY. It focuses on a poor guy (Vlasta Burian, known as "King of the Comics" in his country), who's always broke, who's hired to impersonate the ruler of a small country who's terrified of "anarchists" and assassination attempts. Holmes (Martin Frič) is essentially reduced to a "straight man" in this. Physically, he reminds me a bit of Peter Cook, except he plays his role entirely serious.
The photography in this looks very "silent movie"-era (no surprise, given when it was made), but the humor is like what you'd get if you crossed The Marx Brothers with Woody Allen. Really, this is one of the FUNNIEST films I've seen all year. I could not stop laughing for most of its length. Pretty amazing for a film in a foreign language where I'm reading subtitles.
A lot of the humor, once you get past the personality of the main character, is situational, as it quickly become obvious the real King is more cowardly than his imposter, and the fake King is more dynamic, more outgoing, more "take-charge", and becomes far more popular not only with his people, but with The Queen! Holmes still manages to play an important role, as twice he saves them from being murdered. But it's funny to see the man who's so intelligent and capable, increasingly lose control of the situation.
HIGHLY reccomended!
(https://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w663/files/images/film/photos/000/253/253258_44c612.jpg)
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Belgian comic publisher Claude Lefrancq ?diteur put out a series of Sherlock Holmes comics. Most of these were adaptions of Conan Dolye stories. For mine, the most interesting is an adaption of 'The giant rat of Sumatra'. This was one of the cases Watson mentioned but didn't write. These case titles are a rich source of inspiration for those who wish to write Holmes stories. 'The Giant Rat' has been attempted a few times.
my french is pretty basic, but I've perused a copy. Lots of gory pictures of shot or squashed rats, but it looks like a good story.
Cheers!
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THE SIGN OF FOUR (1923)
Although the final of Eillie Norwood's 47 Holmes films (45 shorts & 2 features) does not appear to be on DVD anywhere (Alpha Video had it listed, BUT, that turns out to have been a mistake which I've had them correct!), someone posted a really fluttery video of it on Youtube. And with NO music. Oy. Well, at least I've seen it now.
This made quite a few interesting alterations to the story, and not merely in the structure or order it's told, as with some others.
In this version, it's Major Sholto (not his son) who contacts Mary Morstan and tells her, Holmes & Watson of the treasure. He's not murdered until they reach his house. Inspector Jones, after having the plot explained to him, instead decides it's an organ grinder & his monkey who are responsible. This turns out to actually be Holmes in disguise, hanging out in Limehouse to befriend Jonathan Small and get the goods on the real ring-leader, Abdullah Khan (whose physical presence reminds me of Thadeus Sholto in the 1983 version). Small is apprehended and his dwarf sidekick shot in Limehouse before Holmes finds out Watsaon & Mary have been lured back to the Twickenham house by Abdullah Khan, who tortures them both to discover where Sholto hid the treasure.
The climax involves a chaotic boat and car chase with 3 speedboats and a full-size yacht, on which Mary is a prisoner when it suddenly catches fire. Khan manages to nab Khan and secure the treasure, before later getting a wedding announcement from his friend & Mary.
I'd love to see this (and as many of the Norwood films that are still in existence) restored & issued as a DVD box set. This was very tiresome to sit through, both for the fluttery and for the complete lack of any music (neither of which was a problem with "The Musgrave Ritual" from 1912 I saw on Youtube just last week). On top of everything else, it appears someone inexplicably managed to edit in part of the torture scenes right in the middle of the boat chase-- and I'm pretty sure it wasn't intended as a mental flashback. How does one accomplish a glitch like that when knocking out a video?
"Revelator" at the IMDB did the best review I've seen:
A Holmesian Thriller
Revelator_6 June 2014
Never released in US, The Sign of Four received a belated premiere at the San Francisco Silent Film Festival, giving American Sherlockians an introduction to Eille Norwood, whose portrayal of Sherlock Holmes earned raves from no less than Conan Doyle. Based on the evidence of this feature, Norwood definitely belongs in the company of Basil Rathbone, Peter Cushing, Jeremy Brett, and Benedict Cumberbatch.
No one has bettered Conan Doyle's explanation of Norwood's appeal: "He has that rare quality which can only be described as glamour, which compels you to watch an actor eagerly even when he is doing nothing. He has the brooding eye which excites expectation and he has also a quite unrivalled power of disguise." Norwood is indeed a master of stillness and quiet intensity. Though old for the part, his haggard face and severe eyes command attention (along with his moments of wry humor). The film opens and closes on Norwood's face, masking the frame to reveal Holmes staring down the audience.
Norwood's Holmes is straight from the books, but purists should be warned that this film takes many liberties with Conan Doyle's novella. And that's perfectly understandable--silent film is not the most suitable medium for the Holmes stories, which heavily rely on dialogue and exposition. A faithful silent adaptation of "The Sign of Four" would have drowned in a sea of inter-titles. Maurice Elvey, who adapted and directed the film, instead chose to turn Doyle's whodunit into a thriller. Holmes does less detective work, and much of it is off-screen. The long flashback in the novel is drastically reduced and dealt with early on, along with the solution of the mystery and the culprits.
Major Sholto appears instead of his sons, Jonathan Small and Tonga have much reduced roles, and the film introduces a new villain, Prince Abdullah Khan. He's unsubtly played in brownface and identified as a "Hindoo" by Holmes (who is mistaken--"Abdullah" is an Islamic name, meaning "slave of Allah" in Arabic). Additionally, the Four signers of the title are different characters and lack the camaraderie Doyle gave them. That, along with the extensive use of hamming in brownface (and details like cutting between a monkey and "pygmy" as they doff hats), results in a film that's arguably more racist than its source material from 30 years earlier. An additional defect is under-use of Watson (a common problem in silent Holmes films), played by the stolid and mustache-less Arthur Cullin, though he has a fun scene of wondering "What would Holmes do?"
Once expectations of textual fidelity are put aside, "Sign" can be enjoyed as a nifty thriller, thanks to its brisk pacing and flair. Maurice Elvey's direction is stylish and inventive. Wipes are used to transition to and from flashbacks, and a flash-cut reveals the source of one of Holmes's deductions. When Holmes divulges his conclusions, flashbacks show him superimposed, lending a ghostly effect to the narration of previously unseen events. The film is strong in mood, opening with a shot of a "pearl grey afternoon in Baker Street" (though Watson later enters 114 instead of 221B!), and the use of shadows is splendidly inventive. Elvey also throws in scene of seamy working-class London in a Limehouse bar.
The climax expands Doyle's original chase, adding a damsel in distress and a car-versus-boat race across London and the Thames. It's practically a tour of the city, with landmarks announced through inter-titles ("Putney Bridge," "Hyde Park Corner" etc). The concluding speedboat chase still impresses, with the camera perched close to waterline or on top of the boats as they plow through the waves. You can see why Holmes faces the camera upon hearing the case and says "This is going to be exciting." It still is.
(https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BZTkxOWU4MzQtNjUzMi00NjFlLTg2YWUtMjY1NjlhMzZmMWNhXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNTUyMTMyMDg@._V1_.jpg)
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"The Speckled Band" (1964)
"What arrogance-- confusing ME with Scotland Yard! I'll HAVE him for that, Watson-- COUNT on it!"
I think this is the only version of this story that features this line. I suspect Douglas Wilmer wrote it himself. It's funny as hell. It makes it seem Holmes doesn't want to nail Grimeby Roylott for MURDER, but instead for accusing him of being a police stooge.
"It was the TRUTH!"
"But not the WHOLE truth."
"The truth is, I-- am responsible for his death. But I doubt it was worry my conscience much."
(http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cwvm_ZeWDEs/VRN-gi-Ik7I/AAAAAAAAE0g/aAFfCd8rZ4Y/s1600/vlcsnap-2015-03-25-22h06m07s171.png)
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THE MAN WHO WAS SHERLOCK HOLMES
(Universum Film (UFA) / Germany / 1937)
EPIC comedy-adventure! ***** (5 out of 5)
This film has it all. Mystery, adventure, comedy, romance, music, suspense, danger, action! It's an amazing roller-coster ride where for much of the story, you can't even guess where the plot is going, and by the time it's over, you're not only exhausted, you're overwhelmingly satisfied. I had tears in my eyes during the final scene.
2 down-on-their luck private eyes hit on a crazy scheme to drive up business-- impersonate a pair of FICTIONAL characters, who are so well-known, many people actually think they really exist. Pushing their luck beyond all reason, going on sheer energy and nerve, things actually work in their favor when they encounter not only a bank robbery but a huge counterfeiting scheme that's been going on for years. Now all they have to do is solve the crimes, stay alive while they do it, and keep the police from locking them up until they've succeeded.
Being this is a German film, I knew none of the people involved, but it cracked me up how much the 2 leads reminded me of George C. Scott & Peter Lorre.
The finale scene, which takes place in a courtroom, brings to mind the climax of "HOW TO MURDER YOUR WIFE". I figured I'd enjoy this film beforehand, but never imagined HOW MUCH.
(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XDXWam8nDWI/UswYOmvaDpI/AAAAAAAAAp8/6Adss1iLe6s/s1600/man+who+2.jpg)
(https://i5.wal.co/asr/c75716b8-1c9c-4a8f-a08d-1bcd4300b52c_1.618424770affa1410e124d52a95e5e20.jpeg?odnWidth=1000&odnHeight=1000&odnBg=ffffff)
(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-d6vaZfdSk7o/UswYYTuyuCI/AAAAAAAAAqE/JLNfFaIFbmQ/s1600/man+who+3.jpg)
(https://silverinahaystack.files.wordpress.com/2017/09/der-mann-der-sherlock-holmes-war.png)
Tom Ruffles also has a nice review of the film here...
http://tomruffles.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-man-who-was-sherlock-holmes-der.html
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Having polished off pretty much everything currently available from the 30s, I'm now taking a break and re-watching the silents I have in chronological order (having done research to find out the original release dates of just about every item I've acquired on DVD). I started in on the earliest ones some weeks back, when I had delays in buying, so here's where I'm picking up...
THE MYSTERY OF THE LEAPING FISH
(Triangle Film Corporation / US / 1916)
Douglas Fairbanks stars in this insane, outragious farce about Coke Ennyday, "the world's #1 scientific detective", who wears check outfits and is constantly engaged in non-stop DRUG USE, while the local authorities have hired him to investigate a FOREIGN drug importing business. My understand is, even Fairbanks himself was so embarassed at having made this comedy, he tried to have it yanked from circulation, and possibly have all film prints destroyed. But here it is, to the amusement and dismay of modern viewers of silents...
THE DYING DETECTIVE
(Stoll Pictures Productions / UK / 1921)
Apart from the years, the original release dates in England are not listed at the IMDB, but THIS is listed as the 1st of Eillie Norwood's 47 Holmes films. He looks into the mysterious death of a man who somehow got a rare Asian disease in England, suspects and accuses a medical man of being the culprit, and thereby inspires the doctor to MURDER Holmes in the identical fashion.
But Holmes was expecting this, and manages to avoid being POISONED in like fashion... though, he spends the next several days IN BED, to give the false image that he is dying. He then has Watson go to the man asking for help, and sure enough, the guy not only arrives, but winds up gloating, telling Holmes how he committed the crime. Which is what Holmes wanted the whole time-- a CONFESSION, which Watson has been a witness to.
According to "Nitrateville.com", nearly all of Norwood's films appear to have survived, and the BFI has copies in their vaults. I've contacted 3 different organizations, urging them to get ahold of these and do RESTORATIONS for a comprehensive box set. Until someone actually does, only 3 of Norwood's short films are currently available, and his 2nd feature is on Youtube, that that one has NO music and is very difficult to plow thru.
OH MY GOD!!! I contacted the BFI on June 14th. What I didn't know until just this minute was... an article about this very thing was posted on June 10th !!! It looks like they ARE going to restore those films!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ;D This really gives me something major to look for.
https://www.nitrateville.com/viewtopic.php?t=31778
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THE DEVIL'S FOOT
(Stoll Pictures Productions / UK / 1921)
Holmes & Watson are on the Cornish coast for a restful holiday. "It's a good thing you aren't likely to run across a case here." "You never can tell, my dear Watson." They decided to stop at the nearest house to ask directions to the Inn... but stumble across 3 DEAD people, sitting around a table, with no signs of violence. The police arrive moments later, but are happy to take a back-seat once they realize who they've found standing over the bodies.
Holmes learns that Mortimer Treginnis, brother of the 3 dead people, once argued over separation of property. "But that's all been forgotten years ago." Also on the scene is Dr. Sterndale, a famous African explorer. Holmes tells Watson Treginnis lied about what he did when he left, and the next morning, he goes with the police to have him arrested... only to find HE's dead in the exact same way as his siblings!
Holmes finds a strange powder in the lamp, identical to at the other scene, plus, some oddly-colored gravel outside the window. He tells the police to meet him at Sterndale's house later that day, and he'll tell them who murdered Mortimer. Holmes then does something INCREDIBLY stupid... he demonstrates to Watson how the power causes a toxic gas to fill a room, almost killing both Watson and himself in the process! Hallucinating, they stumble outside, just as Sterndale arrives. "You sent for me?" "Yes. I want you tell me WHY you killed Mortimer Treginnis!" It strikes me it's a scene very similar to when Auguste Dupin told the sailor, "I want you tell tell me all you know about the murders in the Rue Morgue."
Holmes says his next actions will depend on Sterndale's story. It seems he spent years in Africa, the whole time in love with Barbara Treginnis. He returned some months earlier, and learned Mortimer was in need of money. He showed him his "curios", not making anything of it, until he saw his love sitting there dead. He KNEW Sterndale used the ritual powder from Africa. He got Mortimer's attention by tossing gravel from his yard at his window, then, at gunpoint, forced him to write a confession. After this, he told the terrified man, "YOU'RE going to die just like they did!", and proceeded to trap him in his room with the powder burning.
Holmes asks, "What was you intention if this was found out?" Sterndale indicates suicide with his own gun. "And if you were NOT discovered?" In shock, Sterndale says, "To lose myself in Africa for the rest of my days, my work there is only half done." The police arrive, and after some thought, Holmes hands them the confession note. "I think you'll find Mortimer committed suicide in the same way as he killed the others." It just now struck me, this bit was like when Harry Callahan, in "SUDDEN IMPACT", told the cops in that coastal town, "I think you'll find his gun was responsible for ALL the killings.". Sterndale, the police, and Holmes & Watson, all go their separate ways.
Well, at 29 minutes, this was fairly simplified and compressed, compared to the 1965 and 1988 versions, but quite nicely done. The music score in interesting, going from moody to sprightly, and I'd bet some people would think some of the more lively passages totally at odds with the scenes of serious investigation going on. But to me, it keeps your energy up and helps hold your interest.
With the recent knowledge that the 40 Norwood films known to exist (7 from his first series appear to be "LOST") about to be "restored", I wonder if before too long we'll have a NICER-looking version of this to watch? apart from being a bit dark in spots, and one of the inter-titles looking really ragged (compared to the rest of the film), this one's not bad as it currently stands.
(https://i.ytimg.com/vi/QQR6WUaQgjk/hqdefault.jpg)
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Three Holmes Docos
documentary, The Many Faces of Sherlock Holmes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjij2Vf_pkg
Christopher Lee - Narrator. Some great information here.
Sherlock Holmes - The Great Detective Documentary (featuring David Burke)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LWCto4Fs8A
The Life And Death Of Sherlock Holmes Absolute History
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7kb2kn9fZs
Prof a question,which actor, would you say played Holmes more times?
Christopher Lee, Rathbone, [and as the doco says Rathbone played holmes more times than we think - and if we counted Radio he would win hands down. ] or who?
I have no idea.
Cheers!
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I don't know about the radio shows. But I had heard somewhere that Rathbone & Bruce did about 500 EPISODES of the radio show.... (That may be wrong, but I haven't looked it up myself.)
Clive Merrison, on the other hand, apparently is the ONLY actor to ever star in adaptations of EVERY SINGLE Arthur Conan Doyle HOLMES story in his radio show.
Eille Norwood did 45 shorts & 2 feature films (of which, it currently appear 7 of them are considered "lost"). So he just barely beats out Jeremy Brett.
Christopher Lee played Holmes 3 times on film--
THE NECKLACE OF DEATH
INCIDENT AT VICTORIA FALLS
THE LEADING LADY
He also did a number of book-on-tape recordings. I got "The Valley of Fear" around 25 years ago, but never knew he'd done more until a few months ago. I've heard several more on Youtube of late. They're amazing recordings.
I'm still jazzed about the news about the Eille Norwood restoration project. About 2 months after someone here suggested I contact the BFI, I did... but as I found out several months later, only 4 days before I did, it was announced the BFI was planning to do a massive restoration project.
The site I read about it on, Nitrateville, is a message board. I signed up for an account... but never had mny account activated. I contacted the moderator last week... NO REPLY. WTF?
Today, I watched 2 different versions of "The Devil's Foot" -- 1921, and 1965. I liked both, though, for many reasons, the 1965 version was far better. What i found interesting was, the 2 scenes in the 1921 version I "connected" with OTHER stories, neither of them appeared in the 1965 version.
As I said, I really need to read more of the Doyle stories. On that score, these days, I'm more of an expert on POE than Doyle. I even read Poe's only novel... TWICE!
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Lee was involved with Holmes and Conan Doyle in other ways tho.
Christopher Lee (27 may 1922 - 7 june 2015) was a British actor who played Sir Henry Baskerville in The Hound of the Baskervilles in 1959 with Peter Cushing, before playing Sherlock Holmes in Sherlock Holmes und das Halsband des Todes (Sherlock Holmes and The Deadly Necklace) in 1962 and in TV movies: Sherlock Holmes and the Leading Lady (1991) and Incident at Victoria Falls (1992). He also played Mycroft Holmes in The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes in 1970.
He also played Arnaud in 1973 in the non-sherlockian Conan Doyle's story The Leather Funnel of the TV Series Great Mysteries.
Cheers!
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Tonight's "rerun": SHERLOCK HOLMES (1922)
This 2nd time around, I've not only seen the 1916 film twice, but along the way, dug out the 1981 Frank Langella recording of the live stage play. So the differences are far more pronounced in my mind this time.
The 1922 film, released in the UK under the title "MORIARTY", severely increases his screen-time and importance to the whole story, to the actual detriment of the Alice Fauklner storyline.
In this one, we see Moriarty trying to gain influence over the future Crown Prince. The son of a safe-cracker, Forman Wells, who Moriarty decided to send to Cambridge so he could meet people Moriarty could have future influence on, decides to break with Moriarty, and steals money to get away, framing the Prince for it. But Holmes confronts him over it, learns of Moriarty's existence, and tells Wells, "Do what I tell you, and everything will work out." Later on, Wells becomes one of Holmes agents.
In a possibly-insane fit, Holmes, out of philosophical curiosity, goes to meet Moriarty, and from that brief, tense meeting, is so convinced he's a vile evil to be rooted out, he says he's found his calling in life!
We then cut to years later, where Holmes has become quite established at Baker Street, known to the general public, and a constant and increasing thorn in Moriarty's eyes. You'd think whoever wrote this film never heard of Doyle's story "A STUDY IN SCARLET", as least as far as how Holmes & Watson met for the first time (in this film, they knew each other in college!).
After we see Rose Faulkner commit suicide by jumping off a mountain in Switzerland (in a flashback), the Larrabees ensare her vengeful sister at their home. But in this version, they don't go to Moriarty for help when their plan fails-- everything they're doing is on Moriarty's orders! Also, at least judging by the Langella version of the stage play, Mrs. Larrabee was the real brains of that marriage-- here, she barely registers compared to her more-menacing-looking husband.
In the Gillette film, we see Wells set fire to the kitchen as a diversion. Here, he does it off-camera. In the Gillette film, Alice hides the letters the 2nd time behind a window shutter. Here, she does it inside a hole in the outside wall behind a loose brick. ("Changes for the sake of changes.")
While it's funny to see Holmes trick Moriarty into shooting a dummy behind a curtain, it hurts that the next part of the scene is MISSING, as we next see Holmes holding Moriarty's gun, and Moriarty warning him, "You turned down my proposition" --which we didn't see! Billy, such a big part of the play, is almost completely missing from this version.
In the Gillette film, Alice follows Larrabee to the gas works, concerned for Holmes' safety. Here, on Moriarty's orders, Larrabee takes her there by force. Every one of these scenes in this version is less impressive than it was in the earlier film (just 8 years before), OR, the performance of the live play Langella did (much of which was played FOR LAUGHS).
The climax (which actually was taken from "Scarlet"-- Holmes slapping handcuffs on the villain disguised as a cabbie), here, is the end of the film! "You surely don't think this is THE END?" "I was hoping so. I'm planning to go on my honeymoon!" That's shocking news to the audience, Watson, and apparently, even to Alice. The ENTIRE FINALE of the Gillette film and play are missing here, not because that part of this film is missing, but apparently by design! All that buisness about Holmes wanting to gain Alice's trust so she'd give him the letters of her own free will, COMPLETELY eliminated. We never see the Prince's people, Holmes tricking Alice, his confession of doing so to her, the actual resolution of the sub-plot about the letters... nothing.
In retrospect, this film, more than the 1916 one, seems to lead DIRECTLY into the 1932 Clive Brook film. "SHERLOCK HOLMES", which picks up exactly where this one leaves off. You'd think they would have given it a different title... like, say.... "THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES". But, no, Brook did a film by that name in 1929. GO FIGURE.
Looking back, turns out there were 3 actors in this I knew. Prince Alexis was played by Reginald Denny, who I most remember from "REBECCA" (1940). Foreman Wells was William Powell, alias "Nick Charles" from "THE THIN MAN" series and before that, Philo Vance. Watson was Roland Young, who was so memorable as the inept detective William Henry Blore in one of my favorite Agatha Christie films, "AND THEN THERE WERE NONE" (1945).
The whole time I was watching tonight, funny enough, I couldn't get a scene from an entirely different movie out of my head. it's the wonderful scene in "THE WORLD OF HENRY ORIENT", where Marian Gilbert is talking about her new best friend Valerie Boyd's having fallen in love with a much-older concert pianist. Boothie, Marian's mother's friend, says...
"I know how it is. I went through the same thing with John Barrymore."
"Who?"
".....WHAT did you say?"
"Who was this guy-- that you went through it with?"
"You mean you DON'T KNOW who John Barrymore is?"
"No."
"You've NEVER even HEARD HIS NAME?"
"No."
"You'll have to excuse me. It's LATER that I thought."
;D
(https://www.arthur-conan-doyle.com/images/7/71/1922-sh-barrymore-30.jpg)
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BEES SAAL BAAD ("Twenty Years Later")
(Geetanjali Pictures / India / 1962)
I know some stories can be altered almost beyond recognition in re-tellings. This is a 1962 film from India, that's a remake of a 1951 Indian film, that was adapted from an Indian novel, that itself was loosely based on "THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES".
The '62 film is-- I kid thee not-- a romantic musical comedy murdery mystery horror story. (Yep, all of the above.) It almost looks like a silent, it's incredibly dark and spooky at times, but it's got a whole range of songs, and the focus on the love story is increased to where the murder mystery almost gets forgotten at some points.
Plus, the "comedy detective"-- basically filling the "Dr. Watson" slot-- reminds me of comic actor Avery Schreiber, in both looks and personality. Isn't that wild?
The way some of the characters and relationships are swapped around reminds me of the 1979 "DRACULA". For example, the butler helping the escaped convict, is the brother of the man's wife (as opposed to the husband of the man's sister). This kind of switching around actually resulted in my being taken VERY MUCH by surprise by the identity of the murderer, though if I'd stuck to the relationships in the novel and multiple other film versions, it should have been obvious. (Tricky!) And, despite what one reviewer insisted, there IS a "Sherlock Holmes" character-- of sorts-- in the film, though his identity is not revealed until the last 10-15 minutes of the film.
The action-packed climax, much of which takes place in an underground tunnel (perhaps borrowed from both the 1914 and 1929 German versions) reminded me most of all of the climax of THE THIRD MAN (1949).
The print on the disc isn't bad, though it looks like it could use a clean-up in spots. A few short bits seem missing, and crazy enough, one short bit was repeated twice (which I suspect was a mistake, not something the director or editor intended). The music, like the visuals, is beautiful, though I have to admit I like the instrumental score more than the love songs, the instrumentation including what sounded like a bass violin, an oboe and an accordion in spots.
Some may find it a challenge dealing with a film so "foreign" in culture and style as this one, but I enjoyed it from start to finish. At just about 2-1/2 hours long, one might want to take a break somewhere in the middle.
Biswajeet as Kumar Vijay Singh (the "Henry Baskerville" character)
(https://dustedoff.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/pic1.png)
Waheeda Rehman as Radha (the film's "Beryl")
(https://geekofalltrades.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83451bfe269e201910360680f970c-600wi)
Dev Kishan as Laxman (the film's "Barrymore")
(https://i0.wp.com/moviesandmania.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/vlcsnap2011042701h32m43.png?ssl=1)
Madan Puri as Dr. Pandey (the film's "Dr. Mortimer")
(https://dustedoff.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/pic4.png)
Asit Kumar Sen as Detective Gopichand Jasoos (the film's "Dr. Watson")
(https://dustedoff.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/pic16.png)
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THE SLEEPING CARDINAL alias SHERLOCK HOLMES' FATAL HOUR
(Julius Hagen Productions / UK / 1931)
The first of 5 films starring Arthur Wontner as Holmes, this was missing for decades, before a print turned up in the US, which turned out to be in much-better shape than those of the other 3 that are in wide circulation. Personally, I wish someone would take it upon themselves to assemble the BEST-possible prints, and then do thorough restorations on them, and reissue all 4 as a complete set. (The 2nd film, 1932's THE MISSING REMBRANDT, is currently considered "LOST".)
Anyone who's seen James Whale's FRANKENSTEIN should know what to expect here. This is a very dark, slow, static, careful, METHODICAL film, very much of its time. But when Holmes is onscreen, spelling out how he's connecting all the dots, he is positively MESMERIZING! Tonight was the 3rd time I've seen this (the 2nd time on DVD), and I just enjoyed the living hell out of it.
As with the William Gillette stage play and subsequent film adaptations of it, the story involved Professor Moriarty, and contains the classic scene from "The Final Problem" where he manages to get both Watson & Mrs. Hudson out of the house, so he can confront him face-to-face. Unlike the play, it also employs the classic scene from "The Empty House", where he attempts to assassinate Holmes with a silent air gun from across the street, but winds up taking out a plaster cast instead.
Along the way there's a complex, clever plot about a member of the Foreign Office who's being blackmailed because of his bad habit of cheating at cards, a pair of bank robberies in which nothing appears to have been stolen, and a printing press knocking out perfect duplicates of English bank notes, which are to be smuggled out of the country under the cover of diplomatic immunity.
It's fascinating to compare this to the 1929 German HOUND made 2 years earlier, for as this looks very much like an early silent film, that actual silent film looks more modern and exciting than most films from the early 30s.
Leslie Perrins, who plays Ronald Adair, the man being blackmailed, would turn up again in THE TRIUMPH OF SHERLOCK HOLMES as John Douglass, the Pinkerton agent.
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/28/%22The_Sleeping_Cardinal%22_%281931%29.jpg)
(https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BYzFjNGE0YTAtYTg5OC00OTFlLThiYWYtN2U2OWQ4OTRmYmRmL2ltYWdlL2ltYWdlXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMjA1NjU0NTc@._V1_.jpg)
(https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sleeping_cardinal.jpg)
(https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FEtGvsZ3Y7I/VMHmWGAuUbI/AAAAAAAAaqo/M_5NqcYltVc/s1600/Sherlock%2BHolmes%2BFatal%2BHour.jpg)
(https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XAt-y8t8usU/VMHqSoDOSYI/AAAAAAAAaqw/ffYyaZnymHU/s1600/Sherlock%2BHolmes%2BFatal%2BHour-2.jpg)
(https://itsastampede615821596.files.wordpress.com/2021/08/the-triumph-of-sherlock-holmes.jpg?w=600)
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Was there a silent animated version of the Sleeping Cardinal?
I wonder if the title was suggested by the Chess tactic called "the Sleeping Bishop"?
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Was there a silent animated version of the Sleeping Cardinal?
I wonder if the title was suggested by the Chess tactic called "the Sleeping Bishop"?
Interesting question. In the Wontner film, it refers to a painting of Richilieu that hangs on the wall in a secret room in the basement of the shoe factory. Confederates of Moriarty are blindfolded and taken there, and when he's ready, the lights go down, the painting lights up, and his voice is heard to speak thru it from another room.
Given Moriarty is a master planner of crimes, it's possible a chess allegory may have been on someone's mind.
At the IMDB, this film has polarized reviewer opinions. Several complain about it being painfully slow, but I'm delighted as how much I'm able to enjoy such a talky film.
When I saw the 1916 William Gillette SHERLOCK HOLMES, adapting his own stage play, I noted it referenced several Doyle stories, "A Scandal In Bohemia" (the plot with the letters & Alice Faulkner mirroring that of Irene Adler), "The Final Problem" (Moriarty going to Baker Street to confront Holmes, then planning to have his men kill Holmes), "The Retired Colourman" (the gas chamber murder device), and "A Study In Scarlet" (a killer disguised as a cabbie is nabbed when he's tricked into picking up a heavy suitcase).
The funny thing was... when I found out, "The Retired Colouman" was written in 1926... while the play debuted in 1899. So, possibly, in this case, Doyle was inspired BY Gillette! ;D
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Haven't seen the film or I could answer this myself. Was this the painting?
(https://uploads0.wikiart.org/00268/images/toby-edward-rosenthal/the-cardinal-s-portrait.jpg!Large.jpg)
It's a once well-known 19th century genre painting by Toby Rosenthal. Though its official title is "The Cardinal's Portrait" it was often referred to as "The Sleeping Cardinal."
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Haven't seen the film or I could answer this myself. Was this the painting?
(https://uploads0.wikiart.org/00268/images/toby-edward-rosenthal/the-cardinal-s-portrait.jpg!Large.jpg)
It's a once well-known 19th century genre painting by Toby Rosenthal. Though its official title is "The Cardinal's Portrait" it was often referred to as "The Sleeping Cardinal."
A truly humous slant on portrait art. Reminds me of a Mad Magazine gag.
I've read that when Ivan the Terrible commisioned a carved wooden statue of himself he had the first few artists to try it punished because they had tried to make him appear benign and godly.
The last to try figured he had nothing to lose so his work showed Ivan as a greedy hateful monster with one hand a grasping claw extended to seize the world. Ivan loved it and rewarded him hansomely for his honesty.
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I tried copying the image DIRECTLY off the DVD. You would not believe how much trouble I had figuring out how to get the particular disc I have to work right on my computer. I managed it, but it was all for nought, as this board does not allow one to upload photos-- only, LINKS to photos that are already uploaded to other sites.
So, here's the only image I could find online... I think you can just barely make it out. It's all the way on the right, 2nd row.
(https://www.publicdomaintorrents.info/grabs/thesleepingcardinalgrab.jpg)
By the way, it amazes me how the butler in this 1931 film reminds me of the one in "THE SHINING".
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Doing an image search for the painting, I found this wonderful Italian site
https://www.sitocomunista.it/rossoegiallo/personaggi/sherlockholmes/sherlockholmes_index.html
Actually this is a series of pages within another site, but hey.
Click on the Irene Adler image and you get a chronological biography of Holmes
Click on the collated photo top right and you get images of every actor that has ever played Holmes, maybe! And some may still surprise you!
Hover over the images with the mouse, and most have a link to the film itself.
Click on Cushing/Rathbone and you get a list of all the film and TV productions.
At the bottom of this page is a collection of images from most of the films! You may find an image of the painting there!
Click on the magnifying glass and you get an article on Holmes/Deduction by Umberto Eco
Click on bottom right and you get a list of Holmesian references and site links
enjoy!
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as this board does not allow one to upload photos
I've only once attempted to upload an image to the site, and that was unsuccessful.
When you say Photos. do you mean, #.jpg images?
If so you can use conversion software to convert to another format.
Try this program, [which can be integrated into a browser if you desire.
https://www.online-convert.com/
Also a simple way to copy a still image on a computer.
Create an empty Word or Paint document - name it.
Play DVD
1/ If you have frozen the image on the DVD.
Top right on the Keyboard is a key reading 'Print Sc'
2/ Press [Crtl] + [PrintSc]
3/ Close DVD or/and Navigate to the Word Doc. Open it.
3/ Press [Crtl] + [V] or right click in the document and select Paste.
Your image should now be on the document.
Save.
Hope that helps.
Cheers!
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Can't get Holmes off my mind this am!
It happens that earlier this week I remembered that I had two volumes of August Deleth's Solar Pons stories on my shelves, and I have begun reading those.
http://www.bakerstreetdozen.com/pons.html
http://www.solarpons.com/
I did not know Basil Copper had continued the series. I have some of Copper's original works [ a couple of the Mike Faradays and I rate him as a writer, so I will have to track those down.
And I see he has written a Holmes too!
https://www.fantasticfiction.com/c/basil-copper/
And if you are solely interested in Doyle's own works, I direct you to,
http://www.solarpons.com/BakerStreetEssays.htm
Cheers!
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I play all my media including DVDs on my computer using a versatile freeware media player called VLC. Among its many features is a "snapshot" tool. Pause the frame you want and hit the snapshot hotkey and it makes a screen grab and stores it as a Jpeg without your having to go through extra steps.
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Have just watched "The Hound of the Baskervilles 1972" which stars Stewart Granger.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zffLs6L3r4w
General opinion on the internet seems to be that it's very bad. Well, It was done for TV and obviously the budget was stretched. The Hound itself is dreadful and corny.
But overall the script is good and so is the acting of all the players.
The oddest thing about the script is that it is Watson and not Holmes who makes two of the most important deductions.
Anthony Zerba is particularly good. He would actually have made an excellent Holmes.
William Shatner also plays a part but this was not his only involvement with Holmes.
So I have uncovered another two actors who played Holmes.
The first is Leonard Nimoy.
Details here.
Irregular Observations: Boldly going where no Sherlock has gone before
https://wcclibraries.wordpress.com/tag/william-shatner/
Also from this page, note the Nicholas Meyer connection.
Last but not least, in 1983, 4 Animated movies were made and in them.
Peter O'Toole voiced Holmes.
The animation is pretty basic, the music execrable but they are worth it for O'Toole.
All of them on YouTube
Sherlock Holmes and the Baskerville Curse (1983) | Full Movie | Peter O'Toole | Ron Haddrick
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ScbJETCzm8A
Last but not least., Speaking of music,
This exists
Sherlock Holmes - Classic Themes From 221B Baker Street
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQ5K7YeLf-A
Plenty of Violin!
Enjoy!
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Yeah, I've had the VLC player for ages. What I was saying is, the particular disc, I had more trouble than I've ever had with it trying to get it to the movie, it kept wanting to play the VERY-annoying "menu" over and over and over.
Also, I do "Print Screen" all the time. I paste the images into Photoshop, and save them there as JPGs. I often convert other formats to JPGs, that's my preferred format. JPEGs are a problem, thery DO NOT even register in my Photoshop, I have to open them in Corel Photo-Paint and then resave them, then they're JPGs.
But I still have seen no way to upload an image from my computer to this messge board (or several others I go to either). With Facebook, at least, there is an option for that, but many message boards only allow you to paste a link to an image that has already been posted at some other existing site.
I saw the Peter O'Toole "HOUND" on Youtube. MY GOD, that's the kind of thing that gives animation a really bad name. I thought it was awful and almost unwatchable. And I have a LOT of patience with a great many different things.
The Stewart Granger "HOUND", crazy enough, I haven't seen since it was first-run. It was an unsold pilot. ABC hoped to do a "period" mystery movie series to compete with NBC's, and also did a pilot for "NICK CARTER" with Robert Conrad (set in the same time period), and a 3rd character, but I can never remember who the 3rd one was.
Because of the 1959 Hammer "HOUND", insanely, the Basil Rathbone "HOUND" was pulled from circulation for 20 years. As a result, the Hammer film was the first one I ever saw... funny enough, the SAME DAY that ABC ran their version with Stewart Granger.
As of a few weeks ago, my latest count is 23 different film versions of the story. I have 5 on DVD-- so far! (1914, 1929, 1937, 1939, 1962)
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I think you can post a picture, but it has to be less than 128 k. So you might have to crop the screen grab and save as a lower resolution copy to upload.
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THE SPECKLED BAND
(British & Dominions Film Corporation / UK / 1931)
Just saw this for the 3rd time (2nd time on DVD) and once again enjoyed it immensely. It turns out, this adaptation of the popular story was not adapted from the short story so much as the 1910 stage play version of it, much as the 1931 DRACULA and 1931 FRANKENSTEIN were also based on plays, rather than the original novels. This explains some of the major differences, and there being multiple extra characters, including the house-keeper, Roylott's female accomplice, and the Indian servant.
The real tragedy of this film currently is that every print available at the moment had been cut to ribbons. With about 20 whole minutes missing, there's not only probably several entire scenes missing, but the ones that are still there have multiple jump-cuts as if parts have been lost just due to damage.Presumably, this includes a sequence where Holmes investigates the gypsies. Also, the scene where Roylott goes to Baker Street to confront Holmes, while it has a lot of addition dialogue (as Roylott keeps bouncing back and forth between angry and threatening, and trying to put on an act of being reasonable), is conspiciously MISSING the famous bit where he accuses Holmes of being... "Holmes the MEDDLER! Holmes the BUSYBODY!! Holmes the SCOTLAND YARD JACKANAPES!!!" In the Douglas Wilmer version in particular, this last accusation results in the funniest line in the story, when, after Roylott leaves, Holmes says to Watson, "The nerve of him, confusing me with the police. I'll HAVE HIM for that, Watson, mark my words!" (As if nailing Roylott for besmirching his reputation is more important than nailing him for MURDER.)
One of my favorite added bits is probably when Watson discovers Holmes arrived at Stoke Moran before him, and has been working as a builder for 4 hours, in order to get a feel for what's really going on at the mansion.
Lyn Harding, who played Dr. Roylott, returned in 1935 to play Professor Moriarty in the 4th & 5th Arthur Wontner films, THE TRIUMPH OF SHERLOCK HOLMES and SILVER BLAZE.
Apart from Raymond Massey, who had a long a successful acting career after this, I'm not really familiar with anyone else in the film. This appears to be Jack Raymond's best-known effort as director. However, and this came as quite a surprise to me, perhaps the most prominent person associated with the film was its Cinematographer-- FREDDIE YOUNG. In a career that stretched from 1928 to 1984, he did, among many other things, TREASURE ISLAND (1950), CALLING BULLDOG DRUMMOND (1951), IVANHOE (1952), SOLOMON AND SHEBA (1959), GORGO (1961), LAWRENCE OF ARABIA(1962), DR. ZHIVAGO (1965), YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE (1967-- geez!!-- his only "007" film), and, all the way at the end, SWORD OF THE VALIANT (1984), which I recently got on widescreen Blu-Ray.
I really wish someone could locate and restore a complete print of this one.
(https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BOGI1MTc2MjYtNzkxNS00YWE2LTk2MGMtYzFlZjk4ZGQ5YTc0XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMDUyOTUyNQ@@._V1_.jpg)
(https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BOTI3OTc3M2MtYWZjMC00ODkyLWIyZDQtOTY5NjE5NjQyYjhhXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyOTMyMjYwNTA@._V1_.jpg)
(https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BZTgxYjQ0ZDQtN2U5OS00Zjk0LTgzYjQtNDk3MTZkNzhjZWY5XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNjgyNTk4NTY@._V1_.jpg)
(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/proxy/ggxYrYpqAz1dxU5agd9gP1QFDBpPA4oJDtmUWX7kiKPRAV_5EH22doTbE6TAQLdxeAYWgi9BkyfOEq5GMV0aijEmIvA07SbexRUibn2TQwgLYLZhYEWrqM9RJ7QN)
(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/proxy/OFwAf4dOO48e6vBtY2Ofm9svbmP908KpZIv-lzmFjLOiydY9mY4iNQDQwY1gwllFzPXzoMbe384BAubSF5GRYmJzbsBY23zhzlEE0UqYDk-3sRLDp3j_uOTttk-7)
(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/proxy/3pbvVqp7fsgbhyEQc4jNGcP_XbeZxGjWV2bWwhJZBQW4T6aavNPVrfuMxMdI-Hu1rSnddNWyKKzYLnDrU2xQLKMHfHZQuUt_i0SP1_qDmNOBeiVulkU0R_QHs3T6)
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This week's rerun:
LELICEK VE SLUZBACH SHERLOCKA HOLMESA
("Lelicek In The Services of Sherlock Holmes")
(Elektrafilm / Czechoslovakia / 1932)
Once again, immensely enjoyable. The film is an adaptation of a novel by Hugo Vavris, which, as someone pointed out, is a bit of a variation on "The Prisoner Of Zenda", with regard to someone impersonating the King of a tiny country. As someone also pointed out, the "Puerto Rico" of this film seems a lot more like the fictional landlocked Ruritania than it does a distant island country (especially since Holmes & Lelicek reach it by train, not ship!).
One of the funniest bits early on, is when Holmes first introduces himself to Lelicek, who asks him...
"Ah, Sherlock Holmes, you had a dog shop, didn't you?"
He then realizes he's thinking of "The Hound Of The Baskervilles".
I really like Martin Fric as Holmes. It turns out he was mostly a director, but did acting occasionally as well. He could have easily done a whole series as Holmes, but, this was his only one. Well... NOT QUITE. It turns out, the same studio simultaneously did a FRENCH-language version of the same film, titled "LE ROI BIS" (THE ROYAL BIZ), and unlike the 1931 Spanish DRACULA, Fric also played Holmes in that as well. However, the dual roles of The King and The Queen and their doubles were done by other actors, and the film (like DRACULA) had a different director. Might be really interesting to see that one for comparison!
Something I completely missed before, this film was directed by Karel Lamac, the same man who did the 1937 DER HUND VON BASKERVILLE! So I wound up getting 2 of his films back-to-back without even realizing it. Again, Bruno Guttner was good in that, but I think Martin Fric might have been better.
Several people have pointed out to me when I've described this film that it sounds exactly like a more-recent film, DAVE (1993), which was directed by Ivan Reitman and starred Kevin Kline. I did some checking, and sure enough, Reitman had also done STRIPES (1981), which was clearly a remake of the English comedy CARRY ON SERGEANT (1958), with Warren Oates taking the William Hartnell role of the soon-to-retire Drill Sergeant. So there would be precedent for this sort of behavior. But, more-- something I never realized-- it turns out, Reitman was BORN in Czechoslovakia-- so he could very well have been aware of the LELICEK film when he was growing up! No coincidence there. ;D
Now I wanna get ALL of these on DVD.
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THE SIGN OF FOUR: SHERLOCK HOLMES' GREATEST CASE
(Associated Talking Pictures / UK / 1932)
This was the 3rd film adaptation of the 2nd Holmes story, and, the 3rd Holmes film starring Arthur Wontner. Since it was supposed to be an "early" story, Wontner was made up to look younger than he was, while Watson was recast with Ian Hunter, who later played King Richard in the classic Errol Flynn film THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD.
I would say this film had just about as many changes made to the story as the Eille Norwood version. Like THE CRUCIFER OF BLOOD (1991), it begins with the robbery in India. In this version, Major Sholto actually murders Captain Morston as soon as he lays eyes on the treasure, which simplifies things a bit. But when Jonathan Small escapes the Andaman Island prison, he brings with him not one but TWO accomplices, Tonga (the native pygmy), and an un-named criminal credited only as "The Tattooed Man", played by Roy Emerton (who came back to play a crime boss in Wontner's 4th Holmes film, THE TRIUMPH OF SHERLOCK HOLMES).
Just before he dies, Sholto, feeling guilty, and knowing Small is on his track, tells his 2 sons about the treasure, but dies of a heart attack on seeing Small before he can tell them where he hid it. Thaddeus, the more nervous of the two, decides to share part of it with Mary Morstan, and sends he a full pearl necklace (in the original story, he sent one pearl a year for several years). But Small confronts the Sholtos, and a terrified Thaddeus tells them he sent the necklace to Mary. They rob her flower shop, but it's not there, and leave a threatening note, even as Thaddeus leaves a note asking her to meet him to get her share of the rest of the treasure.
And it's at THIS point the film finally gets around to her going to see Holmes & Watson for help (which is where the original story actually started). They accompany her to meet Thaddeus, they drive to his mansion, find his brother murdered, and the treasure, which his brother had only just found, missing. Holmes begins his investigation by telling Watson, "Let's leave jumping to conclusions to the PROFESSIONAL detectives!" Inspector Atherly Jones (Gilbert Davis) is played even stupider than usual in this version, dismissing Holmes' theories one second and producing his own in the next. He arrests Thaddeus as the obvious culprit, while Holmes asks him to put a 24-hour watch on Mary for her protection. Later, Holmes gets his help, but Jones NEVER actually admits he's in over his head and NEEDS Holmes' advice (usually one of the best moments in various versions of the story).
From a rope left at the scene, Holmes figures out a small ship-owner is involved, and goes undercover as an old sailor to pump the man's wife for info. Watson, frustrated over Holmes' constant one-upmanship, gets the idea to take Mary and track down the Tattooed Man at a local "fun fair". They see him, but he sees them, and as Watson calls the police, she's abducted, while Holmes, who'd been scouring the fun fair in another disguise, berates Watson for putting Mary in such terrible danger!
What follows next is the classic boat-chase, but in this case, it involves a pair of HIGH-SPEED boats (this is 1932 after all) that reminds me of similar scenes in SHAFT'S BIG SCORE (1972) and LIVE AND LET DIE (1973). Unlike every other version of the chase, it ends in an abandoned warehouse, in a brutal fight and shoot-out. The villains are dead, the jewels are recovered, Mary is rescued, and Watson, having fallen for her, proposes marriage. Holmes, giving them the eye, says, "Amazing, Watson!" Watson smiles and replies, "Elementary, my dear Holmes!" ;D
Thaddeus Sholto was played by Miles Malleson, who, aside from being a screen-writer, also had mostly-comical roles in quite a few films, including THE THIEF OF BAGDAD (1940), HORROR OF DRACULA (1958), THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES (1959) and THE BRIDES OF DRACULA (1962)! It's amazing to see him so young in here.
From what I've read, no less than 3 directors were involved in this, each focusing on different parts of the film. Some of the camera-angles were quite ahead of their time, such as the straight-down shot when Tonga is shot and falls all the way to the floor.
The "Production Supervisor" (not sure exactly what that job entails) was Rowland V. Lee, the only time he was credited as such. Mostly a director himself, his work involved THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO, SON OF FRANKENSTEIN and THE SON OF MONTE CRISTO, the latter of which pitted hero Louis Hayward against villain George Sanders.
Tragically, of the 4 Wontner films in circulation, all in "Public Domain", this seems to be in the WORST shape. I actually have 2 different DVDs, one has poor picture and TERRIBLE sound, the other, BETTER sound but EVEN FUZZIER picture. I wish to God somebody out there would find decent prints of these 4 films, do a proper, extensive restoration on all of them, and release all 4 as a single set.
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You know, it occurs to me, if they'd done DOCTOR WHO back in the early 1930s, Arthur Wontner & Ian Hunter would have been PERFECT to play The Doctor and Ian Chesterton!
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SHERLOCK HOLMES I BONEFANGERKLOR
(Nordick Film Kompagni / Denmark / 1910)
A man winds up drugged while drinking with "friends" who take his wallet. On awakening, he accuses the bartender of being a thief. Holmes arrives and the police arrest both men, but Holmes detects the drugged drink and intrudes on the culprits, who over-power him, forcing him to get help from the police to get loose. 2 fights and a car-chase with lots of shooting later, all is resolved at the police station.
A mostly-clear print of this is posted at the "www.stumfilm.dk" site, silent, with NO music and NO English translation! But it's easy enough to figure out, and fortunately, is only 12 minutes long.
I noted the on-screen title, "Sherlock Holmes Unter Bauernfangern" translates to "Sherlock Holmes Among Farmers", but it seems to me the online link title "The Confidence Trick" makes more sense. Early, simple, fun. I hope someone eventually collects as many of these rarities as can be found and puts them out on a DVD set. Synergy Entertainment's 2 "Sherlock Holmes Collection" box sets did this to a degree, but has some odd gaps that could have made them better than they were.
Watch film here:
https://www.stumfilm.dk/en/stumfilm/streaming/film/sherlock-holmes-i-bondefangerklor
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Well, I just watched the 1932 film SHERLOCK HOLMES with Clive Brook for the 2nd time, and right after, I discover that a BRAND-NEW, CRYSTAL-CLEAR restoration has been done by the Museum Of Modern Art!
But there's a problem... it seems Disney is in charge of all old Fox Films, and currently have ZERO interest in putting this out on DVD or Blu-Ray. W--T--F ???
https://www.ihearofsherlock.com/2021/06/the-1932-clive-brook-sherlock-holmes.html
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A STUDY IN SCARLET
(KBS Productions Inc. / US / 1933)
SIX DEAD MEN ******
KBS Productions paid for the title, but not the plot, of Doyle's 1st Holmes story. Instead, and I might never have known this if not for some helpful contributor to the IMDB, they adapted-- unofficially (and presumably, UNPAID!), Belgian author Stanislas-Andre Steeman's 1931 detective novel "Six Hommes Morts". I've looked around, and I haven't yet found any evidence that this novel, published in French, has ever been translated into English. However, I've just learned it has been adapted to film at least 4 times, with this being the 1st version. The others were "THE RIVERSIDE MURDERS" (UK / 1935), "LE DERNIER DES SIX" (France / 1941) and "L'inspecteur Wens: SIX HOMMES MORTS" (an episode of the 1975 French anthology TV series, "Les grands detectives")! Now I'm interested in tracking those down for comparison.
Physically, Reginald Owen reminds me a bit of a young Ray Milland (or, a bit, of stage actor William Gillette). He may not look like the traditional idea of Holmes, but thanks to the script, he certainly SEEMED like him, making all sorts of amazing observations that escape the notice of Inspector Lestrade and Dr. Watson (who's mainly here as the audience-identification character, for Holmes to explain the plot to). Owen fares better as Holmes than he did as Watson in Fox's "SHERLOCK HOLMES" only 6 months earlier, while Alan Morbray, who was Scotland Yard inspector Colonel Gore-King in that, returns here as Lestrade.
I've seen this movie at least 4 times now, and have enjoyed it more with each viewing. Part of it is the slowly-developing plot, part is seeing some of the wonderful character actors of the period who I've come to recognize from other films turning up. Among them are Anna May Wong (who once played Fu Manchu's daughter), Halliwell Hobbes (who was in several Rathbone HOLMES films), Olaf Hytten (ditto; he also played "Sheerluck Jones" in the insane comedy short "Lost In Limehouse", which came out only a month before this), and Billy Bevan (a policeman in "Dracula's Daughter", he serves a comic-relief role as a tavern customer, similar to Herbert Mundin in the earlier Clive Brook film).
Given the similarities to "The Five Orange Pips" by Doyle, "Six Dead Men" by Steeman, or "Ten Little Indians" by Agatha Christie, I have to wonder WHICH story Christie might have been borrowing from when she wrote HER novel several years after this!
I only wish someone could locate a complete print of this and do a proper restoration, as between the poor picture and sound quality, and all the words missing due to frequent cuts, this is in almost as bad shape as Raymond Massey's "THE SPECKLED BAND". The screenplay here would have made an excellent installment in the Universal HOLMES series with Rathbone; if it had been, it would have been fully restored by now, as those 12 films were!
Reginald Owen as Holmes
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Alan Mobray as Lestrade, with Holmes & Watson
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THE TRIUMPH OF SHERLOCK HOLMES
(Real Art Productions / UK / 1935)
I know many classic characters have gone through multiple studios in their time, but in the case of Arthur Wontner, his 5 Sherlock Holmes movies were actually made by 4 different ones! It's remarkable there was any sense of continuity.
This film, like many such adaptations, actually combines elements of at least 3 of Doyle's stories. The bulk of it is based on his 4th Holmes novel, "The Valley of Fear". I've noticed that 3 of those involve long flashbacks to events that took place years before (while "Hound" has a flashback describing the legend that goes back centuries). In addition, and I thank an IMDB reviewer for pointing this out to me, a rather large early chunk of the film comes from "The Reigate Squires". This is the part where Holmes, exhausted from one particular case, takes the invitation of an old Army chum of Watson's to come to the country to recuperate... only to hear of a murder at a nearby estate. A tiny piece of that story wound up in the pilot episode of the 1954 Ronald Howard SHERLOCK HOLMES tv series, but I now realize that more of it may have found its way in here than in that one. The biggest change is suggesting that Holmes was retiring, and that he took Mrs. Hudson with him to continue on as his house-keeper! (But surely... SHE owned Baker Street, didn't she?)
And then there's "The Final Problem". Yes, Moriarty's been added to this one. And, the famous scene where he confronts Holmes in Baker Street and runs down a list of times Holmes has inconvenienced him is here. That dialogue has turned up verbatim in so many different films, it's hard to keep track of it. To be honest, I've grown so tired of Doyle's original story, coming to feel it was mostly a totally-contrived way for an author to KILL OFF an amazingly-popular fictional character, that I actually find its inclusion here more entertaining than in possibly any other adaptation I've seen of it.
The fact that this film and THE SLEEPING CARDINAL (1931), Wontner's 1st, were made by different studios may explain the total lack of continuity between them concerning Moriarty. He was most definitely arrested by the police in the earlier film, yet in this one, Watson & Lestrade both refuse to believe he's anything more than a mathematics professor, and that Holmes never had him brought to justice! Clearly, different continuities. (Hey, why not? Gordon Scott played 3 DIFFERENT versions of Tarzan, and Sean Connery 2 DIFFERENT versions of James Bond!)
Once the long flashback to America ends, we see Holmes brilliantly solve the murder (and reveal the actual identity of the dead man). After this, the climax involves trapping Moriarty, in a sequence that almost certainly HAD to have inspired the climax of Fox's THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES a mere 2 years later! If anything, this version, involving an ancient, battered circular stone staircase, is far more atmospheric. And since Moriarty winds up falling into a moat filled with water... his survival to return in SILVER BLAZE 2 years later makes perfect sense (especially as Moran was waiting in the car for his return).
Ian Fleming returns for his 3rd outing as the dapper ladies' man Watson (having been absent from THE SIGN OF FOUR).
Leslie Perrins, who was the ill-fated Ronald Adair in THE SLEEPING CARDINAL, returns here as John Douglas, in reality Pinkerton agent Birdie Edwards. My favorite scene of his is when he springs the trap on the gang of killers, standing there calmly lighting a cigarette as the cops burst into the room surrounding the criminals.
Roy Emerton, who had a bit part as "the tattooed man" in THE SIGN OF FOUR, returns here for a much-bigger role as Boss McGinty. He's one of the most sinister, creepy-looking actors I've seen in the 1930s, and I understand he became mostly known for appearing in Shakespeare plays!
Lyn Harding, who'd made such a memorable and nasty impression as Dr. Grimesby Rylott in THE SPECKLED BAND (1931 opposite Raymond Massey as Holmes) returns here in his first of 2 appearances as Professor Moriarty. While Moriarty had spoken to potential clients while in hiding behind a painting in THE SLEEPING CARDINAL, here he meets them face-to-face in a similar room, while somehow managing to appear and disappear from the room without his "business associates" seeing him come and go. His burning rage at Holmes as a result of the closing events of this story are very much in evidence in the follow-up, SILVER BLAZE.
As usual, the main drawback of this and all 4 currently-available Wontner HOLMES films, is the TERRIBLE quality of the prints. The picture is fuzzy, the sound is worse. As much as I like this film, I can only imagine how much more I might if someone found really decent prints and did extensive restorations on them. The style of the writing, directing & acting in some old films can take some adjustment-- but watching miserable prints only makes that more difficult.
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Leslie Perrins as John Douglas alias Birdie Edwards
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"The Valley Of Fear" has not been widely adapted to film. For a much-simpler (and far-more-focused) version, see "The Case Of The Pennsylvania Gun", the 3rd episode of the 1954 Ronald Howard SHERLOCK HOLMES tv series.
For a more AUTHENTIC version... check out the "book on tape" recording done by CHRSTOPHER LEE, where he does all the voices of all the characters himself!
:)
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"THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES, part two"
(BBC-TV / 1968)
Having just watched this again, I felt compelled to comment on it.
The scene of Watson being chased by the dog made a good cliffhanger, though I believe it was invented just for that purpose.
Interesting how Sir Henry told Watson that he knew Watson of all people would not like to be a spoil-sport. Of course, Watson's usually the ladies' man, yet he didn't catch on that Sir Henry wanted to meet Beryl until he saw it himself. Stapleton's outburst, and later apology, appears to be authentic to the book, as it appears in all 3 of the "authentic" film versions (Cushing, Baker & Brett), yet I prefer Henry's reaction in the Baker version to this one, as Gary Raymond's Sir Henry seems almost too genial about it.
I like how, once Barrymore's been accused of being part of a conspiracy, that his wife reveals the truth about her brother being the convict Selden. Really gets a major red herring out of the way pretty quick. Later, when Barrymore talks about the night Sir Charles died, I think he tells more than he should, as a way of minimizing Frankland's screen-time, as I believe in at least 2 other versions it's Frankland who leads Watson to finding "the other man" on the moor.
The whole story really picks up when Watson finds that Holmes has been on the moor for at least a week. Nigel Stock's Watson gets upset but not angry (as Nigel Bruce did), and from this point, the details of the mystery begin to be revealed with amazing precision. Holmes is diverted from revealing the killer's identity due to Seldon's death, and the scene where he tells Watson to say nothing as Stapleton arrives is so quiet compared to most versions it's downright chilling.
Then follows 2 scenes I've never seen in any other version of this story: the pub (where more important details come out), and, the scene between Stapleton & his wife, where she BEGS him to give up his plan. He's already offended at this suggestion, since he's spent ten years of his life planning this, but when she accidentally lets slip that she was the one who sent Henry a letter of warning while they were in London, he goes berzerk. In at least 2 later versions, we saw Beryl tied up, but never the scene that led up to it.
The pacing in this 2nd half is infinitely better than it was in the Tom Baker version, except that it meant there was absolutely no time left for an epilogue. Stapleton goes down in the mire, ROLL CREDITS. It's shocking. And all I can think is, while this was done as a 2-parter, it really should have been done as a 3-parter, as several of the 1980s MISS MARPLEs were.
I'm probably the only person on the planet who thinks Gary Raymond made a far-more appropriate Sir Henry than Christopher Lee did.
Also, something I hadn't really noticed until today, concerned the important point of Holmes' investigation regarding Stapleton's previous history as a school-teacher. Stapleton's casual mention of this was what led Holmes to be able to trace him, and find physical evidence not only of his identity, but the fact that he was married. It suddenly struck me that a similar point in Agatha Christie's "EVIL UNDER THE SUN" allowed Hercule Poirot to connect 2 seemingly-unrelated crimes done years apart, because they had the exact same modus operandi. Yet another example of how Christie was a fan of Doyle! I've seen these stories so many times, yet never connected them until now.
Sir Henry, Dr. Mortimer (not seen at all in part 2!), Holmes
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Watson follows Barrymore and get a scare of his life!
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Gary Raymond as Sir Henry
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Frankland, when asked if he had any children, insisted "I LIVE ALONE!"
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Laura Lyons (Frankland's daughter) is shocked when she learns the man she'd fallen in love with and hoped to marry is a murderer--and, ALREADY MARRIED.
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Philip Bond as Jack Stapleton
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4 times I've seen this (so far), and I never recognized Philip Bond until I saw photos of him without the glasses he wore as Stapleton. (I've seen him on DOCTOR WHO, THE SAINT and THE AVENGERS.)
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THE RIVERSIDE MURDER
(Fox Film Company / UK / 1935)
6 down-on-their luck friends pool their money and agree to equally split any profits at the end of 5 years. As the deadline approaches, they begin to get murdered, one by one. Trying to solve the crimes are straight-laced Inspector Philip Winton, his rather eccentric Scottish sidekick Police Sgt. 'Mac' McKay, and pesky, ambitious newspaper reporter Claire Haines. At one point, one of the friends involved in the "pact" is shot in front of 2 witnesses, yet a moment later, the body has disappeared.
If all this sounds familiar, it's because it's basically the SAME story filmed just 2 years earlier in America as "A STUDY IN SCARLET". So many people are busy complaining that film has nothing to do with Arthur Conan Doyle's 1st Sherlock Holmes novel that they completely miss that it's really an uncredited SWIPE of Belgian writer Stanislas-Andre Steeman's 1931 detective novel "Six Hommes Morts", which IS listed in the opening credits of THIS film.
Having seen the 1933 film with Reginald Owen at least 4 times and enjoying it more each time, I decided to go looking for the other versions. "RIVERSIDE" is a very nicely-done, compact, and at times amusing early English murder mystery. I haven't read the source novel yet (it's in French, I wonder if it's ever been published in English-- or, ONLINE?). But, if I had to guess, I'd say this version, which is quite streamlined compared to the "Sherlock Holmes" version, is probably more authentic to the book.
I found it amazing to watch 2 drastically-different adaptations of the same story, but be able to clearly recognize certain elements that appeared in both films. One example was the girl witnessing a murder, where the body disappears right after it happens. Another is learning about an underground tunnel that connects to the house. Funny enough, a similar tunnel appeared in the 1929 German "HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES", though I'm pretty sure it never appeared in Doyle's novel.
I was only familiar with 2 actors in this. Sgt. McKay was Alistair Sim, who's perhaps best known for what is generally considered the best version of "A CHRISTMAS CAROL" ever made. He also played police inspectors in several films, including a favorite of mine, "GREEN FOR DANGER", which was like a World War 2-era version of "CHINA BEACH". It's his face on the DVD box.
One of the group targetted for murder, the most level-headed of them, Henry Sanders, was played by actor Ian Fleming, who I've seen as Dr. John Watson in 3 of the 4 available Arthur Wontner SHERLOCK HOLMES films.
The hero, Inspector Philip Winton, was played by Basil Sydney. He reminded me a bit of Claude Rains, or Kenneth More. But, it turns out, I had seen in him in 3 other films-- IVANHOE (1952), AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS (1956), and a real favorite of mine, THE DEVIL'S DISCIPLE (1959), where he played "Lawyer Hawkins". I'll have to keep an eye out for him next time I watch that!
There are at least 2 more film adaptations of "Six Hommes Morts" (Six Dead Men), and I'm already planning to get the 3rd one very soon. After that, I may go looking for more films based on Stanislas-Andre Steeman's books.
People keep comparing this to Agatha Christie's "Ten Little Indians", but note, the victims in that did not know each other, there was NO detective on the scene, and, that was published in 1939. (heh)
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Alistair Sim had a great sense of humor and a talent for self mockery.
He first came to my attention in obvious drag and the headmistess Millicent Fritton [and her brother] in the original series of 'St Trinians' films. Opposite the also excellent George Cole.
Any movie with Alistair Sim in it was memorable.
He also played in [among others] the JB Priestly adapted, 'An inspector calls'
and two excellent and well-remembered TV series, 'Cold Comfort Farm' and 'Misleading Cases'.
Now that they have come to mind, I am going to have to track those down.
Whatever he was in , you knew he was relaxed and having a ball.
cheers!
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a couple years ago, I watched several versions of "A CHRISTMAS CAROL" on Youtube-- including the Alistair Sim version. And I could SEE why people thought it was the best!
I've seen him in some other detective film, but I forget which one.
But I've seen GREEN FOR DANGER 2-1/2 times now. I first checked it out because I saw it had Sally Gray in it (she became my FAVORITE "Saint" girl!). Somehow when I taped it off some channel in the middle of the night, they must have started it early and I missed the first 10 minutes or so. But I've since seen it online twice from the beginning. I'll be definitely getting it on DVD at some point.
His "Inspector Cockerill" dressed like Jon Pertwee but reminded me of Columbo, both decades before-the-fact.
There's a George Cole film I plan to get a copy of as well-- TOO MANY CROOKS. I got halfway thru that when I suddenly realized the plot was similar to RUTHLESS PEOPLE. Terry-Thomas played the role Danny DeVito had later. Reading up on it later, it seems both films were probably inspired by an even earlier story.
I find it fun-- sometimes-- to compare different adaptations of stories.
Try watching HIS KIND OF WOMAN and THE FIFTH ELEMENT back-to-back and tell me the one wasn't at least partly inspired by the other. ;D
(Vincent Price plays the Chris Tucker role.)
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a couple years ago, I watched several versions of "A CHRISTMAS CAROL" on Youtube-- including the Alistair Sim version. And I could SEE why people thought it was the best!
I've seen him in some other detective film, but I forget which one.
But I've seen GREEN FOR DANGER 2-1/2 times now. I first checked it out because I saw it had Sally Gray in it (she became my FAVORITE "Saint" girl!). Somehow when I taped it off some channel in the middle of the night, they must have started it early and I missed the first 10 minutes or so. But I've since seen it online twice from the beginning. I'll be definitely getting it on DVD at some point.
His "Inspector Cockerill" dressed like Jon Pertwee but reminded me of Columbo, both decades before-the-fact.
Maybe it was "An Inspector Calls" from 1954? Sim also played a police seargeant to Gordon Harker's Inspector Hornleigh, in the 3 Inspector Hornleigh films during the 1930s.
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You know, it is odd. I mentioned Alistair SIM as the clueless sergeant a few days ago on one of our boards, yet, not a peep from any of you. At the same time I wrote that he was in the 3 Inspector Hornleigh films with the great Gordon Harker as Hornleigh. All 3 are on YouTube.
Basil Sydney also had a part in the Will Hay comedy, Black Sheep of Whitehall.
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You know, it is odd. I mentioned Alistair SIM as the clueless sergeant a few days ago on one of our boards, yet, not a peep from any of you. At the same time I wrote that he was in the 3 Inspector Hornleigh films with the great Gordon Harker as Hornleigh. All 3 are on YouTube.
Basil Sydney also had a part in the Will Hay comedy, Black Sheep of Whitehall.
I LOVE the Inspector Hornleigh films, despite them being a bit silly. The portrayals, especially by Harker, and the understated, subtle Sim, are classic, and wonderful. I never liked The Will Hay films, even as a child. They were always way too slapstick and silly to me. I just never thought Hay funny, even though I like several farcical types, like The Marx Brothers, W.C. Fields, and most of the Terry-Thomas films, and, of course, Monty Python, Ripping Yarns, and the like.
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A STUDY IN SCARLET
(BBC-TV / 1968)
This is a weird one. A man turns up dead, both Inspector Gregson and Inspector Lestrade are involved, Watson seems generally unaware of Holmes' methods, what almost seems simple is told in a very convoluted, confusing manner, and the Baker Street kids show up.
The problem, of course, is someone deciding, in the 2nd BBC series, to try adapting Doyle's very 1st Holmes story-- which was a short NOVEL-- in a single episode of the TV series. The entire opening sequence-- when Watson meets Holmes for the first time, and they decided to share the rent on a flat together-- is missing. You have to see the pilot of the Ronald Howard series back in 1954 to see that part of the story, but that episode then proceeded to tell a completely different story than this one.
It's funny to see LaStrade confidently declare, "Cherchez la femme!", when both Lee Chan & Parisian Police Inspector Jules Joubert said the exact same thing in CHARLIE CHAN IN MONTE CARLO, which I re-watched just last night!
Joey Daly, the music hall performer, was played by Joe Melia, who later played the main villain Jonathan Small in the 1983 version of THE SIGN OF FOUR with Ian Richardson!
Inspector Gregson was played by George A. Cooper, who I've seen in 2 episodes of THE AVENGERS, 2 of THE SAINT, a RANDALL AND HOPKIRK (DECEASED), a NEW AVENGERS, and DRACULA HAS RISEN FROM THE GRAVE (no doubt the thing he did I've seen the most times). He came back as Gregson in "The Greek Interpreter", but that episode is among the missing.
Inspector Lestrade was played this time by William Lucas, who I've seen in X THE UNKNOWN, a DANGER MAN, a SAINT, 2 AVENGERS, and the Peter Davison DOCTOR WHO story "Frontios". Oddly, this was his only episode as Lestrade, where he replaced Peter Madden from the earlier series, while Madden appeared in this series playing a different character!
Alice Charpentier, who was the focus of one of the criminal's unwanted attentions, was played by Edina Ronay, a hot little number who I've seen in 2 AVENGERS, A HARD DAY'S NIGHT, NIGHT TRAIN TO PARIS, A STUDY IN TERROR, CARRY ON COWBOY, and a RANDALL AND HOPKIRK (DECEASED).
Jefferson Hope, the man Holmes was looking for, was played by Larry Cross, who I've seen in a SAINT, THE GIRL HUNTERS, CARRY ON COWBOY, and an AVENGERS.
Joseph Stangerson, the 2nd person to get murdered in his story, was played by one of my favorites, Ed Bishop, who among many other things starred in CAPTAIN SCARLET AND THE MYSTERON, UFO, and the BBC-radio version of PHILIP MARLOWE.
The scene where Holmes tells Watson he's placed an ad in the paper, and to have his revolver ready, is clearly a tribute to a nearly-identical scene in Poe's "The Murders In The Rue Morgue". The later scene where a cabbie is asked up to help with a heavy piece of luggage, allowing Holmes to slap handcuffs on him, later wound up in the William Gillette SHERLOCK HOLMES stage play, and the Arthur Wontner film THE SLEEPING CARDINAL (alias SHERLOCK HOLMES' FATAL HOUR).
Doyle, like Poe before him and Christie after him, liked to do variations on themes, and this is very obvious when you compare A STUDY IN SCARLET and THE VALLEY OF FEAR. Both stories involved criminal gangs in America, a love triangle, and someone being hunted across Europe. They're like mirror-images of each other. In this one, a murderer is chased by a vengeful lover, in the latter, a Pinkerton man is pursued by a criminal who escaped the police after his gang was rounded up. It's easy to see how some fans might be confused at times as to which story they're actually watching.
Peter Cushing complained bitterly about this series not allowing proper rehearsal time, and watching this episode I can see his point. Nigel Stock's performance in this one is the stiffest I've seen him do, there's a totally-blown line from Cushing that wound up in the finished recording, and overall, the whole thing looks and feels like an episode of Dan Curtis' daytime soap DARK SHADOWS, which was also known for looking cheap and having flubbed lines wind up being broadcast.
Even so, it's criminal that the BBC wiped 2/3rds of the episodes, and I wish all 16 of them were still intact and available, instead of just 6.
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DER HUND VON BASKERVILLE
(Ondra-Lamac Film / Germany / 1937)
This was my 4th time seeing this one, and I just keep enjoying it MORE!
Something I've seen a lot of film adaptations do, is whenever you have stories told out of sequence with flashbacks, there's a tendency to show all the events in the order they happened. That certainly is the case here. The film opens with Lord Hugo Baskerville, some 600 years in the past, finding out his wife no longer loves him and is having an affair with another man. After killing the man in a swordfight, his wife's huge dog attacks and kills him.
We then cut to Sir Charles Baskerville, discussing the legend with his friend Dr. Mortimer, when Beryl Vendeleure, who turns out to be a distant relative, arrives. An eccentric neighbor, Stapleton, stops by. Apart from being a naturalist, he's also an outspoken mysogenist, who immediately takes an intense dislike of Beryl. But soon after he's has invited her to stay, Charles receives a phone call which sends him outside... where, moments later, he's found, DEAD, with the footprints of a large dog next to his body.
At the reading of the will, everyone, especially Beryl, are surprised to learn Charles had a nephew, Henry, living in Paris and working an an engineer. When he arrives, Mortimer tells him he's trying to engage the services of Sherlock Holmes to look into the bizarre goings-on at Baskerville Castle.
And it's nearly a half-hour in before we finally meet Watson, who with Holmes' assistant, are driving their house-keeper crazy with their studies into cigarette ashes. Holmes arrives fresh from an important case, and proceeds to confuse Watson by talking about both his most recent case and the identity of the man who left his walking-stick behind, at the same time. Mortimer meets Holmes, who requests Mortimer try to distill the "legend" down into 100 words or less. Henry calls from his hotel, angered that not one but two of his boots have vanished, at which point Holmes says the case is suddenly looking interesting. "Shall we go?" "You will. I'm busy." "But what shall I do?" "Keep the hound on his LEASH!"
Some of the dialogue, at least in the English subtitles, seem more modern than the 1930s to me, and add an extra level of humor. I also love how they use Mussorgsky's "Night On Bald Mountain" on the soundtrack over some of the darker, more moody scenes.
Watson, as played by Fritz Odemar, is sharper & more quick-witted than usual in this version. It amazes me how much this adaptation plays fast-and-loose with various elements of the story, yet still managing to be recognizable. For example, it's Beryl who calls out Barrymore's signalling at the window, prompting an admission from his wife that the escaped convict is her brother. Then you have Stapleton being the one with a telescope on his 2nd floor, which allows Watson to locate the hiding place of whoever is hiding out on the moor. And then there's Beryl. Traditionally, she's Stapleton's wife, but pretending to be his sister. In the Rathbone film, she's actually Stapleton's step-sister, and completely unaware of what he's doing. Here, she's openly known as a distant relative of Henry, while she & Stapleton pretend not to know each other-- even though, they're actually brother and sister.
Watson proves his skill with women while trying to placate an angry, irate Post Office telephone operator in the middle of the night, who Holmes rightly concludes has the key to Sir Charles' death. And, as it turns out, she just put thru another call between Henry & Stapleton, which had led Henry away from the house against Holmes' firm orders! They arrive just in time to save him from one of the least-impressive-looking hounds ever, while Barrymore gets into the action angrily trying to stop Stapleton from escaping. Instead, he's thrown from a speeding carriage, just before it winds up sinking into the moor-- with Stapleton on board!
Back at Baker Street, Holmes & Watson receive news that Henry & Beryl are engaged. "The same old story." "Women are not meant to be understood."
FUN flick. I'd say it's spookier-looking than the Rathbone film, but not half as much as the 1929 version. On the other hand, it's less authentic to the novel than either of those, but still manages to be more authentic than the 1959 Hammer version! The next time I do a "HOUND" marathon, I'll have a lot more versions to watch back-to-back.
Something I didn't realize at first, director Karel Lamac also did LELICEK IN THE SERVICES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES (1932). While that was an outright comedy, HOUND mixes mystery and spookiness with character humor. While Bruno Guttner made a good if very unusual Holmes, part of me wishes Lamac had brought back Martin Fric from the earlier film... although, Holmes is in so little of this, he might have been wasted here.
Sir Charles is advised by Stapleton not to trust Beryl.
(https://pixhost.icu/avaxhome/8a/03/002f038a_medium.jpeg)
An annoyed Sir Henry calls to report his missing boot.
(https://markdavidwelsh.files.wordpress.com/2016/10/der-hund-von-baskerville-19372.jpg)
Even Barrymore, the butler, doesn't trust Beryl-- but Henry does!
(https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BNmFhMDFmNTYtYzM0MS00YTQxLTg3Y2EtM2E0ZjA3MThkYTczXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMjQwNDcwNjk@._V1_.jpg)
Watson & Henry discover Holmes' hiding place.
(https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BNzE1N2MxYjEtMjZmZS00ZjRmLWEyOGEtMmE2NzE0M2ZhZGYwXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMjQwNDcwNjk@._V1_.jpg)
Holmes advises Henry NOT to leave the house!
(https://eldesvandelabuelito.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/baskerville.png)
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LE DERNIER DES SIX
(Continental Films / France / 1941)
A perfect example of how multiple adaptations of a single source material can be drastically different, yet each one highly-entertaining. This was the 3rd film version of Stanislas-Andre Steeman's "SIX HOMMES MORTS" (Six Dead Men), following "A STUDY IN SCARLET" (1933 / America) and THE RIVERSIDE MURDER (England / 1935). I wondered if I was crazy for going after all 3, but I've enjoyed all 3 of them so much, I'm not the least bit sorry I did.
6 friends who made money betting together on the horse races decide to go their separate ways but sign a contract that whatever their fates, at the end of 5 years, they're all share the benefits equally. So of course, as the deadline approaches, and they gather together, suddenly, they start being killed off one by one. Someone at a site names "French Films.com" implied this was a swipe of Agatha Christie's "TEN LITTLE INDIANS", which was published in 1939, apparently unaware that the Belgian novel was published in 1931, which, if there was any swiping going on, would be on Christie's part!
The 3 films are so drastically-different in style and content, outside the central mystery plot. One scene they all have in common (which I was able to correctly predict), is when one of the friends is describing the murder of another, suggests one of them will kill off all the others, and then, suddenly gets shot while standing in a doorway. But a moment later, the body disappeared! Having seen the 2 earlier films already, I knew where this development was going. What I found interesting was how the witness to this shooting, Henre Senterre (played by Andre Luguet) while physically reminding me of a French version of Reginald Denny, also vaguely reminded me of actor Ian Fleming, who played the corresponding character in the 1935 version!
While Holmes in the 1933 film had no interest no women, and Inspector Winton in the 1935 film fell in love with a pushy newspaper reporter, Pierre Fresnay, as "Le commissaire Wensceslas Voroboevitch" (alias "Monsieur Wens") has a very hot-tempered actress girlfriend "Mila Malou" (played by Suzy Delair). She reminded me vaguely of Annie Potts, except with such an aggressively-abbrasive personality that I couldn't possibly tolerate her the way Wens does!
Early-on I realized this was the most lavish-looking, biggest-budgeted adaptation of this story so far. The house where the friends meet is a virtual palace, and the fancy music-hall looks like something out of a Hollywood musical, with a dance number in the later tradition of The June Taylor Dancers, and other woman standing around on the sides of the stage completely naked (I bet this film never passed The Hayes Office over here!).
The photography is also STUNNING. I would say this qualifies as "noir", everything seems to be in high-contrast dark & light, so many shadows everywhere, so such crisp, clean imagery. My Dad once spoke with admiration for German technical ability, lamenting their politics, and the Continental studio was entirely financed by the Nazis.
The highlight of the film, for me, was Commissioner Wens, who was quite an amusing, witty character. There were quite a few moments I found outright hilarious, but not without some effort, as the dialogue and English subtitles were going by so fast, I really had to pay attention to not get lost.
With all the inspiration and/or swiping going on between various authors and screen-writers, the ending of the film really caught my attention. Focused on a chase through an underground tunnel, the sequence reminded me an awful lot of a similar one in the 1962 Indian film "BEES SAAL BAAD" (loosely adapted from Doyle's "The Hound of the Baskervilles"), while the actual climax saw the murderer go down in quicksand just like from that book (a detail NOT in the '62 film).
I keep wondering if "Six Hommes Mort" has been translated into English. It'd be interesting to know exactly how the book went, as compared to the film versions.
This was the 2nd DVD I got from "Rare Films And More". Like the other one, the 1937 "HOUND", it was on a DVD-R, with English subtitles, a somewhat-confusing menu, and a WW2-era newsreel as a bonus. This one, though narrated in German (I think) was done from The Allies' POV, as it consistently showed refugees from German's "barbarity" and stressed how The Allies (and The French in particular) were ready to drive back "The Hun". Considering the atrocities being committed worldwide right now by the USA, Watching this disturbing footage put me in a mood something like this might not have done decades ago.
(https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMTc1ODNiODEtZmZhYy00YmFlLTllNWEtMDE3NGRiYjYyMmU1XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMDI3OTIzOA@@._V1_.jpg)
The friends randomly choose where they'll each go to seek their fortunes.
(https://www.thecinetourist.net/uploads/7/0/9/9/7099213/4934494_orig.png)
Mila & Wens (It MUST be love-- how else could he put up with her?)
(https://www.moma.org/d/assets/W1siZiIsIjIwMTYvMDcvMTQvMmtqdjFmMjNydl9Bc3Nhc3Npbl9oYWJpdGVfYXVfMjFfY3JvcHBlZC5qcGciXSxbInAiLCJjb252ZXJ0IiwiLXF1YWxpdHkgOTAgLXJlc2l6ZSAyMDAweDIwMDBcdTAwM2UiXV0/Assassin-habite-au-21_cropped.jpg?sha=900c6a39d83a6fc1)
Wens & one of his top men, Picard.
(https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMzAxMDI2NzEtODQzZi00ZWQyLTlmYmMtMTBmODFkOGRiYzgyXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTAxMTcyMzM0._V1_.jpg)
Jean (a jealous and frustrated suitor) and Lolita.
(https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BZTg5NjQxMTctYmM4ZC00MTE3LTg3OTQtOTc5YzkyNjYzZGZhXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMTAxMTcyMzM0._V1_.jpg)
Something The Hayes Office would object to.
(https://noirencyclopedia.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/les-dernier-des-six-1941-a-scene-youd-not-find-in-a-contemporary-us-movie-e1378588361811.jpg)
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I notice that the script was written by Georges "Wages of Fear" Clouzot. This sent me to Clouzot's page on Wikipedia, where I learned that when this film was made Clouzot was returning to movies following five years in a sanatorium recovering from tuberculosis. The article says:
By the time Clouzot left the sanatorium and returned to Paris, World War II had broken out. French cinema had changed because many of the producers he had known had fled France to escape Nazism.
Clouzot's health problems kept him from military service. In 1939, he met actor Pierre Fresnay, who was already an established film star in France. Clouzot wrote the script for Fresnay's only directorial feature Le Duel, as well as two plays for him: On prend les memes, which was performed in December 1940, and Comedie en trois actes, which was performed in 1942. Despite writing scripts for films and plays, Clouzot was so poor that he resorted to trying to sell lyrics to French singer Edith Piaf, who declined to purchase them. In World War II, after France was invaded by Germany and subsequently during the German occupation, the German-operated film production company Continental Films was established in October 1940. Alfred Greven, the director of Continental, knew Clouzot from Berlin and offered him work to adapt stories of writer Stanislas-Andre Steeman. Clouzot felt uncomfortable working for the Germans, but was in desperate need of money and could not refuse Greven's offer. Clouzot's first film for Continental was the adaptation of Steeman's mystery novel Six hommes morts (Six Dead Men). Clouzot retitled the film Le Dernier des six, having been influenced by actress Suzy Delair while writing the script, allowing her to choose the name of the character she would play.
After the success of Le Dernier de six, Clouzot was hired as the head of Continental's screenwriting division. Clouzot began work on his second Steeman adaptation, which he would also direct, titled The Murderer Lives at Number 21. It starred Fresnay and Delair playing the same roles they had performed in Le Dernier de six. Released in 1942, the film was popular with audiences and critics.
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Thanks for that!
I'm really amazed at HOW MUCH I enjoyed that movie last night. Now, I can't wait to see if I can track down the sequel.
I just noticed the 2nd one was remade in 1948... in Argentina. Gee, I wonder if THAT film is available on DVD?
The crazy thing is, all this I owe to some unknown contributor at the IMDB who pointed out in the "Trivia" section of "A STUDY IN SCARLET" (1933) that the film was really based on "Six Hommes Morts". After I did some research on the story, its author, and various film adaptations of his work, I passed on what I found to the IMDB via their system. Absurdly, while the 3 later adaptations of "Six Hommes Morts" ALL had "connections" to each other added, whoever did it, NEGLECTED to add connections to "A STUDY IN SCARLET", or to the other 3 films on that film's page. WTF?
For whatever reason, it was the one instance where their system prevented me from adding the info myself, but someone there deliberately refused to add those particular "connections". I wish I knew who it was that mentioned Stanislas-Andree Steeman in the first place, because I've made a point of mentioning him in all 3 reviews I've written, and I've got a growing list of films based on his books I'm going after.
I swear, since I started buying DVDs, I've been enjoying collecting & watching old movies & TV shows more than I can ever remember doing so with comic-books. (And I was recording movies & TV shows on videotapes since late 1979.)
Much later, "Continental" was the name of a comics publisher in Brazil that specialized in horror (while also doing superheroes, westerns, humor, etc.) After 2 years they had to change their name because some other book publisher was called "Continental". Their 2nd name, "October", had been registered by another company called "Editorial April" (who mostly did licensed books from America), and they eventually settled on "Taika" for the rest of their existence, just at the point where their 2 founders had a falling out and separately left the company they started in the hands of the "money men" who over time ran it INTO THE GROUND.
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By the way, Prof, one review of Le Dernier des six speculated that the "noirish" touches may mean that Clouzot took a hand in directing the picture, given that such things weren't Lacombe's style but were right up Clouzot's alley. It'd be interesting to watch the sequel, which Clouzot did direct, and compare approaches.
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The influence of Doyle and Sherlock Holmes can't be underestimated.
Here is one I did not know about.
Mason, A. E. W. (Alfred Edward Woodley) and his detective [Gabriel Hanaud]
The quote below is from the Canadian site FADED PAGE where you can find several of his books.
In 1910, Mason undertook to create a fictional detective as different as possible from Sherlock Holmes, who had recently been resuscitated after his supposed death by Arthur Conan Doyle in 1903. Inspector Gabriel Hanaud was stout, not gaunt like Holmes; a professional policeman, not a gentleman amateur; from the French surete, not Victorian England; and relying on psychological insights rather than physical evidence. His "Watson" is a retired London banker named Mr. Julius Ricardo.
Hanaud's appearance in the 1910 novel, At The Villa Rose marks "the first major fiction detective of the Twentieth Century," according to a historian of the genre. Set in the south of France, its plot also ridicules spiritualism and mediums, well-known enthusiasms of A. Conan Doyle.
Four more Hanaud novels and several short stories followed, the last, The House in Lordship Lane, in 1946 and the only one set in England.
The first Hanaud book was a best-seller, as were several of his 20 novels, and as such often adapted into films, often more than once. A 1920 version of At the Villa Rose was a great success in British movie theaters that year, even as a play version of the novel simultaneously began a long run at the Strand. A successful silent version of The Four Feathers followed the next year.
The first sound version was shot both in English and in French at Twickenham Studios in 1930, making it the first British bi-lingual production, released in America under the name The Mystery of the Villa Rose. This marked the film debut of Austin Trevor, an actor from Northern Ireland, in the role of Mr. Ricardo. Trevor would go on to be the first actor to create Hercule Poirot on the screen. Veteran British director Walter Summers directed At the Villa Rose, aka House of Mystery in 1940.
Mason's many subsequent novel adaptations appear to have been staples of the "quota quickies" churned out in the 1920s and 30s in Twickenham and other studios under the British requirements to shore up its local film industry against the enticements of Hollywood productions.--Wikipedia.
At the Villa Rose by A E W Mason #audiobook
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwtV-Bq2N2A&list=PLrqdxIeaHFVb2pr9wISRaSoCukVYYXhKC&index=2
NB, I note from the above quote, [A 1920 version of At the Villa Rose was a great success in British movie theaters that year, even as a play version of the novel simultaneously began a long run at the Strand.]
YouTube has a movie 'House of Mystery' but dated 1934, not 1940. It doesn't credit Mason, but is based on an earlier play. I haven't read the book, so don' t know if there is a relationship. I suspect so.
The movie looks like the granddaddy of that type of Hollywood staple.
House of Mystery (1934)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zg2ZbV0xeyI
The Four Feathers 1939 [Alexander Korda] [Screenplay RC Sherriff] Great movie!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mApKrfQwCfY
Cheers! - and enjoy the audio book if you choose.
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Geez, I just found out about another German SHERLOCK HOLMES film from 1937 that I never heard of before...
DIE GRAUE DAME (The Gray Lady)
This stars Hermann Speelmans as Holmes. There doesn't appear to be a Watson (it happened in a lot of early SH films). It's available on DVD-R from Rare Films And More (which started out originally as "German War Films" before expanding their scope). Only one problem: it's IN GERMAN-- with NO English subtitles.
I'm sorry, I can't deal with that. I watched thre '37 HOUND once without subtitles, but at least there I had an idea of what the story was about going in.
8)
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At the Panther's suggestion I listened to the LibriVox reading of At the Villa Rose introducing A E W Mason's detective M. Hanaud. It was time well spent. The mystery keeps you guessing and Hanaud is an interesting character. When Mason set out to create a detective most unlike Sherlock Holmes he checked all the boxes. Outgoing, talkative, rotund, a police official rather than an amateur, emotional...quite a contrast. But it's to Mason's credit that Hanaud stands on his own as a three-dimensional character, not just as an anti-Holmes.
The story concerns the murder of a wealthy woman with a thing for seances. Her young companion, a woman with a mysterious past, disappears following the crime and all the evidence points to her as the guilty party. Hanaud patiently pulls all the conflicting clues together to solve both murder and disappearance. There are two spurts of violent action, but like most mysteries of the period it's primarily talking and thinking. The solution is satisfying and Hanaud is a likeable protagonist, save perhaps for his being extremely conceited. M. Ricardo, whom Wikipedia identifies as Hanaud's Watson figure, doesn't narrate the story. It's told in standard third person. In fact Ricardo doesn't have much to do until the mystery's solution starts to emerge and Hanaud needs someone to talk to.
The story has a timeless quality and more than once I was tripped up by forgetting it is set in 1910. One notable example is that while automobiles figure in the story, when a character "takes a cab from the station" in an important scene, the cab is horse-drawn. I was thinking motorized taxicab, and the scene didn't make sense until the author happened to mention the horse.
Despite the novel's age, Mason's writing is not at all stodgy. I have two complaints. The first is not unique to Mason. At several points in the mystery the detective understands the significance of a clue and doesn't share the insight with his sidekick (and the reader). I know this sort of information withholding is a frequent gimmick in mysteries to keep the mystery mysterious. The problem here is that Hanaud announces that he knows what's going on and actively refuses to explain, using the metaphor of a ship's captain. The captain is entitled to know what the crew thinks but he doesn't have to share his thoughts with them. His attitude only calls attention to the fact that it's a plot device. He should have just shut up about it or used the old excuse, "I can't tell you until I'm sure of my facts."
My lesser gripe is with the novel's structure. The murder is solved and the perpetrators apprehended about three-quarters of the way through the book. The remaining six chapters describe in detail how the crime was carried out and explain how the clues that puzzled Hanaud came to be. It's useful information because it ties up all the loose ends, but it's rather anti-climactic. This section would have worked better if it had been condensed.
I searched for online copies of the earlier movie adaptations, a silent in 1920 and two sound versions (one in English, one in French) from 1930. I struck out. Someone must have tied up the rights and issued them on DVDs for Profh to add to his collection. Too bad. By the way, the 1934 House of Mystery has no connection with the book.
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The story concerns the murder of a wealthy woman with a thing for seances.
See CHARLIE CHAN IN LONDON.
My lesser gripe is with the novel's structure. The murder is solved and the perpetrators apprehended about three-quarters of the way through the book. The remaining six chapters describe in detail how the crime was carried out and explain how the clues that puzzled Hanaud came to be.
Hmm. See A STUDY IN SCARLET, THE SIGN OF FOUR and THE VALLEY OF FEAR!
At several points in the mystery the detective understands the significance of a clue and doesn't share the insight with his sidekick (and the reader). I know this sort of information withholding is a frequent gimmick in mysteries to keep the mystery mysterious.
I did a 4-part murder mystery back in the early 90s, where I used this-- a bit. The thing is, I wanted there to be 3 cliffhangers, so at the end of each chapter, I deliberately held back a bit of info-- until the beginning of the NEXT part!
Among the MANY adaptations I've seen of THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES, they had multiple different ways of revealing what was going on. In the 1968 BBC version with Cushing & Stock, Holmes is just about to tell Watson who the murderer is, when they hear the scream of the convict, Selden, being killed by the dog. They race to the scene, too late, but then Holmes tells Watson NOT to say anything, as the killer is approaching... and, it's Stapleton. One of the most effective reveals , I thought.
I'm feeling more guilty every day that I still haven't gotten around to read the actual stories. It would give me a far-better idea of what parts of which films were "authentic" and which weren't.
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THE SIGN OF FOUR
(British Broadcating Corporation / 1968)
Repeating what they did with "A Study In Scarlet", the BBC series with Peter Cushing & Nigel Stock decided to adapt Doyle's 2nd-ever Holmes story-- and the 2nd novel-- as a single episode, rather than a 2-parter. This seems insane, except on watching the result, I'm stunned that so little that seems important was left out. In fact, there are several sequences in this version I have not seen in ANY of the multiple other ones I've seen, and several scenes that are allowed to play out at a rather relaxed, leisurely pace. Of course, to make up for this, huge chunks are cut out entirely, and what's left races by at a frightening pace, the likes of which I've only seen in the 2nd half of the Tom Baker version of "HOUND".
Ann Bell presents a very sweet, attractive version of Mary Morstan, and more time is spent focused on the budding romance between her & Watson than any other version I've seen outside of the 1932 Arthur Wontner-Ian Hunter film. Paul Daneman's Thaddeus Sholto is reasonably eccentric (including his "Elmer Fudd" lisp), much younger than Miles Malleson's from the '32 film, not as handsome as the one from the Ian Richardson film, but nowhere near as annoying-as-hell as when Ronald Lacey played him in the Jeremy Brett version. It's amusing and a bit awkward when, near the end, both Mary & then Watson mistake his actions as those of a romantic rival, when he's just someone out to do the right thing.
Cushing's Holmes is genuinely hyper-active in this, as he's racing to get thru as much of the dialogue and the story as possible in the absurdly-limited time allotted. He doesn't even have a chance to go undercover in disguise as Wontner, Richardson or Brett did. But I did enjoy his amusment at the expense of his Scotland Yard counterpart.
The highlight of this version, for me, was John Stratton as Inspector Athelney Jones, a man who's so arrogant, egotistical and conceited, he makes Lestrade look like a real sweetheart by comparison. More than any other version of Jones I've seen, Stratton is hilarious when he first dismisses Holmes as "the theorist", then, only seconds later, begins spewing out his own half-baked theories, which Holmes takes almost too much delight in picking apart. "And the dead man gets up to lock the door from the inside?" "...There's a flaw there... Somewhere... "
In recent years, the locked-door murder has become to me a blatent tribute to the one in Poe's "The Murders In The Rue Morgue", with a sailor and an organgutan replaced by a one-legged man and a pygmy. Despite this episode being near the end of the 2nd BBC series, so much of it displays Holmes explaining his methods and philosophy toward life that it screams to be watched before all the others (except for "A Study In Scarlet", which should be watched first). I especially enjoyed his meeting up with the butler, McMurdo, who he once went several rounds of boxing with years earlier.
In a bit of continuity I missed on earlier viewings, Wiggins (Tony McLaren) makes his 2nd appearance, coming to see Holmes by himself after he was instructed to leave the rest of his underaged detectives in the street in "Scarlet".
So much of the back-story, mood and character were left out of this adaptation, yet the parts that are here make me enjoy this as a very enjoyable alternative to the others. My favorite is still the Ian Richardson film, while my least-favorite, sadly, is the one with Jeremy Brett. (Now I'm just waiting for the British Film Institute to do their massive restoration project on the Eille Norwood series, so I can see the 1923 version cleaned up properly. The video currently on Youtube is a real chore to plow through until then.)
Mary Morstan
(https://www.arthur-conan-doyle.com/images/thumb/8/86/1968-sh-cushing-sign-mary-morstan.jpg/252px-1968-sh-cushing-sign-mary-morstan.jpg)
Thaddeus Sholto
(https://www.arthur-conan-doyle.com/images/6/64/1968-sh-cushing-sign-thaddeus-sholto.jpg)
the butler
(https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BZTQ4NjQxOWQtZjQ2Mi00ODI1LWE0NTMtNmZjYzMxY2U4NWYwXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyOTMyMjYwNTA@._V1_.jpg)
Inspector Jones
(https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BNzk5YWUwMzYtMjIxMC00YTNlLTgxYzUtMzBiOTY0YWJhZDIzXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyOTMyMjYwNTA@._V1_FMjpg_UX1000_.jpg)
the riverboat chase!
(https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BNzZjYjg1NjQtOGJkMy00OTRjLWI1ZjctZDA0NWJhNTc4OWJmXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyOTMyMjYwNTA@._V1_.jpg)
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Mary Morstan, who later became Watson's 1st wife, was played by Ann Bell. I've seen her in DR. TERROR'S HOUSE OF HORRORS, a DANGER MAN, 2 SAINTs, TO SIR WITH LOVE, and, much later, a POIROT.
Thaddeus Sholto (and, for once, his murdered brother Bartholomew as well) is played by Paul Daneman. I've seen him in a SAINT and a BLAKE'S 7, but I confess I don't recall him from either.
Jonathan Small, who has a much-smaller part in this adaptation than usual, is played by Howard Goorney. I've seen him in 2 AVENGERS, THE EVIL OF FRANKENSTEIN, a DANGER MAN, a SAINT, WHERE'S JACK?, a RANDALL AND HOPKIRK (DECEASED), THE BLOOD ON SATAN'S CLAW, and TO THE DEVIL A DAUGHTER.
Wiggins, the leader of The Irregulars, was played by Tony McLaren. He only has a very short acting resume, but spent more time as a producer.
Inspector Jones was the deep-voiced John Stratton. He's the one guest-actor in this who really stood out in my memory. I've seen him in the tv version of QUATERMASS AND THE PIT, a U.F.O., (the episode "E.S.P.", where he played one of the most tragic characters on the show, John Croxley), FRANKENSTEIN AND THE MONSTER FROM HELL (the director of the asylum), but mostly, the Colin Baker DOCTOR WHO story "The Two Doctors", where he played "Shockeye", a voracious meat-eating alien who more than anything wanted to taste the flesh of human beings.
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SILVER BLAZE / MURDER AT THE BASKERVILLES
(Julius Hagen Productions / UK / 1937 / 1941 in US)
Following THE TRIUMPH OF SHERLOCK HOLMES, Holmes is back at Baker Street, presumably Watson & wife have moved elsewhere, and Holmes finally accepts the latest in a long-standing series of invitations to relax in the country from his old friend, Sir Henry Baskerville, who he helped out 20 years earlier. At the same time, Lestrade is being transferred to oversee the modernization of the police department in that general area, so they look forward to possibly seeing each other there.
But meanwhile, Colonel Sebastian Moran has found a suitable property in a rough industrial neighborhood to serve as the new headquarters of his boss, Professor Robert Moriarty, who presumably didn't die when he fell into that water-filled moat in the previous film.
Within this new framework, the classic story of a murder and a missing race horse unfolds rather authentically. Those complaining about all the additions should check out a similar adaptation in the 2006 "CASINO ROYALE" with Daniel Craig, where the entire first half of the film was all-new material, but the second half actually followed the source novel fairly accurately.
I currently have 3 different copies of this sadly Public Domain film, in various stages of disrepair. The first is a videotape copy of a videotape rental I made about 20 years ago. I haven't checked it in detail yet, but I do know it's the UK print, with the title "SILVER BLAZE". Then there's the 2003 DVD from Alpha Video / Oldies.com, which is a US print, "MURDER AT THE BASKERVILLES". The print is a bit fuzzy, but very watchable, and the sound is fairly clear. And then there's the 2016 DVD of the UK print, "SILVER BLAZE", from The Film Detective.com, listed as part of their "Restored Classics" line. Well, I wouldn't really agree with that. The entire film is way too dark, it's almost impossible to see anything in nighttime scenes, and the sound is appallingly bad. But that's not all.
The further problem is, although allegedly 6 minutes was cut from the US print, both DVDs are missing DIFFERENT parts of the film! I won't know exactly what's missing from each without watching each one with a stopwatch running and taking extensive notes, but I can lay out a few obvious things from near the beginning and end of each.
The Alpha Video "MURDER..." DVD is missing the opening scene, where Moran, in disguise, discusses the empty factory building with the estate agent. That scene is on the "SILVER" disc, but, the end of the NEXT scene, where Moriarty tells Moran the place is a "fortress which should prove impervious even to Sherlock Holmes", is missing. As is the opening of the 3rd scene, where Holmes tells Mrs. Hudson he objects to being referred to as an "invalid". These bits ARE on the "MURDER..." disc.
Near the end of the film, when Moriarty hears that his chauffer has captured Dr. Watson, Moran blurts out, "What the HELL is HE doing here?" on the UK "SILVER BLAZE" disc. But on the US "MURDER" disc, there's an obvious, awkward cut, reducing the line to, "What the is HE doing here?" I guess the US Hayes office / Production Code still didn't like the word "HELL" in their movies.
Finally, at the end, the US "MURDER" disc has Moriarty yell, "BLAST you!", while, oddly enough, the UK "SILVER" disc, you see him mouth the words, but the film is SILENT at that point. Did the British really find "BLAST you!" offensive??
Making this all the more ironic, I paid much more the the far-inferior DVD. I dearly wish somene would locate decent, complete prints of all of Arthur Wontner's films and do proper restorations on them. But until then, at least in my experience, stick with the Alpha Video version.
They have a lot of nerve calling this "restored".
(https://pisces.bbystatic.com/image2/BestBuy_US/images/products/3532/35324012_sa.jpg)
Alpha Video's is far-more watchable. And, as usual, somebody at Alpha Video did a very nice design on the box.
(https://alchetron.com/cdn/Silver-Blaze-1937-film-images-e938265c-3fb3-4369-8427-1a67234e54e.jpg)
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THE MAN WHO WAS SHERLOCK HOLMES (1937)
2nd time around for this. No real new comments, see my previous review. The combination of comedy and building suspense can leave you exhausted by the end. I had the biggest SMILE on my face when it was over.
I have the 2008 Televista DVD. Easy-to-work menu, 12 chapters, and a gallery of stills accompanied by the song from a third of the way into the movie. Excellent restoration on the film and good sound.
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Just watched the 1939 HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES (Basil Rathbone's debut) on DVD again. After seeing so many other adaptations of the same story, and most recently, both the 1968 and 1937 versions, it becomes SHOCKINGLY obvious just how MANY changes 20th Century-Fox made in their version. It remains a very good movie, but it's nowhere near the most authentic... or, the moodiest-looking.
(https://jnpickens.files.wordpress.com/2019/04/baskervilles3.jpg)
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One of my favorite bits in this version, which I'm pretty sure was one of the many things created just for this version, was the mysterious peddler wandering around on the moor. He's so ANNOYING... but also funny, as when he pulls out a police whistle and insists on blowing it loudly right in the faces of Watson, Beryl & Henry.
Then, when he wanders off, Watson actually notices he's suddenly limping on the wrong foot. I had to run the film back a moment to make sure of this. Funny enough, the guy is still holding his walking stick with his right hand, but as he walks away, he's limping on his left leg, which doesn't make any sense... unless you realize, the guy is FAKING it, as Watson suspects, but Watson doesn't realize the guy WANTS Watson to notice it.
Because, of course, it's Holmes IN DISGUISE. In no other version does Watson get SO PISSED OFF and stay that way so long as Nigel Bruce does in this one, when Holmes reveals himself, laughing in his best friend's face, before then adding injury to insult by pulling out his violin and begin playing it.
(https://www.basilrathbone.net/films/shhound/images/Image14.jpg)
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One of my favorite bits in this version, which I'm pretty sure was one of the many things created just for this version, was the mysterious peddler wandering around on the moor. He's so ANNOYING... but also funny, as when he pulls out a police whistle and insists on blowing it loudly right in the faces of Watson, Beryl & Henry.
Then, when he wanders off, Watson actually notices he's suddenly limping on the wrong foot. I had to run the film back a moment to make sure of this. Funny enough, the guy is still holding his walking stick with his right hand, but as he walks away, he's limping on his left leg, which doesn't make any sense... unless you realize, the guy is FAKING it, as Watson suspects, but Watson doesn't realize the guy WANTS Watson to notice it.
Because, of course, it's Holmes IN DISGUISE. In no other version does Watson get SO PISSED OFF and stay that way so long as Nigel Bruce does in this one, when Holmes reveals himself, laughing in his best friend's face, before then adding injury to insult by pulling out his violin and begin playing it.
This kind of thing goes back to stage acting and is known as ' a bit of business'. The Actors make a script work by adding physical things they do when interpreting the role that are not actually specified by the script.
That's why actors who have worked on the stage are often much more versatile and creative than those who have not.
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An e-mail just sent to the editor of SHERLOCK magazine, who apparently did the audio commentaries on the MPI Rathbone box set.
I just listened to the audio commentary on the MPI box set's "HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES", and it mentioned it was by the editor of SHERLOCK magazine. So I thought I'd get in touch.
Fascinating stuff. In all the times I've watched, I NEVER ONCE noticed that Richard Green played Sir Hugo in the flashback!
It also somehow escaped me that there is NO explanation for who sent the letter of warning, since in virtually every other version it appears, it's Beryl who's trying to warn Henry away from what she knows her husband Jack is planning.
It is clearly explained what the conenction is between the convict and Mrs. Barryman-- though it's held back much longer than normal-- when Holmes refers to him as, ".........your brother..........."
I suspect the Hayes Office and their censorship was behind changing Beryl to Jack's STEP-sister and having her be completely innocent. This would be similar to what happened to Howard Hawk's version of "THE BIG SLEEP".
By comparison, in the 1929 HOUND, Laura Lyons KNOWS Jack is married and has told her he's planning to leave his wife Beryl for her. That's not in the book-- and I doubt the Hayes Office would have approved at all! 😄
I just noticed this weekend that the woman who played Mrs. Mortimer was James Cagney's mother in the film THE PUBLIC ENEMY.
Having watched all 14 Rathbone films twice in the last year (since getting the box set), and coming to feel there ISN'T a bad one in there, I'd like to add that Nigel Bruce's Watson is often responsible for helping Holmes solve mysteries, though at times unintentionally, because he'll make some comment which points Holmes in a direction that didn't occur to him. Thus, however much Watson is played for humor, he becomes indispensible.
Now... regaring Watson "becoming" important in this film... I note you mentioned the Eille Norwood and Robert Rendel HOUNDs, both of which are currently NOT AVAILABLE anywhere-- though I recently read that the entire Eille Norwood series (the 40 out of 47 that are known to still exist) are currently planned to be RESTORED by the BFI !! I can't wait.
But meanwhile... your comment suggests that when you made it, you hadn't seen the 1929 or 1937 HOUNDs, which I have-- and they've both become fast favorites of mine.
Someone mentioned that the 1929 HOUND is the very first time that the Holmes-Watson relationship was shown to be important in a Holmes film. Meanwhile, in the 1937 HOUND, Watson is shown to be highly intelligent, though not without humor... while Holmes is portrayed as an eccentric thinker who comes up with things that would simply never occur to Watson.
Both films are far darker & spookier than the 1939 HOUND, and ironically, the 1929 HOUND actually seems more "modern" in style than many of the sound films from the early 30s! The '29 film was directed by Richard Oswald, whose son, Gerd, directed nearly HALF of all the episodes of THE OUTER LIMITS. I can see where he got it from.
I'm looking forward to listening to the rest of the audio commentaries as I go. Take care!
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THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES
(20th Century-Fox / 1939)
Growing up, the Rathbone films were the earliest HOLMES stories I ever saw. But now, collecting DVDs, a whole new world has been opening up to me. In the last year, I not only saw the 1916 William Gillette film adaptation of his own play, but also the greatly-expanded 1922 remake of it with John Barrymore.
But I've also seen the 1932 Clive Brook film SHERLOCK HOLMES, which, it turns out, is a direct SEQUEL to the story in the stage play. And, whatta ya know? It suddenly became obvious to me that, if anything, the 1939 ADVENTURES film is actually a REMAKE of that!
It opens with Moriarty in the dock for previous crimes, but then sent to prison, after he threatens to murder the 3 people responsible for putting him there. Soon he breaks jail, murders the judge, and then hatches a scheme to frame Holmes for murdering the Scotland Yard inspector he was a rival of. Once Holmes has been arrested, he invites a whole gang of foreign criminals to run riot looting London, some of them "Chicago gangland style" as a DIVERSION for the REAL crime, robbing The Bank Of England.
So many have said, over and over, that the '39 film bears almost no resemblence to the 1899 stage play, and they're right. But from what I've described here, it should be obvious what it DOES resemble.
At least one reviewer compared the style of the '32 film to a Bulldog Drummond film, and I agree- right down to the annoying subplot of the hero putting off retirement and marriage to solve "one more" big case. Irene Adler and Violet Hunter I could see, but Alice from the play and the '32 film? NO WAY!
MY favorite Moriarty-- George Zucco!
(https://dailyscribbling.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/adventuresofsh_moriarty1.jpg)
What a clever, simple disguise...
(https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BNzU0ODhjNzktOTkzMC00NzM4LWIxYmMtNjdhYmQwMWM3NmQ2XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNjc3NDgwNzU@._V1_.jpg)
The moment where Ida Lupino transitioned from light-hearted roles to "serious" ones.
(https://images.mubicdn.net/images/film/19648/cache-13029-1481140754/image-w1280.jpg?size=800x)
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Well, this was a bit of a shock. I just listened to the audio commentary for "ADVENTURES", which was by Richard Valley, the editor of SCARLET STREET magazine. I decided to see if I might get in touch... and found out he PASSED AWAY back in 2007!!!
Just posted at the Bright Lights Film Journal site:
This is more than a bit late, but I'm shocked to learn, just now, that Richard Valley passed away back in 2007. I just now finished listening to his audio commentary on "THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES" (1939) on the MPI box set of the 14 Rathbone films, and was hoping to send him a reply. GEEZ.
Some months back, while re-filing a pile of movie mags, I happened to grab a copy of SCARLET STREET and re-read it cover-to-cover, being absolutely thrilled to be reminded, that it was, in my view, one of the very BEST-WRITTEN magazines of its kind I'd ever bought on a semi-regular basis. I'm considering unloading a TON of my collection to make room for new stuff, but SS was one of the magazines I've decided to hold onto.
My main point of wanting to get in touch, funny enough, was the general contention by so many, that "ADVENTURES" has next-to-nothing to do with the 1899 stage play. That's true. But thanks to my HOLMES DVD-buying project this year, in which I've acquired & watched many films from the silent era on up, I discovered the 1932 Clive Brook film, "SHERLOCK HOLMES", which is actually a direct SEQUEL to the stage play. And several elements of its plot are NEARLY-IDENTICAL to the '39 Rathbone film! And, they were BOTH done by Fox!! So the '39 film, I feel, is actually a VERY LOOSE remake of the Clive Brook film. How about that? And nobody seems to have noticed this.
Meanwhile, Holmes chasing Moriarty around a tower before the latter falls to his death, is swiped from Arthur Wontner's "THE TRIUMPH OF SHERLOCK HOLMES" from 1935, while Watson getting the final line, "Elementary, my dear Holmes!" comes from Wontner's "THE SIGN OF FOUR" in 1932.
I first knew from SCARLET STREET that "ADVENTURES" was missing a lot, but never realized how much until I heard the commentary tonight. I kept assuming that Moriarty had somehow found out about the murder of Ann's father and recreated it for his scheme, but it turns out, the guy with the bolas hired by Moriarty was actually her father's killer. There's a similar link to how in 1935 "TRIUMPH" Moriarty is consulted to help a vengeful member of the Scowrers mob get revenge on Pinkerton man Birdie Edwards. In that light, it seems more likely Mateo came to Moriarty seeking help and Moriarty decided to take advantage of it as a diversion. What a HELL of a thing for Fox to leave out of the finished film! It's akin to the vandalism MGM performed against Dan Curtis' "NIGHT OF DARK SHADOWS".
I'm planning to post a long-winded review at the IMDB, once I get all the points I want to address assembled.
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He also played an excellent Scrooge in the 1951 film version!
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SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE VOICE OF TERROR
(Universal / US / 1942)
This was the 3rd time I've watched this on the DVD box set, so I figured I'd see if I could wring any more thoughts out about it...
(https://imgc.allpostersimages.com/img/posters/sherlock-holmes-and-the-voice-of-terror-thomas-gomez-reginald-denny-1942_u-L-Q1HXJDR0.jpg?artHeight=550&artPerspective=n&artWidth=550&background=ffffff)
I wonder if as many people would complain about the Universal HOLMES films being updated if Fox hadn't done their 2 films in 1939 set in the proper period. Until then, every previous Holmes film-- and I've seen an awful lot of them lately!-- had been "contemporary"-- as has every film featuring THE SAINT or JAMES BOND. I wish somebody would make films with those characters as period pieces!
I agree with previous comments that this film is amazingly well-shot, and the restoration on the MPI box set is stunning. I did see a very odd sound synchronization problem in the middle earlier, but didn't notice it this time around.
Universal's "stock company" in the HOLMES films really started here. It blows my mind how many actors I know that were in this, who came back to play other parts in later films-- some of them, multiple times. This includes Evelyn Ankers, Henry Daniell, Olaf Hytten, Leyland Hodgson, Hillary Brooke, Harry Cording, Gavin Muir. Add on Reginald Denny, Thomas Gomez, Montagu Love and Edgar Barrier, and you've got an "all-star cast" here!
A few interesting plot points now. When Holmes recruits Kitty and she stirs up her friends to help scour London for info, they become like a grown-up version of The Baker Street Irregulars from the earliest stories. A villain being disguised as someone Watson knew many years earlier was also later done in TERROR BY NIGHT. Holmes going on a long tirade at the end explaining how the villain's plot goes back many, many years, seems inspired by THE SIGN OF FOUR and THE VALLEY OF FEAR. And someone being a "mole" in England for decades was a plot later used by Brian Clemens in one of the best episodes of THE NEW AVENGERS, "House Of Cards".
There's a quick visual gag, when Holmes reaches for his deerstalker hat, and Watson stops him saying, "Now, now, Holmes-- you promised!" Perhaps the fedora was a birthday present?
Somehow, I can't picture Howard Marion Crawford's Watson from the 1954 tv series being as nervous as Nigel Bruce was here about going into a seedy dive. The scene where the ex-con demands to know who ratted him out was rather amusing.
Oddly enough, it seems all the dates of the disasters in the film seen on the calendars took place in 1939-- so the entire story could be seen as a flashback to 3 years before the film was made, when the war seemed bleaker than it did in 1942.
Having listened to the audio commentaries on "HOUND" and "ADVENTURES", I found myself wishing there'd been one for "VOICE OF TERROR". Oh well, no big deal. One thing I've come to feel since getting the MPI box set is, there isn't a bad film among them. But they get even better after this one!
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And someone being a "mole" in England for decades was a plot later used by Brian Clemens in one of the best episodes of THE NEW AVENGERS, "House Of Cards".
Not to mention Ian Fleming's James Bond novel Moonraker, and, uh, oh, yeah, REAL LIFE featuring Kim Philby. ;)
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And someone being a "mole" in England for decades was a plot later used by Brian Clemens in one of the best episodes of THE NEW AVENGERS, "House Of Cards".
Not to mention Ian Fleming's James Bond novel Moonraker, and, uh, oh, yeah, REAL LIFE featuring Kim Philby. ;)
ABSOLUTELY.
The reason I thought of "House Of Cards"... several people at the IMDB mentioned the Nazis having planned this scheme 22 years in advance, but I think they missed the point. It wasn't the scheme, but merely the idea of substituting one person with an imposter, figuring that, eventually, they might have an opportunityy to use him.
"Perov" (Peter Jeffrey) trained Russians to be "English", then set them up 10 or 20 years before, without ever "activating" them. When he was disgraced (he felt), he appeared to commit suicide. Then, suddenly, a whole group of his "moles" became activated, each one with a target for assassination-- even though by then, most of them targets were no longer important, and some of the assassins NO LONGER wanted to work for Russia!
At the end, the whole damned scheme turned out to be used by him, not for its original purpose, but merely as a diversion, and a way to make Steed so nervous, he'd figure out it all started with this scientist Steed had helped to defect... and when Steed went to check on the guy, Perov followed him, so he could KILL the scientist, and thereby reclaim his honor. It was really twisted.
But yeah, "Sir Hugo Drax", the self-made millionaire industrialist who became so popular among the general public because of his fledging space program (he said), but who was in fact an escaped NAZI WAR CRIMINAL building a missile with an atomic warhead with which he could LEVEL London... that's long been one of my favorite James Bond stories, and it's a damned shame it was never properly adapted to film... although they did a very nice job of it in the newspaper comic-strip.
The 1979 movie is a F****** insult to the book.
I've read all the Fleming books, and about half of Leslie Charteris' SAINT books, and I dearly wish someday somebody would adapt them as written, as period pieces.
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Sadly, I don't think they've ever rerun The New Avengers where I live & when it first ran it was on a station that was hard to pick up.
I did have the first two novelizations & I think House of Cards was one of them. (I sold the books years ago.)
"Perov" (Peter Jeffrey) trained Russians to be "English", then set them up 10 or 20 years before, without ever "activating" them. When he was disgraced (he felt), he appeared to commit suicide. Then, suddenly, a whole group of his "moles" became activated, each one with a target for assassination-- even though by then, most of them targets were no longer important, and some of the assassins NO LONGER wanted to work for Russia!
That reminds me of a British miniseries I saw years ago, sadly I can't remember the name. There are two Soviet moles in England, one who has become a rich and powerful businessman & the other is a union leader with a family. The union leader gets the activation code and he contacts the businessman and then they argue over whether they want to go with the plan or not. I found it a fun and interesting story at the time.
But yeah, "Sir Hugo Drax", the self-made millionaire industrialist who became so popular among the general public because of his fledging space program (he said), but who was in fact an escaped NAZI WAR CRIMINAL building a missile with an atomic warhead with which he could LEVEL London... that's long been one of my favorite James Bond stories, and it's a damned shame it was never properly adapted to film...
Well when the book was written the Kim Philby situation hadn't happened yet and the British attitude was that there was no way a British gentleman would betray Britain. An idea that was in the book, despite all the red flags that Drax wasn't what he claimed to be the other shoe never dropped for either Bond or M. Post-Philby that was a dated attitude. Also by 1979, a Nazi as the villain would also have been dated.
Years ago I picked up a book Wasp by Eric Frank Russell and the introduction mentioned that the sci-fi novel grew out of an idea that had been worked on by the British "dirty tricks" group during WWII that Russell and Fleming were a part of. Russell turned the "disguised as the enemy" idea and wrote Wasp (human disguised as alien) whereas Fleming used it in You Only Live Twice (Bond disguised as Chinese), but Fleming seems to have used the premise a few more times. Moonraker (Nazi disguised as Englishman), but, I think, a short story in For Your Eyes Only (A View To A Kill?) where the killer is using a disguised hideaway built in case the enemy had taken over the country giving hidden defenders a place to hide and strike at the enemy.
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I can remember a WW2 era film where a caucasion US soldier who spoke perfect Japanese is given plastic surgery to pass for a common Japanese soldier. He was to be so anomnymous that he could observe everything about him without being noticed.
IIRC his cover was that he was from some out of the way province who's people were considered ignorant peasants by other Japanese. He basically played his roll as a dumb brute good only as cannon fodder.
They seem to have researched the Japanese soldiers day to day life fairly well.
Another film from that era involved the Black Dragon society. These were Japanese agents surgically altered to pass as caucasions. They infiltrated American industries and rose to high positions in wartime industry.
Don't remember much about this film but I think Bela Lugosi was the ring leader.
The Soviets actually built America towns where agents lived like normal American citizens for years before being assigned to postings in the USA.
A Film called Telefon, was based on the idea of deep cover Soviet Agents being conditioned to go into a trance when hearing a certain coded message over the telephone. Each had an assigned task which was a suicide mission. Some Russian wacko got ahold of the codes and went off the reservation using these throwaway killers for his own agenda.
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A lot of Fleming's plots might have trouble working if someone tried to update them to a different era. That's a big reason I dearly wish somone would do them as written as period pieces.
Just the other day, I was trying to imagine, would ANYONE possibly be able to do a "modern" version of "Live And Let Die", when the novel was already "controversial" when it came out? (The funny thing, it's so far the only Fleming novel I read TWICE!)
In the 70s, the Bond producers stopped really caring about Fleming's stories. By comparison, in the 80s, they put a lot of effort in at least paying tribute to them by including little details here and there. "FOR YOUR EYES ONLY" contains refrences to at least 6 different Fleming stories. I recently noticed that "SPIDER WOMAN" did the same with various Doyle stories.
The fake American (or English) towns in Russia sounds awful familiar. I don't think they actually showed them in THE NEW AVENGERS, but I'd swear they were mentioned in the expanded novelisation of "House Of Cards". (Or maybe it was mentioned in the 2-parter, "K Is For Kill" ?)
There is a DANGER MAN (SECRET AGENT) episode where Drake goes to a town designed to train spies to inflitrate an enemy country. It was suggested the place was one of several things that later inspired THE PRISONER series.
Bits of "Moonraker" have turned up in several Bond movies. The foreign enemy posing as an English industrialist made its way into DIE ANOTHER DAY. The card game where Bond out-cheats the cheater, who then says, "Spend the money-- QUICKLY!" turned up in OCTOPUSSY. But the idea of Bond changing the trajectory of a nuclear missile to bring it down on top of an enemy submarine-- the climax of the novel-- became the climax of the film THE SPY WHO LOVED ME-- with 2 submarines destroyed instead of 1. (I don't think there was anything original in that movie at all. That's why I started jokingly calling it, "James Bond's Greatest Hits".)
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And speaking of "Moonraker"... ever since I read the newspaper comic-strip adaptation, I've gotten it stuck in my mind that if they'd adapted it as a film in the 1950s, there were 2 actors around at the time who would have been perfect for it.
Gala Brand - Honor Blackman
(https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/cd991901fd8b3187cceeafcab203a246e9ccda33/0_130_1657_994/master/1657.jpg?width=465&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=e5097ca99201e09decbfeb8476aba9d1)
Sir Hugo Drax - Howard Marion Crawford
(https://images.findagrave.com/photos250/photos/2021/50/76456917_b9d95c18-f311-4ef7-8863-53ee70622a63.jpeg)
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/13/Actor_Howard_Marion-Crawford.jpg)
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The fake American (or English) towns in Russia sounds awful familiar.
The was a 1980s movie featuring some Americans coming across one of these these and using their expertise to help the people become more American, called The Experts. Siskel and Ebert hated it.
There was also an episode of Team Knight Rider where the team comes across one of these towns.
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SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE SECRET WEAPON
(Universal / US / 1942)
The 2nd modern-day Holmes film at Universal was the first directed by Roy William Neill, who went on to do 11 in a row! Dennis Hoey also makes his debut as Inspector Lestrade in here. Both he & Nigel Bruce's Watson are played more serious here than in later installments, though early-on, there seems to be some good-natured friendly kidding between them. Basil Rathbone, as always, is mesmerizing to watch!
Some have complained about "contrived" plot points, and it must be said the biggest part of the story involves a supposedly-brilliant inventor foolishly refusing to allow the British Government or even Scotland Yard knowledge or access to his methods of manufacturing his new secret bombsite mechanism... which makes him far too easy a target for Professor Moriarty, who's now working for Nazi spies!
One of my favorite parts of the film is the scene where Holmes & Watson decipher the code, as for once, you really get the feeling that Watson is on the ball and pretty sharp. I don't mind a bit of character humor, but I wish Nigel Bruce had been allowed to play Watson like this more often.
Soon after, the pair turn up at what proves to be the scene of the first of 3 consecutive murders, and Lestrade also proves to have his wits about him.
The last scene I really enjoyed, was when Holmes allowed himself to be taken prisoner by Moriarty, and deliberately taunts him, then gives him a suggestion for a "more inventive" way of committing murder-- slowly draining the blood from the victim. This is actually a ploy to allow Lestrade, Watson & the police to track down Moriarty's hideout, so that the kidnapped inventor Dr. Tobel can be rescued. Lionel Atwill, who seemed too crude up to this point, really shines during this climax. I understand Fox wanted him to play Moriarty in "ADVENTURES" in 1939, but somehow he was unavailable, leading them to get George Zucco, who proved FAR better, instead.
Inspirations for stories fascinate me. It's clear the code in this story came straight from "The Dancing Men", but I also see details from "The Sign Of Four" (the man with the wooden leg, and the temporary false trail followed by the cops). However, Moriarty having a "stronghold", which features both a large sliding metal door and a deep shaft to dump bodies down, strike me as being borrowed from the final Arthur Wontner film, SILVER BLAZE / MURDER AT THE BASKERVILLES (1937, but released in America in 1941!). It's amazing it took me this long to connect that, but it figures, since the climax of Fox's "ADVENTURES" seems a blatent variation on the climax of Wontner's THE TRIUMPH OF SHERLOCK HOLMES (1935).
But influence runs both ways. The opening scene, where an old man comes into a shop to sell rare old books, AND, the scene where it's discovered the code can be read when reversed (as in a mirror), turned up almost verbatim in the 1977 Euro film THE FABULOUS JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH. Neither scene is in Verne's novel, which suggests whoever wrote that film was a fan of this one! If anyone can point out an earlier source for these scenes, I'd be happy to learn about it.
(https://dyn1.heritagestatic.com/lf?set=path%5B1%2F5%2F7%2F2%2F6%2F15726747%5D&call=url%5Bfile%3Aproduct.chain%5D)