Sherlock Holmes

[GTseng3]

Okay, so I just saw the extended trailer for the new Sherlock Holmes movie. And I am torn.

First of all, the casting looks... my god, spectacular. I can totally see Robert Downey Jr. as Holmes, and I can totally see Jude Law as Watson.

And now it looks like they've completely butchered the characters. Utterly and totally. And yet... it looks... so... cool...

I'm a regular Holmesian. I grew up on the stories, one of my prized possessions is a two-volume edition of the Complete Sherlock Holmes annotated by William S. Baring-Gould, and I used Sherlock and Mycroft more than a few times in school papers, whenever I could get away with it. But despite all of that, I find myself looking forward to this movie with great anticipation. Even though I know they're going to butcher him.

The trailer played during the half hour Seth Macfarlane special, and it was preceded by Stewie Griffin saying, "And now something for all of you who felt Sherlock Holmes didn't have enough explosions and knife fights."

Yeah.

[Parousia]

Meh. I'll check it out when it hits cable.

[Zagreus]

Nah, it'll be [censored]. Only Jeremy Brett can play Holmes - he played the part so perfectly no one else can come close. If either of you have not seen him play this I will personally buy you the DVD boxset and post it to you FOR FREE!!!

Just the twitch of an eyebrow conveys so much; he was born to play that role. Both guys who played Watson were great too. I hope you've seen Brett play that part, but if not, look for it on youtube. Here's a few clips:

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_qu...=sherlock+

My offer stands.

[GTseng3]

Clearly you have never seen Basil Rathbone play Holmes. Granted, Jeremy Brett is a fantastic Holmes, and in general the Jeremy Brett Holmes is my favorite, but to be fair Brett was supported by a fantastic supporting cast (Hardwicke is the best Watson I've ever seen.) I've never been able to choose between them. Brett's Holmes has better production values, the setting in general is closer to the original stories (with the exception of some downright freaky additions like "The Last Vampire"), and in general is the better series, but Basil Rathbone is Holmes. Despite Nigel Bruce playing Watson as a bumbling idiot, despite the severe departures from the source material, Basil Rathbone is Holmes from head to toe, and when he puts on the deerstalker cap the actor himself vanishes and all you see is Holmes, Holmes, Holmes.

I don't think Robert Downey Jr. can top either Brett or Rathbone, but he doesn't have to. He just has to be Holmes as well. It's like Pierce Brosnan as James Bond. He's a third-place Bond, after the far superior Craig and Connery, but he's still very awesome and his Bond films are still highly entertaining.

Though I am tempted to take you up on your offer of free DVDs. I do adore Brett's series, and I used to watch them on A&E back when they were running there.

[Parousia]

(11-09-2009 09:50 PM)GTseng3 Wrote:  Clearly you have never seen Basil Rathbone play Holmes...Despite Nigel Bruce playing Watson as a bumbling idiot, despite the severe departures from the source material, Basil Rathbone is Holmes from head to toe, and when he puts on the deerstalker cap the actor himself vanishes and all you see is Holmes, Holmes, Holmes.

I fully agree about the Basil Rathbone Sherlock Holmes movies. I recall seeing many of them in my youth on local channel TV, before I ever read a single story. (I also have the complete works...but not annotated. ) My sister (departed alas) had the full set of Rathbone Holmes movies on VHS. We watched all of them together during her terminal illness, so the memory of Rathbone playing Holmes is most bittersweet to me.

[GTseng3]

If you can, try to get an annotated collection. It makes the Holmes stories so much more. William S. Baring-Gould in particular draws on the resources of many Sherlockian scholars to determine where the "real" cases took place, using cues like street descriptions, events, and even the weather to discover the chronological dates of the stories, and often what part of London they took place in, sometimes even down to the street. It's a bit obsessive, but if you enjoy literary analysis (and I do, I really do,) it's fantastic stuff. Within you will find analysis of Watson's marriages (yes, multiple marriages,) gleaned from minutiae and cast off sentences in the stories, alternate interpretations about the hand of Moriarty and other villains, cases which, on closer analysis, seem to yield a different conclusion than the one Holmes gives, and just general contextual information about the locations and circumstances of the cases that help you enjoy the stories as Doyle's original readers might have.

... I just realized how much of a nerd I really am.

[Parousia]

For what it's worth...

http://www.goodmorals.org/doyle/

[Zagreus]

You know when you wake up with a hangover and remember you were on a forum last night, then check what you wrote? That's me today that is...

My enthusiasm for Brett still stands, but I will check out Basil Rathbone's portrayal. I totally understand your statement that Brosnan is still a good Bond, but I love Brett's depiction so much, plus he's the one I saw playing Holmes when I was a kid, so it's sort of ingrained into me that's what the detective looks and acts like. I only recently got the DVDs myself, promptly sat through the whole lot, and fell in love with them again.

Whilst I can't actually afford to buy you guys the DVDs, I would honestly recommend them. Whilst I don't like Poirot, Suchet plays the character like he was born for that role. I feel the same about Brett and Holmes. It's just so sad he didn't get to make every episode.

Can you recommend a Rathbone episode to start with?

Oh, and there's nothing wrong with being nerdy about Holmes. It's quite amusing that Doyle didn't even like the character!

[Parousia]

(11-10-2009 10:21 AM)Zagreus Wrote:  Can you recommend a Rathbone episode to start with?

The best of the lot is IMO the original one, The Hound of the Baskervilles. Rathbone and Bruce are inventing the characters rather than reprising stereotypes and the story is a real Conan Doyle original. Most of the others were World War Two propaganda films with the milieu updated to wartime London. They are all watchable if not exactly immortal cinema. But GT is right - Rathbone nails Holmes.

Used copies show up from time to time on Amazon but they are rarely seen on TV anymore. My sister's tapes went to her lover along with her extensive library of mystery novels (e.g., a complete set of Agatha Christie!)

[GTseng3]

Hound of the Baskervilles is obviously the best, followed by "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes." After that, I'd probably suggest "The Woman in Green".

Incidentally, about that theology page you linked to... no mention of his rather insulting portrayal of Mormons in "A Study in Scarlet"? For shame.