In his foreword to Bantam's "Sherlock Holmes: The Complete Novels and Stories," Loren Estleman called the relationship between Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson literature's warmest, most symbiotic and most timeless: rightfully so. Not surprisingly, film history is littered with adaptations of Conan Doyle's tales and Holmes pastiches (using the protagonists but otherwise independent storylines). Yet – and I'm saying this with particular apologies to the fans of the Basil Rathbone/Nigel Bruce canon – none of these prior incarnations can hold a candle to the ITV/Granada TV series produced between 1984 and 1994, starring Jeremy Brett as Holmes and first David Burke, then, beginning with the "Return of Sherlock Holmes" cycle and in near-seamless transition, Edward Hardwicke as a refreshingly sturdy, pragmatic, unbumbling Dr. Watson.
Jeremy Brett was the only actor who ever managed to perfectly portray Holmes's imperiousness, bitingly ironic sense of humor and apparently indestructible self-control without at the same time neglecting his genuine friendship towards Dr. Watson and the weaknesses hidden below a surface dominated by his overarching intellectual powers. The series takes the titles of its four cycles of shorter episodes – "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes," "The Return of Sherlock Holmes," "The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes" and "The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes" – from four of the five short story collections featuring London's self-appointed only "consulting detective" (published 1892, 1905, 1894 and 1927, respectively); thus nominally omitting the 1917 collection "His Last Bow," which is, however – but for its title story – completely represented in individual episodes spread out over the other four cycles. While the grouping of instalments doesn't necessarily correspond with Conan Doyle's original story collections, and the series's premise – Holmes's and Watson's shared tenancy of rooms at 221B Baker Street – was no longer true even at the beginning of the "Adventures," particularly the first two cycles ("Adventures" and "Return"), as well as the feature films based on the novels "The Hound of the Baskervilles" and "The Sign of the Four" are must-haves for any mystery fan.
.JPG){kind=icon}
Gothic Holmes."Yes, the setting is a worthy one. If the devil did desire to have a hand in the affairs of men ..."
With these words, Sherlock Holmes comments on the mystery presented to him in "The Hound of the Baskervilles." And the "if" is a big one indeed, as he immediately makes clear: Asked by Dr. Watson whether he is inclined to place belief into the supernatural explanation of the phenomenon haunting the Baskerville family, Holmes points out that the devil's agents may well be of flesh and blood, thus instantly discounting the idea of the supernatural, and explains that there are two questions only to be resolved in this matter – whether any crime has been committed at all, and if so, what that crime is and how it was committed. Similarly, in "The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire," Holmes dismisses all allegations of the work of bloodsucking fiends as "rubbish" and proceeds to prove in his seemingly effortless and strictly logical manner the perfectly natural solution to the events recounted to him by his client.
And herein lies the distinction between the movies contained in this collection and Arthur Conan Doyle's literary originals; and at the same time, the movies' overriding common element. For what is presented here is not necessarily, as in the TV series's shorter episodes, a faithful rendition of Conan Doyle's originals, but rather, a set of five more or less classic gothic tales which happen to feature the famous detective from Baker Street and his companion Dr. Watson.
If I am nevertheless able to enjoy even those movies which significantly depart from Conan Doyle's originals, it is because I have, over time, come to see them as entirely new entries into the Sherlock Holmes canon – validated almost singlehandedly by the stellar performance of Jeremy Brett, as well as that of Edward Hardwicke; and the two unequal heroes' profound friendship.
The Last VampyreBased on the aforementioned Sussex Vampire short story, this is in a way the most obviously problematic of these dramatizations, in that it departs from Holmes's (and Conan Doyle's) perspective on the supernatural by turning the tale into essentially an average horror story. Moreover, contrarily to the remaining feature films and the shorter episodes, the setting here is researched less faithfully and with less care for detail; and it shows. However, the movie is saved by the as always outstanding performance of Jeremy Brett who, himself already afflicted by the illness which would eventually kill him, reached new and never before explored depths in Holmes's soul here. Although perhaps the gravest departure from Conan Doyle's literary original, noteworthy is also the performance of Roy Marsden (the Commander Dalgliesh of the TV productions based on P.D. James's mysteries) as St. Claire Stockton, the village community's chief suspect of the alleged vampirism; a role demanding just the right degree of ambiguity in order not to lose credibility, and surely in the hands of a lesser actor the one role which would have brought the movie below the point where even Brett would no longer have been able to save it.
The Eligible BachelorConceptually equally problematic as "The Last Vampyre" in my view, this movie turns a fairly simple and (as Sherlock Holmes stories go) straightforward tale of a bride disappearing on her wedding day into a confusing labyrinth of nightmares, doomed heiresses, madness and family curses; trying hard, but alas, unsuccessfully, to look like a cross between Hitchcock's "Rebecca" and an adaptation of the Brontës' "Jane Eyre" and "Wuthering Heights." Approach-wise, this is almost unpardonable, because unlike "The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire" – which is contained in the last Holmes collection, 1927's "Casebook," and at least thematically fits in with the darker mood of those stories, driven by the psychological devastation brought about by World War I – this particular story's original version, "The Noble Bachelor," is part of 1892's "Adventures of Sherlock Holmes," and thus one of the earliest adventures which open only rare glimpses onto Holmes's personal ghosts.
The Master BlackmailerThis movie is based on the "Return of Sherlock Holmes" (1905) story "The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton" and, while containing some narrative padding, is one of the more faithful realizations here. Outstanding in particular is the performance of Robert Hardy, who has Holmes's antagonist Milverton – the master criminal specializing in blackmailing women of society with letters he has secretly obtained – down to the story's last detail, complete with his insincere, "perpetual frozen" smile and "the hard glitter of [his] restless and penetrating eyes." In the tiniest departure from Conan Doyle, Brett's Holmes displays genuine sympathy for the housemaid with whom he fakes an engagement to obtain information about Milverton's household. The story's somber climax, however, is taken directly from its literary original.
The Sign of the FourMore faithful to Conan Doyle's works, finally, are also the realizations of the two novels "The Sign of the Four" (1890) and "The Hound of the Baskervilles" (1901) (with the notable exception of the first novel's end, which would have been irreconcilable with the series's idea of a shared tenancy at 221B Baker Street). Both novels contain allusions to the supernatural, juxtaposed with Holmes's detached, logical analysis; and relieved of the need to add flesh to the narrative bones of the shorter tales, the movies stay the course very well and bring to life in all their horror the events unraveled by Holmes over the course of his investigations. – The late, great John Thaw of "Inspector Morse" fame guest-stars in "The Sign of the Four" as Jonathan Small, the mysterious stranger returned to England to claim from the Sholtos fulfilment of the long-ago made promise by The Four in India.
The Hound of the BaskervillesConan Doyle's spookiest and probably most famous tale, finally, stands out most positively here when compared to earlier movie realizations. Stripped of their antics and occasionally not much better than B-movie special effects, it relies primarily on the superb acting skills of its stars and supporting cast and straightforwardly tells the story of the Baskerville family's apparent curse, a mysterious, larger-than-life dog living in the moors surrounding their estate and occasionally heard howling at night; allegedly a hound from hell haunting the family since the days of their evil ancestor Sir Hugo Baskerville. Thus, this adaptation truly manages to terrify where earlier versions were merely unintentionally funny. True to Conan Doyle's original, this is also the only one of the feature fils that sees Dr. Watson performing an investigation of his own. (He embarks on similar, albeit generally less elaborate missions, in some of the series's shorter episodes, such as "The Solitary Cyclist.") This movie realization, along with the series's installment of "The Sign of the Four" alone is usually sufficient to reconcile me for the lesser successful and overextended versions of some of the short story adaptations contained in this collection.
Themis-Athena's Arthur Conan Doyle page
Themis-Athena's select Sherlock Holmes bibliography and filmography
Themis-Athena's select British detectives bibliography and filmography
Themis-Athena's select British detectives audiography
Copyright 2001-2009: Themis-Athena, all rights reserved.
