Holmes adaptations: Case of the Silk Stocking and a random made-for-DVD film
A while ago I decided to watch as many Holmes adaptations as I could get my hands on. I've been writing them up here on LJ, and I've been progressing pretty slowly. So far only managed:
Vasily Livanov and Vitaly Solomin (Lenfilm, 1979-1986) aka Russian Sherlock Holmes
Igor Petrenko and Andrei Panin (Russia 1, 2013)
Peter Cushing and Nigel Stock (BBC, 1968)
L'extravagant "Mystère" Holmes (a stage play)
Recently I watched two more, rather obscure, adaptations. The first one is worth watching (if you heed my various caveats and warnings). The second one I definitely advise you to avoid!
The Case of the Silk Stocking
This is a BBC made-for-television film with Rupert Everett as Holmes and Ian Hart as Watson. This is dark. Very, very dark. Were it a fanfic, it would be plastered with warnings. I had to fast forward through quite a few scenes. It's about a serial killer who preys on teenage girls, so I guess you can see why. There's also a lot of gruesome autopsy detail, if that bothers you.
Everett is probably one of my least favourite Holmeses. He's just too snooty... No heart, no energy. It's like he only took that quote about "an automaton, a calculating machine" and ignored absolutely everything else. Holmes laughes a lot, you know. Why on earth do actors playing Holmes never laugh? (Well, some do, thank goodness...)
That said, my objections to this Holmes are very similar to my objections to Benedict Cumberbatch's Holmes, so Everett's interpretation might actually please a pretty big percentage of Holmes fans.
Hart is not a very typical Watson, sort of dandyish instead of solid and dependable, but I quite liked him. At least he doesn't do anything stupid or bumbling, anyway, à la Nigel Bruce.
The script is full of quotes from the stories inserted into dialogue in places where they really don't fit at all. Very annoying. The plot was okay, though I probably missed some important plot points while fast-forwarding with my eyes closed.
Worth watching if you want to see Holmes reading a book on sexual pathology, lent to him by Watson's fiancée, no less. "Essential reading for any man interested in sexual deviation," she says as she presses it on him, or something along those lines. Yes, honestly! That should give you a flavour of what the film's like. (This is not Mary Morstan, by the way, but rather an American divorcee and psychoanalyst.)
As for the slash quotient (always an important factor when judging Holmes adaptations, hah) I found it completely unslashy, but funnily enough apparently Everett thought that theirs was "a love affair, albeit one that is not really expressible". I have to say, I wasn't seeing that at all, and I generally have my slash goggles firmly on at all times...
Overall, a pretty decent adaptation. I just they'd gone for a less creepy storyline.
(X-men fans, this film is where all that fanvid footage of Michael Fassbender in tails comes from, by the way. Though I advise you not to watch this film if you ever want to be able to enjoy those fanvids again...)
2010 Sherlock Holmes film with Keating and David-Lloyd
I couldn't resist including the poster, since that was what made me think the film might actually be worth watching:
This is a straight-to-DVD film which doesn't even seem to have a proper title, though it does feature two actors fairly well known in fandom: Dominic Keating from Star Trek and Gareth David-Lloyd from Torchwood (famous for being one half of that rare thing, a canon slash pairing). Neither of them plays Holmes though. That honour goes to Ben Snyder, whose short-statured, long-haired Holmes is a bit odd, but mostly forgettable.
Anyway, this is steampunk Holmes with dinosaurs and it's really, really bad, though unfortunately it's not one of those films where it's so bad it's good.
I don't say that because of the mechanical dragon flaming Big Ben, or the weird 19th century emo Goth girl, or the Evil Clockwork Man villain, all of which was quite fun actually. Nor because of the dodgy CGI. (Funny how I'm much less forgiving of bad CGI nowadays than I ever was of Dr Who's bubblewrap monsters.) No, the problem here is the atrocious dialogue and the gaping plot holes. Honestly, a randomly chosen teenage fanfiction.net writer would have done a better job.
I don't actually regret watching it, though, however painful it was at times. I would have been sorry to miss Holmes being chased by a dinosaur or Watson's ghastly floral waistcoat ;)
This was part of a bargain-basement boxset apparently made specially for the German market, containing a few Ronald Howard episodes, an adaptation of The Lost World, and this weird film. For some strange reason the whole thing is entitled "Sir Arthur Conan Doyle XXL". Anyway, I already know that the Howard Holmes adaptation, though made for TV on a low budget, is a million times better than this one, so very much looking forward to watching that next...
Vasily Livanov and Vitaly Solomin (Lenfilm, 1979-1986) aka Russian Sherlock Holmes
Igor Petrenko and Andrei Panin (Russia 1, 2013)
Peter Cushing and Nigel Stock (BBC, 1968)
L'extravagant "Mystère" Holmes (a stage play)
Recently I watched two more, rather obscure, adaptations. The first one is worth watching (if you heed my various caveats and warnings). The second one I definitely advise you to avoid!
The Case of the Silk Stocking
This is a BBC made-for-television film with Rupert Everett as Holmes and Ian Hart as Watson. This is dark. Very, very dark. Were it a fanfic, it would be plastered with warnings. I had to fast forward through quite a few scenes. It's about a serial killer who preys on teenage girls, so I guess you can see why. There's also a lot of gruesome autopsy detail, if that bothers you.
Everett is probably one of my least favourite Holmeses. He's just too snooty... No heart, no energy. It's like he only took that quote about "an automaton, a calculating machine" and ignored absolutely everything else. Holmes laughes a lot, you know. Why on earth do actors playing Holmes never laugh? (Well, some do, thank goodness...)
That said, my objections to this Holmes are very similar to my objections to Benedict Cumberbatch's Holmes, so Everett's interpretation might actually please a pretty big percentage of Holmes fans.
Hart is not a very typical Watson, sort of dandyish instead of solid and dependable, but I quite liked him. At least he doesn't do anything stupid or bumbling, anyway, à la Nigel Bruce.
The script is full of quotes from the stories inserted into dialogue in places where they really don't fit at all. Very annoying. The plot was okay, though I probably missed some important plot points while fast-forwarding with my eyes closed.
Worth watching if you want to see Holmes reading a book on sexual pathology, lent to him by Watson's fiancée, no less. "Essential reading for any man interested in sexual deviation," she says as she presses it on him, or something along those lines. Yes, honestly! That should give you a flavour of what the film's like. (This is not Mary Morstan, by the way, but rather an American divorcee and psychoanalyst.)
As for the slash quotient (always an important factor when judging Holmes adaptations, hah) I found it completely unslashy, but funnily enough apparently Everett thought that theirs was "a love affair, albeit one that is not really expressible". I have to say, I wasn't seeing that at all, and I generally have my slash goggles firmly on at all times...
Overall, a pretty decent adaptation. I just they'd gone for a less creepy storyline.
(X-men fans, this film is where all that fanvid footage of Michael Fassbender in tails comes from, by the way. Though I advise you not to watch this film if you ever want to be able to enjoy those fanvids again...)
2010 Sherlock Holmes film with Keating and David-Lloyd
I couldn't resist including the poster, since that was what made me think the film might actually be worth watching:
This is a straight-to-DVD film which doesn't even seem to have a proper title, though it does feature two actors fairly well known in fandom: Dominic Keating from Star Trek and Gareth David-Lloyd from Torchwood (famous for being one half of that rare thing, a canon slash pairing). Neither of them plays Holmes though. That honour goes to Ben Snyder, whose short-statured, long-haired Holmes is a bit odd, but mostly forgettable.
Anyway, this is steampunk Holmes with dinosaurs and it's really, really bad, though unfortunately it's not one of those films where it's so bad it's good.
I don't say that because of the mechanical dragon flaming Big Ben, or the weird 19th century emo Goth girl, or the Evil Clockwork Man villain, all of which was quite fun actually. Nor because of the dodgy CGI. (Funny how I'm much less forgiving of bad CGI nowadays than I ever was of Dr Who's bubblewrap monsters.) No, the problem here is the atrocious dialogue and the gaping plot holes. Honestly, a randomly chosen teenage fanfiction.net writer would have done a better job.
I don't actually regret watching it, though, however painful it was at times. I would have been sorry to miss Holmes being chased by a dinosaur or Watson's ghastly floral waistcoat ;)
This was part of a bargain-basement boxset apparently made specially for the German market, containing a few Ronald Howard episodes, an adaptation of The Lost World, and this weird film. For some strange reason the whole thing is entitled "Sir Arthur Conan Doyle XXL". Anyway, I already know that the Howard Holmes adaptation, though made for TV on a low budget, is a million times better than this one, so very much looking forward to watching that next...