(no subject)
Quotes:
Loren Estleman called the relationship between Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson literature's warmest, most symbiotic and most timeless.
***
Jeremy Brett has always been one of my favorite actors to portray Holmes. Also, in general, the Granada productions he starred in were great (or at least decent) adaptations of the original Conan Doyle stories and David Burke and Edward Hardwicke, the two actors who portrayed Watson, were a great improvement over past portrayals of the good doctor as nothing more than a bumbling fool. (I had loved David Burke as Watson, but came to like Edward Hardwicke even more, once I got used to the change. Hardwicke seemed to fit my own vision of Watson in the original stories even better than Burke.)
That being said, this last of the Brett series is varied in quality. I had missed these episodes when originally broadcast and am aware that Brett was very ill when filming. However, that is not the only problem with this set. Frankly, at least one of these adaptations here is ludicrously bad and others mediocre. I am aware that part of this mediocrity could be due to the original stories, which are not Conan Doyle's best, but, as far as I can tell, this mediocrity is more the fault of the scripts and productions. The acting is still consistently good for the main part.
1. The Three Gables--I enjoyed this one. Both Brett and Hardwicke excellent. The story, if expanded, is mainly as shown in the original story.
2. The Dying Detective--Brett and Hardwicke's acting, especially in the conclusion, is not to be rivalled. But the adaptation adds so much to the Conan Doyle story that it is really difficult to remember which parts of the script were actually from the original story. However, I understand why they felt compelled to add so much; the later Conan Doyle stories were almost too short to be adapted into hour-long TV scripts. (Makes you wonder if the producers should have quit when they were ahead. They had already adapted all the best stories.)
3. The Golden Pince-Nez--Not a bad adaptation, but it suffers from the total absence of Edward Hardwicke as Watson. In this outing Mycroft substitutes for his character and if not quite as out of character as he is in "The Mazarin Stone" (also adapted in this collection) he is still no substitute for that wonderful Holmes/Watson chemistry so ably re-created by Brett and Hardwicke.
4. The Red Circle--Another interesting, if expanded, adaptation. Acting by all concerned consistently good.
5. The Mazarin Stone--This one fell into the ludicrous category. It is now my understanding that this adaptation was more based on a Conan Doyle play, adapted from his stories, than on the original tales. But that still doesn't excuse the almost total absence of Holmes (Brett was too ill to act) and the totally out of character running around by his substitute, brother Mycroft.
Also "The Three Garridebs", another Conan Doyle story which is jumbled up in this adaptation with "The Mazarin Stone", has always been a personal favorite of mine. Not because it is really one of the best Conan Doyle stories, but because Watson is shot in the leg by the villain and you get to see Holmes get all teary eyed. Since Brett as Holmes is barely in this adaptation at all and you have a ridiculously active Mycroft in his place, none of this moving scene between Holmes and Watson survives the adaptation. Instead you have the silliness of Watson being wacked by the villian with a diamond cleaver.
All is all this is a very bad adaptation, with some not so good, or even silly acting--I became quite bored with Nathan Garrideb's laughably silly sisters. In this adaptation it is the sisters who contact Holmes rather than Nathan Garrideb. Again, something not indicated in the original story at all. Not being familiar with the Conan Doyle play this adaptation is based on, I'm not sure how much of this is Conan Doyle (who late in his career could write some pretty bad Holmes stories) or due to the adaptaters who wrote the TV script.
6. The Cardboard Box--from the ridiculous to the sublime. This adaptation is almost better than the original story. Even though I knew where it was heading, it really kept up its suspense and the acting, especially by the man who played the sailor husband, was superb. It also was nice to see both Brett and Hardwicke working together again.
The one thing that I really enjoyed in this last of the Granada Sherlock Holmes series was Brett's hair. In some of his later Holmes portrayals, but earlier than these, Brett's hair was cut ludicrously short and he only looked good when wearing a hat. I am aware that the changes in hairstyle may have been related to his various illnesses, but it was nice to see his hair longer again even if he was probably even more ill in these last broadcasts. (c)
***
To love Conan Doyle's great detective Sherlock Holmes was never so satisfying as when the brilliant actor, the late and profoundly missed Jeremy Brett, breathed life into his fictional bones giving us arguably the greatest depiction of the Baker Street sleuth ever captured on film.
For me, Brett's is the truest Holmes ever attempted in movies or TV, and the Granada productions more authentically Victorian-era London than any made before this fantastic series or since.
There are some who deride Brett's later portrayals of Holmes, when the actor was very ill and had lost the sleek, angular look that Holmes had been endowed, both by his creator Doyle and his most popular illustrator, Sidney Paget. For me, that criticism is pure balderdash.
When taken in its entirety, the Jeremy Brett Sherlock Holmes series stands the test of time as the definitive telling of the stories, the later episodes underscoring Brett's courage as he faced personal tests that shattered his emotional and physical well-being. I would argue that it is that very human element in Brett's portrayal that makes his Holmes so breathtakingly accurate, compelling and poignant. Holmes denied his humanity and in so doing became more vulnerable as a human being exposing deep character flaws and weaknesses. In Brett, we not only see but feel those shortcomings, and something deeper, too: each person's ultimate struggle to find his or her place in life before death calls us home. (c)
***
On reviewing this excellent Granada series, one must always keep in mind two separate criteria. One, the original writing of Doyle and two, the Granda production team, including of course the now legendary performance of Jeremy Brett, without question now the ultimate Holmes for the 20th century. You can't really fault the Granda production for what is unfortunately, some of Doyle's weaker stories such as Lady Carfax, for instance.
Doyle purists may prefer the Adventures, and with good reason, for the stories were fresh, creative and Doyle had not yet tired of writing about his famous detective.
But was it luck or theatrical Fate that brought Edward Hardwicke into the series, precisely at the point where Holmes and Watson's relationship necessarily becomes more personal and complex - right from the first episode where Watson displays a range of emotions upon finding Holmes alive in "The Empty House"?
Although David Burke does an admirable job in the first series, it is Hardwicke who is able to take us further into the personal ups and downs of their friendship with all the humor and understanding that fully fleshes out the two main characters.
Hardwicke's subtle psychological insight into Watson's role is only one of the rewards of this magnificent series.
Where else will you see the humanity of Holmes so revealed as in "The Devil's Foot" - the only time Holmes ever addresses Watson as "John" - as he battles his cocaine addiction? Where else will you see a more mature and compassionate Holmes comforting women in distress, as in "The Man With the Twisted Lip"?
Holmes is never better than when solving a murder mystery, and you get that in spades here, as in "The Devil's Foot", "The Abbey Grange" and "Silver Blaze". "The Six Napoleons" takes us into the Italian subculture, and "Wisteria Lodge" into Latin American politics. And Jeremy Brett was never better than in the scenes where he discovers the ancient crown of England, or the consummate acting job - using only his facial expressions - to reveal his insights into the secret of "The Second Stain". (c)
***
The late Jeremy Brett's portrayal of Sherlock Holmes is so real, so vital, and so thoroughly mesmerizing that I can never imagine another actor playing the part. The man literally oozes charisma, and his aristocratic, finely chiselled looks perfectly match the Holmes I've always envisioned. Brett also captures the nuances that make Holmes such a memorable creation: the moodiness, the nervous bursts of energy, the unexpected moments of humour, and all his other maddening (but wonderful) eccentricities. Brett also has the perfect speaking voice for Holmes - a perfectly enunciated, slightly fruity, upper class Etonian accent. The death of Jeremy Brett in 1995 robbed us of Holmes' finest interpreter and a fascinating actor.
Happily, however, Brett has left us with a large legacy of performances as the great detective. The British Granada television series, filmed between 1984 and 1994, is now available on video (and occasionally on DVD) and includes many stand-out episodes.
1987 was around the period in which Brett's health started to decline (he suffered from a combination of heart disease and depression), but personally I have always felt that he transcended the effects of his illness, and in some ways his performances as Holmes were even more compelling because of it. At times he would have to husband his vocal resources as breath control became a problem, but his portrayal remained compelling right up until the end. Here he looks fine for the most part, and if anything, his slightly red-rimmed eyes and sallow complexion suit the character of Holmes, who was hardly the picture of robust good health himself.
Brett is ably supported by Edward Hardwicke as a sympathetic and intelligent Watson. This is the confidante whom Conan Doyle always envisioned, not the bumbling twit that one remembers from the Nigel Bruce caricature of the 1930s and 1940s. (c)
***
Some years ago when I came across a copy of The Bruce-Partington Plans in a local store. Watching it made me very keenly regret not having taped the series back when it was regularly aired.
Jeremy Brett, though aging and with a not-very-flattering haircut here, carries the show. There's a longstanding dispute over who is the better Holmes, Basil Rathbone or Jeremy Brett. Personally, my vote is entirely with Brett--his Holmes is brilliant and eccentric, and not always an entirely sympathetic character, just as the Holmes of the original stories was. He's moody, self-superior, and full of dramatic gestures sometimes at the expense of others, not much like Rathbone's much smoother and calmer portrayal, and though it makes him harder to like, it makes him worlds more interesting a character.
Jeremy Brett is one of those people who I would cheerfully pay to hear read the phone book; he has a wonderfully dramatic voice, rising and falling from a gentle murmur to a commanding shout and through a whole range of moods and tones between. He really does capture Holmes' genius beautifully, and the Bruce-Partington Plans is a solid story in its own right, intellectually engaging and wholly believable.
***
Here are times when an actor grabs a role and makes it his own. This was surely the case with Jeremy Brett. Whenever I see or think about Sherlock Holmes it is Jeremy's face and mannerisms that come to mind. Edward Hardwicke made a wonderful Watson..an intelligent sleuth partner. Doyle's Watson can't be a bumbling fool..reading the books shows this. It is great to see the sensitive, intelligent medical man that Watson is portrayed correctly.
Brett played Holmes with such great exuberance and enthusiasm that it truly is a shame that he is no longer with us to complete the filming of the 19 remaining Sherlock Holmes stories. (c)
***
Holmes & Watson were the original 'buddy cop movie' pair. I love how Watson continually tries to impress Holmes with his own deductive logic based on Holmes methods. Even as Holmes dismisses it, a smile creeps across his face, and Holmes admits "although...your conclusions are not entirely false..." Watson is not only Holmes only friend, he is the truest a friend can be. When danger looms, Holmes glances at Watson, reminding him that he doesn't need to put himself at risk. Watson, of course, gladly accepts any task while reaching for his revolver. Holmes eye catches a gleam, and he replies "excellent." (c)
Loren Estleman called the relationship between Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson literature's warmest, most symbiotic and most timeless.
***
Jeremy Brett has always been one of my favorite actors to portray Holmes. Also, in general, the Granada productions he starred in were great (or at least decent) adaptations of the original Conan Doyle stories and David Burke and Edward Hardwicke, the two actors who portrayed Watson, were a great improvement over past portrayals of the good doctor as nothing more than a bumbling fool. (I had loved David Burke as Watson, but came to like Edward Hardwicke even more, once I got used to the change. Hardwicke seemed to fit my own vision of Watson in the original stories even better than Burke.)
That being said, this last of the Brett series is varied in quality. I had missed these episodes when originally broadcast and am aware that Brett was very ill when filming. However, that is not the only problem with this set. Frankly, at least one of these adaptations here is ludicrously bad and others mediocre. I am aware that part of this mediocrity could be due to the original stories, which are not Conan Doyle's best, but, as far as I can tell, this mediocrity is more the fault of the scripts and productions. The acting is still consistently good for the main part.
1. The Three Gables--I enjoyed this one. Both Brett and Hardwicke excellent. The story, if expanded, is mainly as shown in the original story.
2. The Dying Detective--Brett and Hardwicke's acting, especially in the conclusion, is not to be rivalled. But the adaptation adds so much to the Conan Doyle story that it is really difficult to remember which parts of the script were actually from the original story. However, I understand why they felt compelled to add so much; the later Conan Doyle stories were almost too short to be adapted into hour-long TV scripts. (Makes you wonder if the producers should have quit when they were ahead. They had already adapted all the best stories.)
3. The Golden Pince-Nez--Not a bad adaptation, but it suffers from the total absence of Edward Hardwicke as Watson. In this outing Mycroft substitutes for his character and if not quite as out of character as he is in "The Mazarin Stone" (also adapted in this collection) he is still no substitute for that wonderful Holmes/Watson chemistry so ably re-created by Brett and Hardwicke.
4. The Red Circle--Another interesting, if expanded, adaptation. Acting by all concerned consistently good.
5. The Mazarin Stone--This one fell into the ludicrous category. It is now my understanding that this adaptation was more based on a Conan Doyle play, adapted from his stories, than on the original tales. But that still doesn't excuse the almost total absence of Holmes (Brett was too ill to act) and the totally out of character running around by his substitute, brother Mycroft.
Also "The Three Garridebs", another Conan Doyle story which is jumbled up in this adaptation with "The Mazarin Stone", has always been a personal favorite of mine. Not because it is really one of the best Conan Doyle stories, but because Watson is shot in the leg by the villain and you get to see Holmes get all teary eyed. Since Brett as Holmes is barely in this adaptation at all and you have a ridiculously active Mycroft in his place, none of this moving scene between Holmes and Watson survives the adaptation. Instead you have the silliness of Watson being wacked by the villian with a diamond cleaver.
All is all this is a very bad adaptation, with some not so good, or even silly acting--I became quite bored with Nathan Garrideb's laughably silly sisters. In this adaptation it is the sisters who contact Holmes rather than Nathan Garrideb. Again, something not indicated in the original story at all. Not being familiar with the Conan Doyle play this adaptation is based on, I'm not sure how much of this is Conan Doyle (who late in his career could write some pretty bad Holmes stories) or due to the adaptaters who wrote the TV script.
6. The Cardboard Box--from the ridiculous to the sublime. This adaptation is almost better than the original story. Even though I knew where it was heading, it really kept up its suspense and the acting, especially by the man who played the sailor husband, was superb. It also was nice to see both Brett and Hardwicke working together again.
The one thing that I really enjoyed in this last of the Granada Sherlock Holmes series was Brett's hair. In some of his later Holmes portrayals, but earlier than these, Brett's hair was cut ludicrously short and he only looked good when wearing a hat. I am aware that the changes in hairstyle may have been related to his various illnesses, but it was nice to see his hair longer again even if he was probably even more ill in these last broadcasts. (c)
***
To love Conan Doyle's great detective Sherlock Holmes was never so satisfying as when the brilliant actor, the late and profoundly missed Jeremy Brett, breathed life into his fictional bones giving us arguably the greatest depiction of the Baker Street sleuth ever captured on film.
For me, Brett's is the truest Holmes ever attempted in movies or TV, and the Granada productions more authentically Victorian-era London than any made before this fantastic series or since.
There are some who deride Brett's later portrayals of Holmes, when the actor was very ill and had lost the sleek, angular look that Holmes had been endowed, both by his creator Doyle and his most popular illustrator, Sidney Paget. For me, that criticism is pure balderdash.
When taken in its entirety, the Jeremy Brett Sherlock Holmes series stands the test of time as the definitive telling of the stories, the later episodes underscoring Brett's courage as he faced personal tests that shattered his emotional and physical well-being. I would argue that it is that very human element in Brett's portrayal that makes his Holmes so breathtakingly accurate, compelling and poignant. Holmes denied his humanity and in so doing became more vulnerable as a human being exposing deep character flaws and weaknesses. In Brett, we not only see but feel those shortcomings, and something deeper, too: each person's ultimate struggle to find his or her place in life before death calls us home. (c)
***
On reviewing this excellent Granada series, one must always keep in mind two separate criteria. One, the original writing of Doyle and two, the Granda production team, including of course the now legendary performance of Jeremy Brett, without question now the ultimate Holmes for the 20th century. You can't really fault the Granda production for what is unfortunately, some of Doyle's weaker stories such as Lady Carfax, for instance.
Doyle purists may prefer the Adventures, and with good reason, for the stories were fresh, creative and Doyle had not yet tired of writing about his famous detective.
But was it luck or theatrical Fate that brought Edward Hardwicke into the series, precisely at the point where Holmes and Watson's relationship necessarily becomes more personal and complex - right from the first episode where Watson displays a range of emotions upon finding Holmes alive in "The Empty House"?
Although David Burke does an admirable job in the first series, it is Hardwicke who is able to take us further into the personal ups and downs of their friendship with all the humor and understanding that fully fleshes out the two main characters.
Hardwicke's subtle psychological insight into Watson's role is only one of the rewards of this magnificent series.
Where else will you see the humanity of Holmes so revealed as in "The Devil's Foot" - the only time Holmes ever addresses Watson as "John" - as he battles his cocaine addiction? Where else will you see a more mature and compassionate Holmes comforting women in distress, as in "The Man With the Twisted Lip"?
Holmes is never better than when solving a murder mystery, and you get that in spades here, as in "The Devil's Foot", "The Abbey Grange" and "Silver Blaze". "The Six Napoleons" takes us into the Italian subculture, and "Wisteria Lodge" into Latin American politics. And Jeremy Brett was never better than in the scenes where he discovers the ancient crown of England, or the consummate acting job - using only his facial expressions - to reveal his insights into the secret of "The Second Stain". (c)
***
The late Jeremy Brett's portrayal of Sherlock Holmes is so real, so vital, and so thoroughly mesmerizing that I can never imagine another actor playing the part. The man literally oozes charisma, and his aristocratic, finely chiselled looks perfectly match the Holmes I've always envisioned. Brett also captures the nuances that make Holmes such a memorable creation: the moodiness, the nervous bursts of energy, the unexpected moments of humour, and all his other maddening (but wonderful) eccentricities. Brett also has the perfect speaking voice for Holmes - a perfectly enunciated, slightly fruity, upper class Etonian accent. The death of Jeremy Brett in 1995 robbed us of Holmes' finest interpreter and a fascinating actor.
Happily, however, Brett has left us with a large legacy of performances as the great detective. The British Granada television series, filmed between 1984 and 1994, is now available on video (and occasionally on DVD) and includes many stand-out episodes.
1987 was around the period in which Brett's health started to decline (he suffered from a combination of heart disease and depression), but personally I have always felt that he transcended the effects of his illness, and in some ways his performances as Holmes were even more compelling because of it. At times he would have to husband his vocal resources as breath control became a problem, but his portrayal remained compelling right up until the end. Here he looks fine for the most part, and if anything, his slightly red-rimmed eyes and sallow complexion suit the character of Holmes, who was hardly the picture of robust good health himself.
Brett is ably supported by Edward Hardwicke as a sympathetic and intelligent Watson. This is the confidante whom Conan Doyle always envisioned, not the bumbling twit that one remembers from the Nigel Bruce caricature of the 1930s and 1940s. (c)
***
Some years ago when I came across a copy of The Bruce-Partington Plans in a local store. Watching it made me very keenly regret not having taped the series back when it was regularly aired.
Jeremy Brett, though aging and with a not-very-flattering haircut here, carries the show. There's a longstanding dispute over who is the better Holmes, Basil Rathbone or Jeremy Brett. Personally, my vote is entirely with Brett--his Holmes is brilliant and eccentric, and not always an entirely sympathetic character, just as the Holmes of the original stories was. He's moody, self-superior, and full of dramatic gestures sometimes at the expense of others, not much like Rathbone's much smoother and calmer portrayal, and though it makes him harder to like, it makes him worlds more interesting a character.
Jeremy Brett is one of those people who I would cheerfully pay to hear read the phone book; he has a wonderfully dramatic voice, rising and falling from a gentle murmur to a commanding shout and through a whole range of moods and tones between. He really does capture Holmes' genius beautifully, and the Bruce-Partington Plans is a solid story in its own right, intellectually engaging and wholly believable.
***
Here are times when an actor grabs a role and makes it his own. This was surely the case with Jeremy Brett. Whenever I see or think about Sherlock Holmes it is Jeremy's face and mannerisms that come to mind. Edward Hardwicke made a wonderful Watson..an intelligent sleuth partner. Doyle's Watson can't be a bumbling fool..reading the books shows this. It is great to see the sensitive, intelligent medical man that Watson is portrayed correctly.
Brett played Holmes with such great exuberance and enthusiasm that it truly is a shame that he is no longer with us to complete the filming of the 19 remaining Sherlock Holmes stories. (c)
***
Holmes & Watson were the original 'buddy cop movie' pair. I love how Watson continually tries to impress Holmes with his own deductive logic based on Holmes methods. Even as Holmes dismisses it, a smile creeps across his face, and Holmes admits "although...your conclusions are not entirely false..." Watson is not only Holmes only friend, he is the truest a friend can be. When danger looms, Holmes glances at Watson, reminding him that he doesn't need to put himself at risk. Watson, of course, gladly accepts any task while reaching for his revolver. Holmes eye catches a gleam, and he replies "excellent." (c)