on movie and text
While the movie's revisionist and a pastiche and some argue, not canonical at all, there's no doubt that it pays tribute to canon and is officially part of the Holmesian lore. And aside from the fact that the movie is called Sherlock Holmes, there are the countless allusions to canon text, to the Game and goodness knows what else.
But other than the obvious (such as the names) is there a compilation of allusions and references used in the movie to the books/past productions/Holmesian trivia? Anyone interested in starting one? Perhaps in this thread. Please add your suggestions to this thread.
Starting with a quote from The Dying Detective:
His incredible untidiness, his addiction to music at strange hours, his occasional revolver practice within doors, his weird and often malodorous scientific experiments, and the atmosphere of violence and danger which hung around him made him the very worst tenant in London.
Edit: (updated May 14th 2010, now in categories)
Those with ? are awaiting reference or more details.
Character
Sherlock Holmes
- generally untidy personal habits (The Musgrave Ritual: "Although also he affected a certain quiet primness of dress, he was none the less in his personal habits one of the most untidy men that ever drove a fellow-lodger to distraction. )
- Holmes being able to solve a case from a newspaper article Watson picked up(A Case of Identity: "'Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged in clearing up some small points in connection with it.'")
- aversion to publicity (The Devil's Foot: "All popular applause was always abhorrent and nothing amused him more at the end of a successful case than to hand over the actual exposure to some orthodox official and to listen with a mocking smile to the general chorus of misplaced congratulation.")
- Holmes knowledge of fighting including boxing (multiple stories, first appeared in A Study in Scarlet -- "Is an expert singlestick player, boxer, and swordsman." Adventure of the Solitary Cyclist, The Empty House: "I have some knowledge, however, of baritsu, or the Japanese system of wrestling, which has more than once been very useful to me.")
- Holmes boxing with non-gentlemen (according to IMDB, the name is "McMurdo") (Sign of Four :
"Oh, yes you do, McMurdo," cried Sherlock Holmes, genially. "I don't think you can have forgotten me. Don't you remember the amateur who fought three rounds with you at Alison's rooms on the night of your benefit four years back?"
"Not Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" roared the prize-fighter. "God's truth! how could I have mistook you? If instead o' standin' there so quiet you had just stepped up and given me that cross-hit of yours under the jaw, I'd ha' known you without a question. Ah, you're one that has wasted your gifts, you have! You might have aimed high, if you had joined the fancy.")
-pipe smoking and looking vacantly at a fixed point while working things out, also sitting on the floor as RDJ does quite a bit in the movie (The Man with the Twisted Lip: " With these he constructed a sort of Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set aquiline features.")
- chuckling while being excited (The Red Headed League: ""Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair as was his habit when in high spirits")
- habit of finger-steepling (multiple stories. e.g. The Red Headed League: "Try the setee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and putting his fingertips together, as was his custom in judicial mood." Five Orange Pips: "Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together." The Final Problem: "He saw the question in my eyes, and, putting his finger-tips together and his elbows upon his knees, he explained the situation."
- Holmes sitting with feet on the chair and his knees drawn up (The Adventure of the Red-Headed League, The Naval Treaty)
- mention of "studying the brain" (reference to phrenology in Hound of Baskerville)?
- Holmes speaking French(Adventure of the Greek Interpreter, Holmes' grandmother's sister of Vernet)
- Holmes plucks at his violin and observes the behavior of the flies is a direct nod to Rathbone in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes)
-Holmes plucks at the violin or practices at it without playing a proper music while he is thinking (A Study in Scarlet: "When left to himself, however, he would seldom produce any music or attempt any recognized air. Leaning back in his arm-chair of an evening, he would close his eyes and scrape carelessly at the fiddle which was thrown across his knee.")
- Lestrade's mention that Holmes might make a master criminal (The Sign of Four: "So swift, silent and furtive were his movements, like those of a trained bloodhound picking out a scent, that I could not but think what a terrible criminal he would have made had he turned his energy and sagacity against the law, instead of exerting them in its defense.")
- Holmes in disguises (multiple stories: first in A Study in Scarlet)
- putting down Lestrade (multiple stories: first in A Study in Scarlet)
- identify location despite being blindfolded (The Sign of Four: '
Sherlock Holmes was never at fault, however, and he muttered the names as the cab rattled through squares and in and out by tortuous by-streets.
“Rochester Row,” said he. “Now Vincent Square. Now we come out on the Vauxhall Bridge Road. We are making for the Surrey side apparently. Yes, I thought so. Now we are on the bridge. You can catch glimpses of the river.”
We did indeed get a fleeting view of a stretch of the Thames, with the lamps shining upon the broad, silent water; but our cab dashed on and was soon involved in a labyrinth of streets upon the other side.
“Wordsworth Road,” said my companion. “Priory Road. Lark Hall Lane. Stockwell Place. Robert Street. Cold Harbour Lane. Our quest does not appear to take us to very fashionable regions.”')
- Holmes smoking a pipe while thinking (multiple stories. E.g. The Adventure of the Red-Headed League: '"What are you going to do then?" I asked.
"To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird."')
- intimate knowledge of London (Adventure of the Red-Headed League:"It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of London. There is Mortimer’s, the tobacconist, the little newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane’s carriage-building depot. That carries us right on to the other block.")
John Watson
- Watson's limp, presumably attributable to his pick-a-limb leg wound (the shoulder in A Study in Scarlet, the leg in The Sign of Four, both from Jezail bullet)
- And numerous references to Watson as an army man (A Study in Scarlet: "In the year 1878 I took my degree of Doctor of Medicine of the University of London, and proceeded to Netley to go through the course prescribed for surgeons in the Army.")
- Watson's habit of keeping notes and his collection of notes about the cases (The Adventure of the Veiled Lodger: "When one considers that Mr. Sherlock Holmes was in active practice for twenty-three years, and that during seventeen of these I was allowed to cooperate with him and to keep notes of his doings, it will be clear that I have a mass of material at my command. The problem has always been not to find but to choose. There is the long row of year-books which fill a shelf and there are the dispatch-cases filled with documents, a perfect quarry for the student not only of crime but of the social and official scandals of the late Victorian era.")
- Watson's neat military appearance (from The Boscombe Valley Mystery: " The military neatness which characterizes you.")
- Watson's gambling problem (mention of losing half of his wound-pension in Shoscombe Old Place, and more indirectly, through his knowledge of the turf in Silver Blaze)
- "You haven't seen my rugby ball have you?" (Watson was a rugby player. The Sussex Vampire: "P. S. I believe your friend Watson played Rugby for Blackheath when I was three-quarter for Richmond.")
Holmes and Watson
- Holmes' drinking something used for eye surgery while Watson disapproves (Cocaine's the anaesthetic used for eye surgery during the era. The Sign of Four :
'"Which is it today?' I asked,--"morphine or cocaine?"
He raised his eyes languidly from the old black-letter volume which he had opened. "It is cocaine," he said,--"a seven-per- cent. solution. Would you care to try it?"
"No, indeed," I answered, brusquely. "My constitution has not got over the Afghan campaign yet. I cannot afford to throw any extra strain upon it."')
- Holmes loving music or opera: in the movie, when they're in the carriage at the beginning of the movie, after the disastrous dinner with Mary, Holmes suggests to Watson that there's an opera playing and he could score them tickets to it. (The Red Headed League where he takes an evening off of the case to listen to Sarasate play the violin and The Adventure of the Red Circle where he enjoys listening to Wagner.)
- brother Mycroft (introduced in The Adventure of the Greek Interpreter, mentioned in the movie as if Watson already met him)
- Mycroft's estate in Chichester, West Sussex (Holmes takes up bee-keeping in Sussex in The Last Bow)
- Holmes being absent minded about his revolver and Watson reminding him (The Problem of Thor Bridge: '"Watson," said he, "I have some recollection that you go armed upon these excursions of ours."
It was as well for him that I did so, for he took little care for his own safety when his mind was once absorbed by a problem so that more than once my revolver had been a good friend in need. I reminded him of the fact.
"Yes, yes, I am a little absent-minded in such matters. But have you your revolver on you?"
I produced it from my hip-pocket, a short, handy, but very serviceable little weapon.')
- Watson knowing that Holmes boxes well (though Watson betting on him is assumed in the movie) (The Adventure of the Yellow Face, Watson reports: "Few men were capable of greater muscular effort, and he was undoubtedly one of the finest boxers of his weight that I have ever seen.")
Irene Adler
- Irene Adler's habit of cross-dressing (A Scandal in Bohemia: "But, you know, I have been trained as an actress myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage of the freedom which it gives.")
- mention of Irene's past marriage (A Scandal in Bohemia: "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to Godfrey Norton, bachelor.)
- cases mentioned in the file for Irene Adler and Holmes' interest in newspapers (multiple stories: e.g. The Boscombe Valley Mystery, Bruce Partington Plans: '"Anything of interest in the paper, Watson?" I was aware that by anything of interest Holmes meant anything of criminal interest...I could see nothing recorded in the shape of crime that was not commonplace and futile. Holmes groaned and resumed his restless meanderings.')
Mary Watson nee Morstan
- employed as a governess (The Sign of Four: "I had at that time just entered the family of Mrs. Cecil Forrester in the capacity of governess.")
- Mary's appearance (The Sign of Four: "She was a blonde young lady, small, dainty, well gloved, and dressed in the most perfect taste.")
Plot
- Watson's leaving Holmes for his marriage (The Sign of Four)
- Irene Adler as an adventuress (A Scandal in Bohemia: "The wellknown adventuress, Irene Adler. ..Born in New Jersey in the year 1858... She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and the mind of the most resolute of men.)
- Lord Blackwood (Count Negretto Silvius -- Blackwood in Latin -- introduced in The Adventure of Mazarin Stone. Also, Strand magazine's rival is called Blackwoods.)
- ambitious secret society (KKK in Five Orange Pips, Mormons in A Study in Scarlet, Freemasons in The Valley of Fear)
- magic that is not magic (The Hound of Baskerville)
- Moriarty, the mathematics professor (The Final Problem: "He is the organizer of half that is evil and nearly all that is undetected in this great city. He is a genius, a philosopher, an abstract thinker. He has a brain of the first order He sits motionless, like a spider in the centre of its web, but that web has a thousand radiations, and he knows every quiver of each of them." Also mentioned in , The Empty House, The Valley of Fear)
- midget constructing technology that will revolutionize warfare (reference to The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes, the movie?)
- Holmes and Watson breaking the law and ending up in prison together (The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton:
"You can't help me."
"How do you know that? You can't tell what may happen. Anyway, my resolution is taken. Other people besides you have self-respect, and even reputations."
Holmes had looked annoyed, but his brow cleared, and he clapped me on the shoulder.
"Well, well, my dear fellow, be it so. We have shared this same room for some years, and it would be amusing if we ended by sharing the same cell.")
Setting and Props
- mouse coloured dressing gown (The Empty House)
- The "VR" in bullets on the wall (for Victoria Regina from The Musgrave Ritual: "I have always held, too, that pistol practice should be distinctly an open-air pastime; and when Holmes, in one of his queer humours, would sit in an armchair with his hair-trigger and a hundred Boxer cartridges and proceed to adorn the opposite wall with a patriotic V. R. done in bullet-pocks, I felt strongly that neither the atmosphere nor the appearance of our room was improved by it." )
- The bullpup(s) (A Study in Scarlet: "I keep a bull pup." which may be any of the following according to Victorianisms and Holmesiana theories: quick temper, a literal dog, or a reference to the Webley Bulldog "bullpup" revolver as in the movie. Watson in this movie possesses all three.)
- the name Gladstone (Holmes has a Gladstone bag in The Man with the Twisted Lip. Also, British Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone (1809-1898). The dog in Granada Production of The Cupboard Box is also named Gladstone.)
- "Don't touch! Everything is in its proper place, as per usual."
( "Our chambers were always full of chemicals and of criminal relics which had a way of wandering into unlikely positions, and of turning up in the butter-dish or in even less desirable places. But his papers were my great crux. He had a horror of destroying documents…. Thus month after month his papers accumulated, until every corner of the room was stacked with bundles of manuscript which were on no account to be burned, and which could not be put away save by their owner." The Musgrave Ritual)
- Holmes owning the photograph of Irene Adler (A Scandal in Bohemia: The photograph was of Irene Adler herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for... And when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman."
- Mary Morstan being lent pearls (The Sign of Four indicates that she would actually own them though all mentions of her family history and the Agra treasure are not in the movie.)
- the violin (first mentioned in A Study in Scarlet, Stradivarius mentioned in The Adventure in the Cardboard Box)
- glass-covered diorama of bee hives (interest mentioned in The Last Bow, The Creeping Man, The Lion’s Mane
- presence of a cricket ball (Watson mentions wickets in school The Naval Treaty)
- tiger skin rug (present in the Russian production of Sherlock Holmes)
- Holmes wearing sunglasses (also featured in Russian production of Sherlock Holmes, see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v78jh0ha2Kc at 1:35.)
- Holmes having a hideout ( from Black Peter: "Holmes was working somewhere under one of the numerous disguises and names with which he concealed his own formidable identity. He had at least five small refuges in different parts of London, in which he was able to change his personality.")
?- presence of hunting-crop ("He had himself picked up the loaded hunting-crop, which was his favourite weapon." from The Adventure of the Six Napoleons)
?- newspaper headlines in Irene Adler's folder (A Scandal in Bohemia, Bruce Partington Plans)
?- various locations that Granada series used in the 80s
?- Holmes using briar pipe and clay pipe
(Almost) verbatim Dialog
- "How did you see that?" and Holmes responds: "Because I was looking for it." (The Adventure of the Dancing Men:
"By George!" cried the Inspector. "How did you ever see that?"
"Because I looked for it.")
- "My mind rebels at stagnation. Give me problems, give me work.." (The Sign of Four: "My mind rebels at stagnation. Give me problems, give me work, give me the most abstruse cryptogram, or the most intricate analysis, and I am in my own proper atmosphere. But I abhor the dull routine of existence. I crave for mental exaltation.)
- "A veteran of Afghan I assume" (altered dialog from A Study in Scarlet:"How are you?" he said cordially, gripping my hand with a strength for which I should hardly have given him credit. "You have been in Afghanistan, I perceive." )
- The deductions about the pocket watch (only it belonged to the ginger midget, rather than Watson's brother) (transposed dialog from The Sign of Four)
?- The line about a doctor being the first of criminals (only applied to Watson, wasn't it?) (The Speckled Band: "When a doctor does go wrong he is the first of criminals.")
- "Your check book's still locked in my drawer." (The Adventure of the Dancing Men: "Your check book is locked in my drawer, and you have not asked for the key.)
- "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson. It makes you quite invaluable as a companion." (The Man With The Twisted Lip)
- Watson's complaints about Holmes habits (The Dying Detective: His incredible untidiness, his addiction to music at strange hours, his occasional revolver practice within doors, his weird and often malodorous scientific experiments, and the atmosphere of violence and danger which hung around him made him the very worst tenant in London.)
- "The game's afoot!" (verbatim from Abbey Grange)
- “Data! data! data! I can’t make bricks without clay.” (The Copper Beeches)
- "He would say it was worth a wound."-Mary Morstan (transposed dialog from The Adventure of the Three Garridebs where Watson writes "It was worth a wound -- it was worth many wounds -- to know the depth of loyalty and love which lay behind that cold mask.")
- It is a capital mistake to theorise before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts." (A Scandal in Bohemia)
- "It makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on whom I can thoroughly rely." (The Boscombe Valley Mystery)
- "Crime is common. Logic is rare." (The Adventure of the Copper Beeches)
- identify blood relations by similar ear forms (from The Cardboard Box: There was the same shortening of the pinna, the same broad curve of the upper lobe, the same convolution of the inner cartilage. In all essentials it was the same ear. Of course I at once saw the enormous importance of the observation. It was evident that the victim was a blood relation, and probably a very close one.)
- '"Who do you think won the match, Clarkey?"
"Sir?"
"The rugby match - you boys have done a magnificent job obliterating any potential evidence."' (A Study in Scarlet: [Holmes to Gregson]"If a herd of buffaloes had passed along there could not be a greater mess." Gregson of course blames Lestrade!)
- Holmes on Watson in the restaurant scene: "Born to be a man of action" (Hound of the Baskervilles)
- "Watson, what have you done? (The Reigate Squire: 'Near the foot of the bed stood a dish of oranges and a carafe of water. As we passed it Holmes, to my unutterable astonishment, leaned over in front of me and deliberately knocked the whole thing over. The glass smashed into a thousand pieces and the fruit rolled about into every corner of the room.
"You've done it now, Watson," said he coolly. "A pretty mess you've made of the carpet."')
- '"My professional charges are upon a fixed scale,’ said Holmes coldly. ‘I do not vary them, save when I remit them altogether.”'(The Problem of Thor Bridge).
More as I remember and people add to the thread.
But other than the obvious (such as the names) is there a compilation of allusions and references used in the movie to the books/past productions/Holmesian trivia? Anyone interested in starting one? Perhaps in this thread. Please add your suggestions to this thread.
Starting with a quote from The Dying Detective:
His incredible untidiness, his addiction to music at strange hours, his occasional revolver practice within doors, his weird and often malodorous scientific experiments, and the atmosphere of violence and danger which hung around him made him the very worst tenant in London.
Edit: (updated May 14th 2010, now in categories)
Those with ? are awaiting reference or more details.
Character
Sherlock Holmes
- generally untidy personal habits (The Musgrave Ritual: "Although also he affected a certain quiet primness of dress, he was none the less in his personal habits one of the most untidy men that ever drove a fellow-lodger to distraction. )
- Holmes being able to solve a case from a newspaper article Watson picked up(A Case of Identity: "'Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged in clearing up some small points in connection with it.'")
- aversion to publicity (The Devil's Foot: "All popular applause was always abhorrent and nothing amused him more at the end of a successful case than to hand over the actual exposure to some orthodox official and to listen with a mocking smile to the general chorus of misplaced congratulation.")
- Holmes knowledge of fighting including boxing (multiple stories, first appeared in A Study in Scarlet -- "Is an expert singlestick player, boxer, and swordsman." Adventure of the Solitary Cyclist, The Empty House: "I have some knowledge, however, of baritsu, or the Japanese system of wrestling, which has more than once been very useful to me.")
- Holmes boxing with non-gentlemen (according to IMDB, the name is "McMurdo") (Sign of Four :
"Oh, yes you do, McMurdo," cried Sherlock Holmes, genially. "I don't think you can have forgotten me. Don't you remember the amateur who fought three rounds with you at Alison's rooms on the night of your benefit four years back?"
"Not Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" roared the prize-fighter. "God's truth! how could I have mistook you? If instead o' standin' there so quiet you had just stepped up and given me that cross-hit of yours under the jaw, I'd ha' known you without a question. Ah, you're one that has wasted your gifts, you have! You might have aimed high, if you had joined the fancy.")
-pipe smoking and looking vacantly at a fixed point while working things out, also sitting on the floor as RDJ does quite a bit in the movie (The Man with the Twisted Lip: " With these he constructed a sort of Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set aquiline features.")
- chuckling while being excited (The Red Headed League: ""Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair as was his habit when in high spirits")
- habit of finger-steepling (multiple stories. e.g. The Red Headed League: "Try the setee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and putting his fingertips together, as was his custom in judicial mood." Five Orange Pips: "Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together." The Final Problem: "He saw the question in my eyes, and, putting his finger-tips together and his elbows upon his knees, he explained the situation."
- Holmes sitting with feet on the chair and his knees drawn up (The Adventure of the Red-Headed League, The Naval Treaty)
- mention of "studying the brain" (reference to phrenology in Hound of Baskerville)?
- Holmes speaking French(Adventure of the Greek Interpreter, Holmes' grandmother's sister of Vernet)
- Holmes plucks at his violin and observes the behavior of the flies is a direct nod to Rathbone in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes)
-Holmes plucks at the violin or practices at it without playing a proper music while he is thinking (A Study in Scarlet: "When left to himself, however, he would seldom produce any music or attempt any recognized air. Leaning back in his arm-chair of an evening, he would close his eyes and scrape carelessly at the fiddle which was thrown across his knee.")
- Lestrade's mention that Holmes might make a master criminal (The Sign of Four: "So swift, silent and furtive were his movements, like those of a trained bloodhound picking out a scent, that I could not but think what a terrible criminal he would have made had he turned his energy and sagacity against the law, instead of exerting them in its defense.")
- Holmes in disguises (multiple stories: first in A Study in Scarlet)
- putting down Lestrade (multiple stories: first in A Study in Scarlet)
- identify location despite being blindfolded (The Sign of Four: '
Sherlock Holmes was never at fault, however, and he muttered the names as the cab rattled through squares and in and out by tortuous by-streets.
“Rochester Row,” said he. “Now Vincent Square. Now we come out on the Vauxhall Bridge Road. We are making for the Surrey side apparently. Yes, I thought so. Now we are on the bridge. You can catch glimpses of the river.”
We did indeed get a fleeting view of a stretch of the Thames, with the lamps shining upon the broad, silent water; but our cab dashed on and was soon involved in a labyrinth of streets upon the other side.
“Wordsworth Road,” said my companion. “Priory Road. Lark Hall Lane. Stockwell Place. Robert Street. Cold Harbour Lane. Our quest does not appear to take us to very fashionable regions.”')
- Holmes smoking a pipe while thinking (multiple stories. E.g. The Adventure of the Red-Headed League: '"What are you going to do then?" I asked.
"To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird."')
- intimate knowledge of London (Adventure of the Red-Headed League:"It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of London. There is Mortimer’s, the tobacconist, the little newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane’s carriage-building depot. That carries us right on to the other block.")
John Watson
- Watson's limp, presumably attributable to his pick-a-limb leg wound (the shoulder in A Study in Scarlet, the leg in The Sign of Four, both from Jezail bullet)
- And numerous references to Watson as an army man (A Study in Scarlet: "In the year 1878 I took my degree of Doctor of Medicine of the University of London, and proceeded to Netley to go through the course prescribed for surgeons in the Army.")
- Watson's habit of keeping notes and his collection of notes about the cases (The Adventure of the Veiled Lodger: "When one considers that Mr. Sherlock Holmes was in active practice for twenty-three years, and that during seventeen of these I was allowed to cooperate with him and to keep notes of his doings, it will be clear that I have a mass of material at my command. The problem has always been not to find but to choose. There is the long row of year-books which fill a shelf and there are the dispatch-cases filled with documents, a perfect quarry for the student not only of crime but of the social and official scandals of the late Victorian era.")
- Watson's neat military appearance (from The Boscombe Valley Mystery: " The military neatness which characterizes you.")
- Watson's gambling problem (mention of losing half of his wound-pension in Shoscombe Old Place, and more indirectly, through his knowledge of the turf in Silver Blaze)
- "You haven't seen my rugby ball have you?" (Watson was a rugby player. The Sussex Vampire: "P. S. I believe your friend Watson played Rugby for Blackheath when I was three-quarter for Richmond.")
Holmes and Watson
- Holmes' drinking something used for eye surgery while Watson disapproves (Cocaine's the anaesthetic used for eye surgery during the era. The Sign of Four :
'"Which is it today?' I asked,--"morphine or cocaine?"
He raised his eyes languidly from the old black-letter volume which he had opened. "It is cocaine," he said,--"a seven-per- cent. solution. Would you care to try it?"
"No, indeed," I answered, brusquely. "My constitution has not got over the Afghan campaign yet. I cannot afford to throw any extra strain upon it."')
- Holmes loving music or opera: in the movie, when they're in the carriage at the beginning of the movie, after the disastrous dinner with Mary, Holmes suggests to Watson that there's an opera playing and he could score them tickets to it. (The Red Headed League where he takes an evening off of the case to listen to Sarasate play the violin and The Adventure of the Red Circle where he enjoys listening to Wagner.)
- brother Mycroft (introduced in The Adventure of the Greek Interpreter, mentioned in the movie as if Watson already met him)
- Mycroft's estate in Chichester, West Sussex (Holmes takes up bee-keeping in Sussex in The Last Bow)
- Holmes being absent minded about his revolver and Watson reminding him (The Problem of Thor Bridge: '"Watson," said he, "I have some recollection that you go armed upon these excursions of ours."
It was as well for him that I did so, for he took little care for his own safety when his mind was once absorbed by a problem so that more than once my revolver had been a good friend in need. I reminded him of the fact.
"Yes, yes, I am a little absent-minded in such matters. But have you your revolver on you?"
I produced it from my hip-pocket, a short, handy, but very serviceable little weapon.')
- Watson knowing that Holmes boxes well (though Watson betting on him is assumed in the movie) (The Adventure of the Yellow Face, Watson reports: "Few men were capable of greater muscular effort, and he was undoubtedly one of the finest boxers of his weight that I have ever seen.")
Irene Adler
- Irene Adler's habit of cross-dressing (A Scandal in Bohemia: "But, you know, I have been trained as an actress myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage of the freedom which it gives.")
- mention of Irene's past marriage (A Scandal in Bohemia: "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to Godfrey Norton, bachelor.)
- cases mentioned in the file for Irene Adler and Holmes' interest in newspapers (multiple stories: e.g. The Boscombe Valley Mystery, Bruce Partington Plans: '"Anything of interest in the paper, Watson?" I was aware that by anything of interest Holmes meant anything of criminal interest...I could see nothing recorded in the shape of crime that was not commonplace and futile. Holmes groaned and resumed his restless meanderings.')
Mary Watson nee Morstan
- employed as a governess (The Sign of Four: "I had at that time just entered the family of Mrs. Cecil Forrester in the capacity of governess.")
- Mary's appearance (The Sign of Four: "She was a blonde young lady, small, dainty, well gloved, and dressed in the most perfect taste.")
Plot
- Watson's leaving Holmes for his marriage (The Sign of Four)
- Irene Adler as an adventuress (A Scandal in Bohemia: "The wellknown adventuress, Irene Adler. ..Born in New Jersey in the year 1858... She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and the mind of the most resolute of men.)
- Lord Blackwood (Count Negretto Silvius -- Blackwood in Latin -- introduced in The Adventure of Mazarin Stone. Also, Strand magazine's rival is called Blackwoods.)
- ambitious secret society (KKK in Five Orange Pips, Mormons in A Study in Scarlet, Freemasons in The Valley of Fear)
- magic that is not magic (The Hound of Baskerville)
- Moriarty, the mathematics professor (The Final Problem: "He is the organizer of half that is evil and nearly all that is undetected in this great city. He is a genius, a philosopher, an abstract thinker. He has a brain of the first order He sits motionless, like a spider in the centre of its web, but that web has a thousand radiations, and he knows every quiver of each of them." Also mentioned in , The Empty House, The Valley of Fear)
- midget constructing technology that will revolutionize warfare (reference to The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes, the movie?)
- Holmes and Watson breaking the law and ending up in prison together (The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton:
"You can't help me."
"How do you know that? You can't tell what may happen. Anyway, my resolution is taken. Other people besides you have self-respect, and even reputations."
Holmes had looked annoyed, but his brow cleared, and he clapped me on the shoulder.
"Well, well, my dear fellow, be it so. We have shared this same room for some years, and it would be amusing if we ended by sharing the same cell.")
Setting and Props
- mouse coloured dressing gown (The Empty House)
- The "VR" in bullets on the wall (for Victoria Regina from The Musgrave Ritual: "I have always held, too, that pistol practice should be distinctly an open-air pastime; and when Holmes, in one of his queer humours, would sit in an armchair with his hair-trigger and a hundred Boxer cartridges and proceed to adorn the opposite wall with a patriotic V. R. done in bullet-pocks, I felt strongly that neither the atmosphere nor the appearance of our room was improved by it." )
- The bullpup(s) (A Study in Scarlet: "I keep a bull pup." which may be any of the following according to Victorianisms and Holmesiana theories: quick temper, a literal dog, or a reference to the Webley Bulldog "bullpup" revolver as in the movie. Watson in this movie possesses all three.)
- the name Gladstone (Holmes has a Gladstone bag in The Man with the Twisted Lip. Also, British Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone (1809-1898). The dog in Granada Production of The Cupboard Box is also named Gladstone.)
- "Don't touch! Everything is in its proper place, as per usual."
( "Our chambers were always full of chemicals and of criminal relics which had a way of wandering into unlikely positions, and of turning up in the butter-dish or in even less desirable places. But his papers were my great crux. He had a horror of destroying documents…. Thus month after month his papers accumulated, until every corner of the room was stacked with bundles of manuscript which were on no account to be burned, and which could not be put away save by their owner." The Musgrave Ritual)
- Holmes owning the photograph of Irene Adler (A Scandal in Bohemia: The photograph was of Irene Adler herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for... And when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman."
- Mary Morstan being lent pearls (The Sign of Four indicates that she would actually own them though all mentions of her family history and the Agra treasure are not in the movie.)
- the violin (first mentioned in A Study in Scarlet, Stradivarius mentioned in The Adventure in the Cardboard Box)
- glass-covered diorama of bee hives (interest mentioned in The Last Bow, The Creeping Man, The Lion’s Mane
- presence of a cricket ball (Watson mentions wickets in school The Naval Treaty)
- tiger skin rug (present in the Russian production of Sherlock Holmes)
- Holmes wearing sunglasses (also featured in Russian production of Sherlock Holmes, see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v78jh0ha2Kc at 1:35.)
- Holmes having a hideout ( from Black Peter: "Holmes was working somewhere under one of the numerous disguises and names with which he concealed his own formidable identity. He had at least five small refuges in different parts of London, in which he was able to change his personality.")
?- presence of hunting-crop ("He had himself picked up the loaded hunting-crop, which was his favourite weapon." from The Adventure of the Six Napoleons)
?- newspaper headlines in Irene Adler's folder (A Scandal in Bohemia, Bruce Partington Plans)
?- various locations that Granada series used in the 80s
?- Holmes using briar pipe and clay pipe
(Almost) verbatim Dialog
- "How did you see that?" and Holmes responds: "Because I was looking for it." (The Adventure of the Dancing Men:
"By George!" cried the Inspector. "How did you ever see that?"
"Because I looked for it.")
- "My mind rebels at stagnation. Give me problems, give me work.." (The Sign of Four: "My mind rebels at stagnation. Give me problems, give me work, give me the most abstruse cryptogram, or the most intricate analysis, and I am in my own proper atmosphere. But I abhor the dull routine of existence. I crave for mental exaltation.)
- "A veteran of Afghan I assume" (altered dialog from A Study in Scarlet:"How are you?" he said cordially, gripping my hand with a strength for which I should hardly have given him credit. "You have been in Afghanistan, I perceive." )
- The deductions about the pocket watch (only it belonged to the ginger midget, rather than Watson's brother) (transposed dialog from The Sign of Four)
?- The line about a doctor being the first of criminals (only applied to Watson, wasn't it?) (The Speckled Band: "When a doctor does go wrong he is the first of criminals.")
- "Your check book's still locked in my drawer." (The Adventure of the Dancing Men: "Your check book is locked in my drawer, and you have not asked for the key.)
- "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson. It makes you quite invaluable as a companion." (The Man With The Twisted Lip)
- Watson's complaints about Holmes habits (The Dying Detective: His incredible untidiness, his addiction to music at strange hours, his occasional revolver practice within doors, his weird and often malodorous scientific experiments, and the atmosphere of violence and danger which hung around him made him the very worst tenant in London.)
- "The game's afoot!" (verbatim from Abbey Grange)
- “Data! data! data! I can’t make bricks without clay.” (The Copper Beeches)
- "He would say it was worth a wound."-Mary Morstan (transposed dialog from The Adventure of the Three Garridebs where Watson writes "It was worth a wound -- it was worth many wounds -- to know the depth of loyalty and love which lay behind that cold mask.")
- It is a capital mistake to theorise before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts." (A Scandal in Bohemia)
- "It makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on whom I can thoroughly rely." (The Boscombe Valley Mystery)
- "Crime is common. Logic is rare." (The Adventure of the Copper Beeches)
- identify blood relations by similar ear forms (from The Cardboard Box: There was the same shortening of the pinna, the same broad curve of the upper lobe, the same convolution of the inner cartilage. In all essentials it was the same ear. Of course I at once saw the enormous importance of the observation. It was evident that the victim was a blood relation, and probably a very close one.)
- '"Who do you think won the match, Clarkey?"
"Sir?"
"The rugby match - you boys have done a magnificent job obliterating any potential evidence."' (A Study in Scarlet: [Holmes to Gregson]"If a herd of buffaloes had passed along there could not be a greater mess." Gregson of course blames Lestrade!)
- Holmes on Watson in the restaurant scene: "Born to be a man of action" (Hound of the Baskervilles)
- "Watson, what have you done? (The Reigate Squire: 'Near the foot of the bed stood a dish of oranges and a carafe of water. As we passed it Holmes, to my unutterable astonishment, leaned over in front of me and deliberately knocked the whole thing over. The glass smashed into a thousand pieces and the fruit rolled about into every corner of the room.
"You've done it now, Watson," said he coolly. "A pretty mess you've made of the carpet."')
- '"My professional charges are upon a fixed scale,’ said Holmes coldly. ‘I do not vary them, save when I remit them altogether.”'(The Problem of Thor Bridge).
More as I remember and people add to the thread.