Granada Sherlock Holmes series with Jeremy Brett
- Thread starter Kirkman1987
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I finished the Gielgud/Richardson stuff I could get a hold of. Overall, it was pretty good, though there were a few odd adaptation decisions. Probably the wierdest was in "Charles Augustus Milverton" where not only is it stated that it's their first case but also the opening of A Study In Scarlet (ie their meeting) was rather abruptly inserted as a flashback. And in almost all the episodes the announcer said, "...and Sir Ralph Richardson as our storyteller, Dr. James Watson." 
I know. But it still sounds really funny. I wonder if whoever wrote the announcement knew they were making a change or if it was an honest slip. And if they were aware, was it a nod to the enthusiasts?
ETA: I forgot to mention that Orson Welles played Professor Moriarty in "The Final Problem". And did an excellent job.
ETA: I forgot to mention that Orson Welles played Professor Moriarty in "The Final Problem". And did an excellent job.
Ever notice the similarities between Michael Caine and Edward Woodward?
Actually, it was "The Seven Percent Solution" & "The West End Horror" that got me into Sherlock Holmes in the first place. (I needed something new to read and being the guy who directed Star Trek II & Star Trek VI carries a lot of weight with me.
) I love those books, especially because of Meyer's footnotes, things he leaves out, and his utter devotion to maintaining the illusion that Holmes & Watson were real people and that there is a perfectly legitimate reason for why these manuscripts have gone undiscovered for almost a century.Hm. If Hammer had done it, I wonder if they would have had Christopher Lee as both Dracula AND Sherlock Holmes.
I'll put in a dissenting voice here and say I don't really like Jeremy Brett. He tries too hard. So many of his mannerisms just scream, "I'm ACTING" and don't really fit with Holmes' personality, which is supposed to be free of such extraneous mannerisms (generally).
I'm not crazy about any of the Holmes performances I've seen so far. None particularly fits the vision I've gotten from reading the books. Probably the closest is Ronald Howard from the 1950s TV series.
But then, I have a dream of one day writing & directing my own, definitive Sherlock Holmes movie, including a much more in depth introduction into Watson's backstory & his first meeting Holmes. (I imagine David Tennant as Holmes & Jack Davenport as Watson.)
Nah. They'd have had Peter Cushing as Holmes and Van Helsing.
Cushing wrote the introduction to David Stuart Davies' Holmes vs. Dracula novel, A Tangled Skein, and he writes in the introduction that he wished Hammer had done a crossover film. Just so he could have played both roles in the same film.
One of my all time favorite Holmes moments comes in Arthur Conan Doyle's "A Study in Scarlet." It's the scene where Watson tries to compare Holmes to various private detectives he's read about in fiction. I love it because it's a total fanboy rant when Holmes launches into this tirade about how each of the detectives Watson brings up was, in reality, a complete bungler.
I'd have to agree; plus, he was my first Holmes! Edward Hardwicke's still Watson for me too; seeing the previous actor completely confused me, since I had missed seeing that season.
If anyone's curious, in the New York City metropolitan area, Channel 21 has been airing the Granada episodes again. Very unusual for me to see this version, in its Granada presentation, since I had seen them when they were aired in the US on PBS' "Mystery" series, going back to when Vincent Price was the host of that show; good times!
Amazon (US; so I'm talking Region 1 here) is selling the Complete Granada Series 12-disc set for $96.99 and so I ordered it, so as to replace my old Adventures of... set. One reviewer claims that every episode has content edits, for instance, "The Second Stain" is allegedly missing Holmes' "then prepare for war" response to the Prime Minister. Can anyone confirm whether or not the 12-disc set has cut scenes?
The Granada Series with Jeremy Brett was the version of Sherlock Holmes that I grew up with. I quite enjoyed it. Haven't watched them in years though.
Well, so long as we're resurrecting the thread, I'll demonstrate the passage of time by noting that one of my earlier posts is no longer accurate. Ronald Howard from the 1950s TV series is no longer my favorite Sherlock Holmes, although I do appreciate the way that series portrays the Holmes/Watson relationship. It treats Watson with dignity. While he can sometimes be a bit thick, it almost seems to be a deliberate put on, like he's trying to defy Holmes by refusing to admit when he's right.
But now, my favorite Holmes is Rupert Everett in the BBC film Sherlock Holmes & the Case of the Silk Stocking. More than any other portrayal I've ever seen, this one gives us Holmes as the irritable misanthrope that Arthur Conan Doyle originally wrote.
The recent Guy Ritchie movie is quite fun and Robert Downey Jr. is now my 2nd favorite Holmes. He's not as misanthropic as Everett's version but I don't think a major Hollywood studio would allow him to be. Still, I'd say he pushed it as far as he possibly could within the mainstream action movie format. Better still, I congratulate Jude Law for doing so much to rehabilitate Watson's reputation from the 70 years of damage Nigel Bruce caused. Hopefully, when audiences now picture Dr. Watson, they'll picture Jude Law's long suffering man of action, not Bruce's bumbling comic relief.
But now, my favorite Holmes is Rupert Everett in the BBC film Sherlock Holmes & the Case of the Silk Stocking. More than any other portrayal I've ever seen, this one gives us Holmes as the irritable misanthrope that Arthur Conan Doyle originally wrote.
The recent Guy Ritchie movie is quite fun and Robert Downey Jr. is now my 2nd favorite Holmes. He's not as misanthropic as Everett's version but I don't think a major Hollywood studio would allow him to be. Still, I'd say he pushed it as far as he possibly could within the mainstream action movie format. Better still, I congratulate Jude Law for doing so much to rehabilitate Watson's reputation from the 70 years of damage Nigel Bruce caused. Hopefully, when audiences now picture Dr. Watson, they'll picture Jude Law's long suffering man of action, not Bruce's bumbling comic relief.
^Well, I think David Burke and Edward Hardwicke on the Granada series have already done plenty to rehabilitate Watson's image.
Absolutely agreed. They're both remarkable performances, and they both work amazingly well with Brett, in completely different ways.
Zombie thread! Run!
DOUBLE-TAP!!!!
DOUBLE-TAP!!!!
Holmes is a character who's been around for 120 years - you think a brief gap in posts is going to stop people talking about him?
Some have commented that there was never an explanation for the time jump in Rathbone's Holmes movies, but there was. The first of the series, "SH and the voice of Terror", begins with the following written prologue: "SHERLOCK HOLMES, the immortal character of fiction created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is ageless, invincible and unchanging. In solving significant problems of the present day he remains-as ever-the supreme master of deductive reasoning."
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