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Alum Ladd Member Interview

luvmysuper

My elbows leak
Staff member
I like Cumberbatch, and he really works for an update, but Jeremy Brett will always be the ultimate Holmes to me
We have our favorites of course, probably related to whom we were exposed at a younger age.
For me, it'll always be Basil Rathbone.
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@Alum Ladd Who is your favorite Sherlock?
 
We have our favorites of course, probably related to whom we were exposed at a younger age.
For me, it'll always be Basil Rathbone.
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@Alum Ladd Who is your favorite Sherlock?
That is an excellent question Phil.

I too, grew up with Rathbone's portrayals, and I also found Peter Cushing's impressions excellent.

As I matured, re-read Doyle's works and some of his and his friends and associates' descriptions on his creation (an excellent little book, full of Holmesian apocrypha, I will grab it and the title from my book storage and give it to you) I was left in a void. None really seemed adequate anymore.

I found Brett's portrayal to be masterful and a revelation. He captured the nervous tension, suppressed passions and explosive energy of the Holmes of the written originals wonderfully. John Watson's written descriptions of his behaviour is often cruelly raw and now very contemporary, but the early to mid 20th century cinematic portrayals seemed to have glossed much of that over, either by accident or design.

Brett's portrayals, and the BBC productions, honestly dealt with his struggle with drug addiction, his intense boredom with inaction, and his instability, I felt.
 
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luvmysuper

My elbows leak
Staff member
That is an excellent question Phil.

I too, grew up with Rathbone's portrayals, and I also found Peter Cushing's impressions excellent.

As I matured, re-read Doyle's works and some of his and his friends and associates' descriptions on his creation (an excellent little book, full of Holmesian apocrypha, I will grab it and the title from my book storage and give it to you) I was left in a void. None really seemed adequate anymore.

I found Brett's portrayal to be masterful and a revelation. He captured the nervous tension, suppressed passions and explosive energy of the Holmes of the written originals wonderfully. John Watson's descriptions of his behaviour is often cruelly raw and now very contemporary, but the early to mid 20th century cinematic portrayals seemed to have glossed much of that over, either by accident or design.

Brett's portrayals, and the BBC productions, honestly dealt with his struggle with drug addiction, his intense boredom with inaction, and his instability, I felt.
Excellent summation.
Movies have a tendency to heroize Holmes in one way or another. I've read and re-read the stories time and again and felt always impressed but often a bit sad for Holmes as written by Doyle - the imperfect perfectionist bedeviled by his own personality. Cumberbatch brought the manic and flawed tendencies of Holmes to the screen probably better than any other actor in my personal opinion.
Watson in the films seems to have usually been portrayed as a bumbling sidekick played as much for humor as for plot point explanation.
The written stories portray Watson in quite a different and serious light, and I always admired him as a character. He was fearless and loyal, and not a buffoon in any way.
 
Excellent summation.
Movies have a tendency to heroize Holmes in one way or another. I've read and re-read the stories time and again and felt always impressed but often a bit sad for Holmes as written by Doyle - the imperfect perfectionist bedeviled by his own personality. Cumberbatch brought the manic and flawed tendencies of Holmes to the screen probably better than any other actor in my personal opinion.
Watson in the films seems to have usually been portrayed as a bumbling sidekick played as much for humor as for plot point explanation.
The written stories portray Watson in quite a different and serious light, and I always admired him as a character. He was fearless and loyal, and not a buffoon in any way.
I must check out the Cumberbatch portrayals, sounds like they are developing the real Holmes even more.

The BBC Brett productions really began to revive the original Dr. John Watson. He was always the 'grown up in the room' and was a superb chronicler of events, and as Holmes' reality check on events, as Holmes often admitted. Holmes' sometimes cruel and capricious nature sometimes found it's butt in Watson. Once Holmes baldly stated that Watson was a useless doctor, and would never consult him. But on at least one occasion Holmes cries "Quick Watson, if you love me!" in a moment of acute danger.

Holmes's affection for the now long dead Watson is most articulated in the film 'Mr Holmes' I think.
 

FarmerTan

"Self appointed king of Arkoland"
Wonderful interview! I read and reread the Holmes books/stories as a lad, and still do from time to time. They STILL hold up well. Any British productions I have seen have been great.

This might be my favorite interview yet my friend! (Though I probably say that every time I read one!) THANK you for letting us know you more!
 
Nice interview, Alum!

Detectives? Give Nero Wolfe (and Archie Goodwin) a whirl.
@Tanuki Yep, I already have. I really love the Rex Stout books, and admire Stout as a figure in his broadcast work for the Allies in WW2 and his post war activities.

I greatly enjoyed the A&E TV adaptations aired in 2001-2 with Maury Chaykin as Woolf and Tim Hutton as Archie Goodwin. I thought they caught the atmosphere and period brilliantly, and I loved the ensemble format of character changes by the actors in different episodes. It was a really stylish production.
 
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Mike M

...but this one IS cracked.
I liked the Caroline Graham books, a quite dark take on English country life. They were turned into the almost unrecognisable Midsummer Murders series. T.V. has a lot to answer for
 
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