11 replies to this topic

[DLibrasnow]

I am a big fan of Sherlock Holmes (I own the entire collection of the novels in one big volume that I got when I was 11 years old and I own dozens of Holmes DVDs).

My favorite actor in the role of Sherlock Holmes is Basil Rathbone but curiously he was not the lead actor in my favorite all-time Sherlock Holmes movie. That was 1978's "Murder By Decree" which starred Christopher Plummer as Holmes and James Mason as Watson. The movie involved Holmes investigating the Jack the Ripper murders.

Of course my second favorite Holmes movie is Rathbone's "Sherlock Holmes and the Scarlet Claw"

Thoughts? Comments?

[zencat]

I'm also a big Holmes fan. Favorite movie is The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes. Favorite Holmes is Jeremy Brett. Favorite book is The Seven-Per-Cent Solution.

[Jaelle]

Aha!! Snowie you introduced a favorite topic of mine! I am a major Sherlockian/Holmesian (there's a difference between the two, but I never figured out what it is).

I've read all the Conan Doyle stories and have seen just about all the films. Can't think of one (that I know of) that I haven't seen. I've seen even the silents. I've also seen a couple of theatrical productions. I had the incredible fortune to see the brilliant Paxton Whitehead in London play Holmes. He *WAS* Holmes. I also saw Frank Langella in Williamstown, MA play Holmes -- that was a very memorable experience, I got to meet him backstage and get his autograph. He was quite young then, very yummy!

I've read some of the non-Doyle stories, but not a lot. The Seven Percent Solution--both film and novel--are huge favorites of mine. I love the film's soundtrack. I thought Nicole Williamson was such a different, wonderful Holmes. I also enjoy Laurie King's series on Holmes and his young wife, a character she invented. And there's this great novel by a Brazilian author called "A Samba for Sherlock" set in Rio.

I also love The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes, it's so hilarious. Christopher Lee is all wrong for Mycroft, but I think it's so funny, I love him anyway. Apparently they recently came out with a new cut of this film, I don't know much about that, tho.

My favorite actor as Holmes was of course Jeremy Brett, tho his later episodes were really lacking. The poor guy was ill, and it showed.

Another favorite is Murder By Decree -- Christopher Plummer played THE most human Holmes ever, I loved his interpretation. I just have a hard time watching certain scenes in that movie. But Plummer just melts my heart.

But the guy who I think did some of the best cinematic work as Holmes was John Neville in A Study in Terror (late 60s I think). He really seemed like the man Doyle wrote about.

Of course I love Basil, but I love Basil in everything he did! Basil was an
A#1 cool guy!!! Best Hollywood fencer ever -- it was due to him that I took up fencing in high school and college, and still go to fencing class once a week.

I did not like at all the recent British TV production of The Hound of the Baskervilles. Bizarre rendition of Holmes, and it just fell flat in every sense.

My favorite story of Doyle's is one that I think has been done on screen only once or twice, but I think it would make a fabulous full-length feature: A Study in Scarlet, Doyle's first Holmes story, and the first of his 2 Holmes novels. The first time I read it, I couldn't put it down and refused to sleep until I finished it!

BTW, I've also visited Gillette Castle in Connecticut. It was owned by William Gillette (it's a *real* medieval looking castle), the famous American stage actor from the late 19th century/early 20th century who entertained US and European audiences for decades doing the same role: Sherlock Holmes. It was his play that Langella did in regional theater in the early 80s.

[trs007]

YEp, I have visited the castle as well. In addition, having been to Bkaer Street many times and also the Reichenbach Falls in Switzerland. I am also a member of a scion society of the BSI.

Favorite holmes, though, is Jeremy Brett. Fav ACD story--The Final Problem.

[DLibrasnow]

I know Jeremy Brett is always mentioned as the Holmes most faithful to the novels but I grew up watching the Basil Rathbone films every Friday night on BBC2. I used to rush home from school and just eat them up - I loved them and have been steadily collecting the Region 1 and Region 2 DVDs of them.

[Tarl_Cabot]

Basil Rathbone was great in everything he did and a hell of a fencher. He would tear Errol Fynn to shreads...

[DLibrasnow]

Originally posted by Tarl_Cabot
Basil Rathbone was great in everything he did and a hell of a fencher. He would tear Errol Fynn to shreads...

Didn't they fence in The Adventures of Robin Hood???

[Tarl_Cabot]

yes they did and Basil would have won in real life, easily. He also said Tyrone Power of Zorro would have torn Flynn apart too(something like that).

[Jaelle]

Originally posted by trs007
YEp, I have visited the castle as well.  In addition, having been to Bkaer Street many times and also the Reichenbach Falls in Switzerland.  I am also a member of a scion society of the BSI.  

Cool! I've visited Baker Street once but never got to Reichenbach.

And Tarl is right about Basil and Tyrone Power. The studio where both actors were at (I forget if it was MGM or not) had a team of professional medal-winning fencing trainers and supervisors for fencing sequences in their movies. A lot of these guys (and a few women) worked all over Hollywood in this capacity, with a lot of different actors. Basil was the *only* one whom they unanimously believed to have real professional and athletic fencing ability, enough ability to win medals in competition, including *gold* medals. There were good fencers among a lot of actors, and Power was no slouch, Basil often complimented him for his work. But Power (and everyone else) knew who was the better fencer, and when Basil complimented him, he said he felt very, very flattered and that he thought Basil was being too kind and generous in his compliments.

You can see in Basil's films what an exceptionally flexible and powerful fencer he was -- unfortunately he often had to tone his skills down for the screen so as not to show up the lead actor, since Basil always played the villain. I love Stewart Granger's fencing in the 1950s adventure Scaramouche and the Colman-Fairbanks fencing in The Prisoner of Zenda. I've always enjoyed watching Colin Firth and Tim Dalton fence -- very different classic styles (Dalton's a maniac with his sword). And the fencing scene in DAD is one of that film's few highlights. It's one of the few times in the film in which I sit up alert and really pay attention with pleasure. But I've yet to see an actor with Basil's talent and skills.

[DLibrasnow]

That's interesting Jaelle, I am surprised (as a devotee of Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes) that I never knew that....great post!

[IndyB007]

I'd have to agree with those you said that Jeremy Brett is their favorite Sherlock Holmes. Used to watch the show on PBS Mystery Theatre every weekend along with David Suchet as Hercule Poirot, and the show was even hosted by Diana Rigg for a while. Fav. of the movies has always been The Final Problem & The Empty House. I've been kind of slacking though.. There are about five or six Jeremy Brett DVD's that I haven't picked up yet.

[DLibrasnow]

Seems I am in the minority.....at least we can all say we are fans of the character!