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At last a Sherlock Holmes movie where he isn't just a guy in a tweed hat!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUQbmFAE5WI

I've watched this so many times my eyes have started to bleed.

Oh dear, Hollywood turns Sherlock Holmes into an all action super hero - Conan Doyle must be spinning in his grave. Holmes was cerebral, not physical! (But I agree about the welcome lack of a deerstalker hat, as per the Jeremy Brett TV incarnation!)

in his younger days i'd imagine holmes to be a bit of a lad, mixing it with the hoi palloi and learning their ways...i like old downey jnr...good actor...

they still have a bit of high camp and bro-mance i see too...

i wish they'd do a tripped out one though, as he was a bit of an opium fiend too - my fave sherlock film is "murder by decree", jonathan glover, james mason as holmes and watson...

even in that, holmes has a scarf packed full of lead, after he adapts a thugee weapon...i recommend the film, if only so you can see how much it *ahem* influenced "From Hell" (ok, From Hell nicked lots of their visuals from "murder")...

I've read them all and had a job in the museum, didn't ya know.

You can't bead a bit of Jeremy Brett as Sherlock Holmes on a wet afternoon. He's what I always imagined Holmes to look and be like, and Granada didn't shy away from portraying the ravages of his addiction, either. I can't remember the story in which Holmes goes through withdrawal, but it's a galaxy away from the old Basil Rathbone portrayal.

IAIN wrote:in his younger days i'd imagine holmes to be a bit of a lad, mixing it with the hoi palloi and learning their ways...i like old downey jnr...good actor...

There was a film called Young Sherlock Holmes which I remember watching as a child but was on BBC1 on a Sunday afternoon quite recently. It's great fun and I still find it really enjoyable, thinking about it now I think it should be required watching for all prospective mentalists. Film was sheer genius.

Not sure what the new film will be like. Downey Jr is a great actor but it annoys me when great films/ideas get dumb downed and "Hollywooded".

Tomo - i think i remember that, doesnt he go down to the coast and have a bit of a moment? buring his druggy box in the sands? his needle and spoon etc...

i'd imagine holmes to have studied the martial arts and boxing, to be quite handy as well as cerebral, personally...pressure points, judo and the such...

rough times the victorian era...

they say we live in violent times these days, but even then we carried swords, gangs, diseases, prolific drug use amongst the classes, mass unemployment...oh wait...hang on...

Having seen The late great Mr Brett play holmes in the west end a few years ago. ( The Secret of Sherlock Holmes in 1989) It's easy to see why the part eventually killed him.

he became holmes.. He was actually possesed by the fictional spirit of sherlock holmes.

His performance, was the greatest thing i have ever seen, or ever will see on any stage anywhere.

some audio recordings of parts of the play are on youtube.

http://www.google.co.uk/search?source=i ... D&aq=f&oq=

There was one on Sky last night (dated 2003) featuring a young and sexually active Holmes in his early days, Watson reluctantly getting involved, Moriarty portrayed as a nasty drugs baron, Mycroft (Richard E Grant) as a cripple, Holmes' girlfriend slain in front of him and his drug addiction started by Moriarty's evil schemes. Moriarty seemed invulnerable, to being shot, drowned, or stabbed and eventually fell through the the glass dial of the Big Ben Clock Tower into the Thames - so obviously lives to continue his machinations! OK as a film and some good location shots (Czech Republic?) but mostly a modern day story set in Victorian times. Even the script used some modern day phrases!

Mandrake wrote:Oh dear, Hollywood turns Sherlock Holmes into an all action super hero - Conan Doyle must be spinning in his grave. Holmes was cerebral, not physical!

True but the problem I've had with most of Sherlock Holmes TV shows is that it's all too cerebral and not that smart. Someone would have been killed and Sherlock Holmes would just walk around pointing at bits of dirt on the floor and telling people what he's 'deduced'. It was the kind of TV you watched at your grandma's house, so it might be nice for someone to try and portray him as something more than some kind of human computer.
If you want to do a good movie of a successful book you have to create something unexpected, a new take on something. The writer and director may fall flat on their collective face and be the subject of scorn from petty people (people like me), but at least they tried something other than the same old tweed hat.

IAIN wrote:Tomo - i think i remember that, doesnt he go down to the coast and have a bit of a moment? buring his druggy box in the sands? his needle and spoon etc...

Yes, that was the one. Very gritty. I'd love to know to be able to catch it on ITV3 again. Time for some serious Googling, methinks.

daleshrimpton wrote:Having seen The late great Mr Brett play holmes in the west end a few years ago. ( The Secret of Sherlock Holmes in 1989) It's easy to see why the part eventually killed him.

he became holmes.. He was actually possesed by the fictional spirit of sherlock holmes.

His performance, was the greatest thing i have ever seen, or ever will see on any stage anywhere.

I remember him on Wogan when he talked about how much effort goes into making himself disappear to become Holmes. He was never a well man (manic depression, heart disease and a chain smoker) and it must have been torture. A damned fine actor and sadly missed. I think the French gave him an honour on account of Holmes.

Mr Brett was a wonderful Holmes and Granada (was it?) pulled no punches when it came to portraying the darker side of him. He was on screen exactly as I'd imagined him when reading the books.

Yet, I still think Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce's version of Hound of the Baskervilles was the best. There was just something special about it being black and white

Wishmaster wrote:Mr Brett was a wonderful Holmes and Granada (was it?) pulled no punches when it came to portraying the darker side of him. He was on screen exactly as I'd imagined him when reading the books.

Yet, I still think Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce's version of Hound of the Baskervilles was the best. There was just something special about it being black and white

I have to disagree . ther best version of the hound, was a talking book version i had when i was a kid.
I cant remember who read it.. but being the whole book, you really got sucked into it.
you should buy the audio boook versions that are out there.And listen to it, in a dark room.

( I also liked the Pete and Dud spoof version. )

daleshrimpton wrote:I have to disagree . ther best version of the hound, was a talking book version i had when i was a kid.
I cant remember who read it.. but being the whole book, you really got sucked into it.
you should buy the audio boook versions that are out there.And listen to it, in a dark room.

I like to listen to audio books when I'm on a long drive, but I find myself concentrating on them more than the road ahead if I'm not careful!

daleshrimpton wrote:( I also liked the Pete and Dud spoof version. )

Hehe, I didn't know they'd done it, but I bet it was very funny. The Derek and Clive, McFarter sketch was hilarious and still makes me laugh. I had it on vinyl and the whole thing was just a recording of two very funny and completely sozzled blokes having a laugh with each other. Genius

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hound_ ... (1978_film)

The first time i saw the weeing Chihuahuas, i almost joined them in their toilet. So funny!

cast....

Peter Cook – Sherlock Holmes
Dudley Moore – Doctor Watson / Mr. Spiggot / Mrs. Ada Holmes / Piano Player
Denholm Elliott – Stapleton
Joan Greenwood – Beryl Stapleton
Hugh Griffith – Frankland
Irene Handl – Mrs. Barrymore
Terry-Thomas – Dr. Mortimer
Max Wall – Arthur Barrymore
Kenneth Williams – Sir Henry Baskerville
Roy Kinnear – Ethel Seldon
Dana Gillespie – Mary Frankland
Lucy Griffiths – Iris
Penelope Keith – Massage Parlor Receptionist
Jessie Matthews – Mrs. Tinsdale
Prunella Scales – Glynis
Josephine Tewson – Nun
Rita Webb – Elder masseuse
Henry Woolf – Shopkeeper
Spike Milligan – Policeman