The Sherlockians! discussion

I was skimming through Netflix and decided to search to see if there were any instant movies with Jeremy Brett as Sherlock Holmes. I watched The Adventure of the Master Blackmailer (Charles Augustus Milverton) and today I have watched about a third of The Sign of Four. Wow. I am completely blown away by how close this is to the actual novels! It's almost as if they handed each actor a copy of the book and told them to use it as a script. All the characters' personalities are exact, also.
Just watching Charles Augustus Milverton threatening for there to be "no marriage on the 18th" or Genral Sholo from The Sign of Four talking in his quiet nervous way... Again, WOW. Holmes and Watson of course were absolutely perfect, too. Jeremy Brett played Holmes in a cold, calculating demanour and Edward Hardwicke as Watson was great, too.
But it never got dull, either, no matter how close it was to the original book. Barely, if none of the scenes were cut out!

I've never heard of either of those people, but it sounds really good. Is the name of the movies the same as those of the books?

Awwwwww that's so sad!

I completely agree, Jeremy Brett IS Sherlock Holmes. I prefer David Burke as Watson. He seems more fresh and smarter... his expressions are more lively. Is hard to say exactly why... I just like him better. The Red-Headed League is my all time favourite episode. Also "The Abbey Grange" and "The Second Stain" is quite well done.

The first episodes stick to the stories to the letter. However around the “The Master Blackmailer” there are small changes and for the “The Last Vampyre” they actually changed the story. ”The Eligible Bachelor” and "The Mazarin Stone" are particularly bad and some very non-Canonian changes.

Half a year ago I found the box set with all episodes on 16 DVDs for around 27£.

Awesome. I was watching it on Netflix, but I don't think there are that many. I need to buy some more :)

There are 41 episodes with Jeremy Brett.

"Forty-two of the 60 Holmes stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle were adapted in the series, spanning 36 one-hour episodes and five feature-length specials." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherlock...)

Wow! That's a lot of them. I bet it sticks to the plot a lot better than certain Holmes movies *coughSherlockHolmes(2009)cough*

I've watched the whole Jeremy Brett series in its entirety a couple of times - once when they were first produced, now on youtube! Not all are available on youtube, but there is one channel "MrDrewKosser" or something similar that has many of the best episodes.

Basil Rathbone comes in at a close second!

I agree Sharon - I can do without the bumbling character played by Nigel Bruce in the films! Oddly, in the radio plays, he comes off quite a bit more serious and likeable.

@Sammy Jeremy Brett would fight for the stories to be Doyle's work when they hired him the script did not match the stories at all, so he really had to fight for them to change it and the same battle went on every episode.

Krystal wrote: "@Sammy Jeremy Brett would fight for the stories to be Doyle's work when they hired him the script did not match the stories at all, so he really had to fight for them to change it and the same batt..."

I saw that somewhere on the internet -- that's awesome. Just makes him more my favourite.

J wrote: "I completely agree, Jeremy Brett IS Sherlock Holmes. I prefer David Burke as Watson. He seems more fresh and smarter... his expressions are more lively. Is hard to say exactly why... I just like hi..."

Haha, David Burke was my first Watson, and I was unwilling to accept Edward Hardwicke at first ... but now I'm not so sure. I love both of them >.<

Amazing. Very good.
David Burke is a better Watson though, to be honest.

I like David but Edward just seemed to have more of the personality of Watson

βιβλιοφάγος (a.k.a. Cat) wrote: "Amazing. Very good.
David Burke is a better Watson though, to be honest."

*gaping* Cat . . . You've seen JB's Sherlock Holmes, too?!?

:D This can't get better. And yes, David Burke was my favourite Watson, too . . .

βιβλιοφάγος (a.k.a. Cat) wrote: "Amazing. Very good.
David Burke is a better Watson though, to be honest."

We did a JB Sherlock marathon, remember that?

Harry - The Knight Errant wrote: "βιβλιοφάγος (a.k.a. Cat) wrote: "Amazing. Very good.
David Burke is a better Watson though, to be honest."

We did a JB Sherlock marathon, remember that?"

Yup. No regrets.

βιβλιοφάγος (a.k.a. Cat) wrote: "Harry - The Knight Errant wrote: "βιβλιοφάγος (a.k.a. Cat) wrote: "Amazing. Very good.
David Burke is a better Watson though, to be honest."

We did a JB Sherlock marathon, remember that?"

Yup. No..."

Never.

Must have one of those someday ...

You should come to Arizona. We would have loads of fun.

Harry - The Knight Errant wrote: "You should come to Arizona. We would have loads of fun."

Totally.

Sure. Where's my plane ticket?! :)

I'd probably have to save for about ten years, but if you can wait that long...;)

Brilliant. So that's sorted. :P

And when that happens I'll buy both of you plane tickets to NZ :)

I don't know if any of you have seen my Jeremy Brett's Sherlock Holmes fanclub here on Goodreads? You're welcome to join if you're a fan of the show -- We need more members and discussion topics :)
Here's the link: http://www.goodreads.com/group/show/1...

Who portrayed Holmes the best?

https://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/9...

Jeremy Brett hands down.

Brett's stuff is amazing...perhaps the most faithful adaptations of the books there has ever been. I've watched a few of them and they are just superbly well done. Brett himself is magnificent as Holmes, so cool and precise and flawless in his performance.

Jeremy Brett is AMAZIN! OMG I can't tell you how amazing he is.Although if you see how benedict cumberbatch looks for the special christmas episode, he might become a close second for me.

Jeremy Brett as Sherlock Holmes is just amazing the best incarnation based on the books I just love him so much he is the real Sherlock Holmes

I think Jeremy Brett is the closest to Holmes. The series, which took place over nearly a decade, has some good, some bad - unfortunately Brett's health affected the quality of his performance. As for Watson, I don't think David Burke has been or will be equalled. I think he was perfect.
An episode that I thought was especially faithful, superbly done was "The Blue Carbuncle." It's set at Christmas time - we watch it every year.

I watched The Blue Carbuncle again last night as it's a great festive episode. Brett is a legend. Nice to see you mention David Burke, J. He's one of the best and most underrated actors to play Watson.

The Blue Carbuncle is a Xmas tradition with me as well. I love David Burke. He and Brett are the perfect Watson and Holmes. I remember seeing Brett as Holmes for the first time and thinking "That's who I've been seeing in my head when I read Doyle!"

Now that I am actually reading the canon for the first time all I can see and hear is Jeremy. To me both Burke and Hardwicke were excellent Watson's so honestly between those two I can't choose which I like better.

Frankly I am glad I saw the Granada series BEFORE I actually took the time to read the books. I had read a few here and there in the past and listened to audio books but it is so much better now that I have the perfect Holmes in my head.

The Blue Carbuncle is a new tradition for me though.

I'm torn between deciding which actor portrays the character of Sherlock Holmes best; it's between Jeremy Brett and Basil Rathbone. I feel like Basil Rathbone portrays the most classic "Sherlock Holmes look", and he definitely has the debonaire mannerisms to go along with the character. Jeremy Brett is slightly less conventional in his mannerisms--bringing the odd quirks of the character to life in a very believable way. I think it just depends on what you are looking for in a Sherlock Holmes actor. As for Watson--Burke (the Watson starring alongside Jeremy Brett) was far more realistic a character and closer to the book than Bruce (the Watson starring alongside Basil Rathbone). I think the perfect combo would be Basil Rathbone and Burke.

The author David Stuart Davies authored a book about the making of the Granada series called "Bending the Willow." If you can find a copy, it's well worth reading. Davies had a lot of access to the writers, producer and actors on the series, throughout the course of the series and to Brett's death. Hard copies on are expensive on Amazon - $100 or more.
Davies has also written several Sherlockian pastiches.

Bending The Willow sounds like a book well worth checking out. Davies also wrote an excellent book called Starring Sherlock Holmes, which covers all the big and small screen interpretations of the great detective.

J. wrote: "The author David Stuart Davies authored a book about the making of the Granada series called "Bending the Willow." If you can find a copy, it's well worth reading. Davies had a lot of access to the..."

I am waiting for a chance to get into the library to get out The Veiled Detective and Scroll of the Dead. I am looking around for Bending The Willow {I'm not quite ready for the Amazon price though}.