Young Sherlock Holmes:
While this movie isn't canon, something, in fact, which is acknowledged in the movie, its a nice "What If?" story about the origins of several of Doyle's creations.

I thought it was a intelligent, effective movie (with a wonderfully chosen cast)...right up until it exploded into one of those silly special-effects extravaganzas typical of Spielberg in the Eighties.

Regarding the 1939 version of Hound of the Baskervilles:
A hole:
In the novel, Sir Henry receives a message warning him not to go to Dartmoor. Later, it is revealed that Beryl Stapleton (who was secretly an unwilling accomplice to the killer's plot, and though passed off as the sister of the killer, was actually the Hispanic wife of the killer) had sent the note.
In the 1939 movie version, the same note is sent, but Beryl Stapleton (played by a non-Hispanic Wendy Barrie, who unlike the book version is not the wife of the killer, but his half-sister) does not turn out to have been a willing or unwilling accomplice of the killer;in fact, there is no indication that she knew anything about the plot. So who sent the note?
(Actually the plotting for this film was a little bit shaky, even by Doyle standards. Some of the later B movies-such as SHERLOCK HOLMES FACES DEATH, THE PEARL OF DEATH, and THE SCARLET CLAW, were actually a little bit better plotted, although, since they were set in the 1940's, that will always be held against them.)

I just watched what may be the funniest movie of all time last night. "Without a Clue" starring Michael Caine as "Sherlock Holmes" and Ben Kingsley as Dr. Watson. In it, Watson is the real mastermind and Holmes is a bumbler. I highly recommend it.

"They Might Be Giants" is also another great comic take on Holmes.

They had a new version of Hound of the Baskervilles on Masterpiece theater recently. Visually it was pretty nice, but after watching Nero Wolfe, which follows the plots so closely, I was disappointed by the liberties they took.

They changed the legend of the Hound to a man who murdered his (allegedly) cheating wife, only to be killed by her pet hound, who then haunted the Baskervilles.

Altered the time from Spring-Summer to Winter, presumably because that's when they filmed it. They included a Christmas Eve party the day before the climax.

They gave Dr. Mortimer a wife interested in Spiritualism, and a seance in which the Hound shows up at the window.

They gave Dr. Mortimer's interest in anthropology to Stapleton. A, you can't chase butterflies in the winter, and B, having your killer interested in butterflies is apparently sissy.

Stapleton ended up murdering his wife, which definitely is not in the book. He beat her and left her bound and gagged so that she could not interfere. ( He also very oddly tied her hands up on the rope around her neck.)

Sherlock was badly presented in this movie. They showed him twice shooting up with cocaine. Holmes only took cocaine when work was slack and he had nothing to occupy his mind, which was not the case here. When speaking to the cab driver who had carried the "man with the beard", he brutalized the information from the man, which is not Holmes' style. At the end, when he and Lestrade confronted Stapleton (also a scene not in the book), it took Watson to come in and ask, "Where is Mrs. Stapleton?" Holmes replied, we haven't found her yet." The correct reply would have been, "We haven't bothered to look."

On the other hand, Watson really shone in this episode. I suspect that the writer had a secret fondness for the character. Watson was intelligent and alert throughout. During the seance, when a huge and ugly hound leaped up at the window, Watson grabbed a chair and was outside so fast that I didn't even realize that he'd gone until I saw him out there, searching for the hound. Very courageous. When they heard the hound attack Seldon, thinking that it was Baskerville, Watson was the one who leaped ahead in the chase. When Baskerville was attacked, it was the smaller, slighter Watson who picked him up and carried him back to the hall. He didn't leave Baskerville until Mortimer arrived, then Watson promptly went back to help Holmes. Having found Beryl Stapleton dead, Watson came back and punched out Stapleton (not in the book), causing a fracas (not in the book) which ended with Watson (and I think Lestrade) getting shot and Stapleton fleeing to the moors. Holmes, not Stapleton, was the one who ended up in a sinkhole, with Stapleton coming back to gloat. Stapleton prepared to kill the totally helpless Holmes, but was shot dead by the wounded Watson, who then proceeded to briskly rescue Holmes, which must have been exceedingly painful.

They showed a distinct antagonism between Holmes and Watson, particularly when Watson, fearing for Baskerville's safety, was going to prevent him from walking back to Baskerville Hall from Stapleton's, and Holmes flat out forbid him to do so. Holmes was too concerned with watching Stapleton, who promptly vanished in the fog. If they had gone after Baskerville immediately, he would not have been so badly injured, and perhaps not at all. The very last scene, with Holmes and Watson returning to London by train, had Holmes mentioning, rather tentatively, that he had reserved a box for a concert that evening. Watson was silent. Holmes then mentioned dinner at a restaurant beforehand. (Can't remember the name.) Watson looked at him and said, "The answer to your question is no." Holmes looked puzzled, and Watson said, "No, I don't trust you. But dinner at-----sounds good." (paraphrase) I can't imagine Watson ever saying that he didn't trust Holmes.

Apart from other things, they had rather a lot of gratuitous violence in this--two policemen chasing Seldon when he first escaped died in the moor sinkholes (not in the book), Seldon actually came into the kitchen at Baskerville Hall and attacked Baskerville (not in the book) Beryl's death, the fight and shooting at Stapleton's, plus some close-up and very ugly shots of the wounds on Seldon and Baskerville. (And by the way, I think that Seldon actually died in a fall, fleeing from the hound, rather than having his throat torn out.)

I much preferred the version with Jeremy Brett.

The wife of Dr. Mortimer interested in spiritulaism is lifted from the 1939 Rathbone version. According to the recent DVD commentary (on the 1939 version released by MPI), the scene of the hound showing up at the window during the seance was, iirc, scripted, and maybe shot, for the 1939 version, but cut from the final print.

Sir Rhosis

I've recently bought three DVDs of Arthur Wontner's early-1930s Holmes films (he made five, one is lost, three of the surviving four are available on DVD). They're cheap Alpha Video DVDs, but still I recommend them. Wontner is excellent as Holmes!

D. K. Henderson: ...I was disappointed by the liberties they took....I much preferred the version with Jeremy Brett.

That's how I feel in general. The pieces with Jeremy Brett are very true to the original feel. Brett himself made a very interesting quote, in which he said that everyone does Holmes & Watson but nobody does Doyle, meaning that the characters are copied but up until Brett's films nobody had tried to accurately copy Doyle's stories. "Sherlock Holmes in Washington"? Come on!

What I appreciate about the Brett/Burke/Hardwicke films is that they make changes only where necessary. Yes, they leave out Watson's marriage, but that's easier to explain in print than in the confines of a few films (remembering that they didn't know at the first how many films they would get to make). And while there's an aprocyphal scene in "The Devil's Foot" (actually, Watson's presence in that film is apocryphal, but there's an inside joke at the beginning that acknoweledges the fact) where Holmes kicks his coke habit, it's because Brett was concerned--having learned that children were big fans of the films--that Holmes' example would influence them to use drugs. To me, that was a responsible, even proper change, given the unexpected audience.

Last year Ian McKellen was announced to play a 93 year old Sherlock Holmes in 1947 in the movie version of the book A Slight Trick of the Mind.
Since then it has been announced that the movie will come under the name Mr Holmes.

Laura Linney has been cast as housekeeper Mrs Munro (obviously Mrs Hudson is long gone by the time of 1947).

Other members of the cast includes:
Hattie Morahan
Hiroyuki Sanada as Matsuda Umezaki
Patrick Kennedy
Roger Allam
Phil Davis
Frances de la Tour
Milo Parker as Roger Munro

On playing Sherlock Holmes, McKellen said:
“Over 70 actors have previously played Sherlock Holmes. Now he’s 93 years old and it’s my turn.”

Mr Holmes will be released in 2015.

Phil Davis!! Will he play a cabbie like he did in the Sherlock episode "A Study in Pink"?!

Mr. Holmes is a lovely film. Ian McKellen did a fantastic job of the role in this gentle, amusing, poignant and sometimes sad movie. At the age of 93, Holmes is slowly succumbing to old age and forgetfulness but is struggling to write up one last case, the one which made him decide to retire.

It's a cleverly told story using flashbacks to the case. The supporting cast is superb - Laura Linney is wonderful as Holmes' housekeeper - and many of the big name actors only make a surprisingly brief appearance.

As a fanfic writer, I got really annoyed when they came up with a twist on the Doyle canon which I only wish I had thought of myself! It's not a major spoiler but if anyone's planning to go see the film, don't highlight the whited-out bit below:

In one of the flashbacks it's revealed that Holmes and Watson never lived at 221B Baker Street, but in the house directly over the road. Watson gave the wrong address in his stories to keep gawpers and unwanted potential clients away from their own front door.
Also, as my friend pointed out, in his story The Empty House, Watson effectively said to the world, "The house over the road from 221B is scary and full of assassins, so avoid it!"

There were a couple of strange red herrings in the storyline which I wasn't certain about, but might work better on a second viewing.

It's a lovely film. I recommend it. Take tissues - you'll need them.

Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly will play Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson respectively in Holmes and Watson, a comedic spin on the great detective.

Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYoerEu-_yI



Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon is the fourth in the Rathbone-Bruce film series.


Intriguing scenario of Holmes encountering Moriarty during World War II and the latter's intentions for the said secret weapon.
Neat trick that Holmes pulls on Moriarty towards the end.

Sherlock Holmes Faces Death:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rwz_8DhZGCE

Sherlock Holmes Faces Death is the sixth movie in the Rathbone-Bruce series.
Good mystery of a movie including the significance of the human chess game and how it helped Holmes solved the case and identified the perpetrator.

Holmes and Watson will be released on August 3 2018.

The Hound of London:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRoMGMsonU4

The Hound of London is a TV movie released in 1993 starring Patrick Macnee.
After playing a mental secret agent who believed that he was Sherlock Holmes in the Magnum P.I. episode Holmes Is Where the Heart Is as well as playing Dr Watson in three TV movies across two different Sherlock Holmes.
Macnee is quite whimsical in his performance as Holmes and it is not a bad case on murders that relates to the production of a play and the revelation of why the play was central to the story.

Saw the movie The Best House In London (1969) and there was a scene in which there were two people whom the viewer believed to be Holmes and Watson played by Peter Jeffrey and Thorley Walters respectively.
The Jeffrey character made a deduction but was soon proved wrong by a passer-by.
Frustratingly the Jeffrey character said that he was not Sherlock Holmes!
Whilst the Jeffrey character stated explicitly that he was not Sherlock Holmes, there was no on-screen confirmation that Walters was playing Watson.
Walters however did play Watson explicitly in Sherlock Holmes and the Deadly Necklace (1962) and subsequent to The Best House In London, in The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother & Silver Blaze.
None of these three other movies feature Jeffrey as Holmes as each of them has a different Holmes.

Noticed a new cast member for Holmes and Watson that of Scarlet Grace as Pickle.

The House of Fear:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwWRuyp7E6E

The House of Fear is a Sherlock Holmes movie and the tenth in the Rathbone/Bruce film series.
It is loosely based on The Five Orange Pips.
A fascinating movie in which members of a group called The Good Comrades are slowly picked one by one for death after each has received an envelope containing pips.
Pretty good as it all culminates to the denouement and the reason for all of this.

Holmes and Watson preview:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gi8RX9w_mHg

Holmes and Watson has now been delayed to November 9 2018.

Pursuit to Algiers:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2DgG4KWr54

Pursuit to Algiers is the antepenultimate Sherlock Holmes movie in the Rathbone-Bruce film series.
Fascinating case in which Holmes and Watson are assigned to protect a prince during a sea cruise.
When it seems that the villains had one over Holmes it was pretty good on Holmes revealing that the trick was instead on them.

Sherlock Holmes (2010) (full title Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes). Not the Downey/Law movie released in 2009; this was a much cheaper film probably commissioned in the light of the excitement about the pending big movie and BBC series. I first saw this on the TV a couple of years ago but switched off after the first few minutes. Ben Syder was totally miscast at Holmes, IMO. He neither looked nor sounded like what I expected to be a version of the detective and so I couldn’t get interested in the film. However, it was shown again last night and this time I sat through it, but was still so annoyed by Holmes that I was mostly playing games on my phone while listening to the dialogue and only looked up to the TV screen occasionally. And when I did look up, I sometimes found myself wondering whether I had accidentally changed channel to an episode of Primeval, what with the raptor and the dragon rampaging around London!

I spent the whole movie thinking that the actor who played Watson looked familiar but it wasn’t until later, when I looked up the film, that I realised he was Gareth David-Lloyd, better known to most as Ianto Jones from Torchwood!

There was a long (very long) scene of Watson reluctantly climbing down the side of a cliff which seemed to have no eventual relevance to the story. It was round about this time that the over-the-top dramatic backing music started to get on my nerves, and it continued to annoy me for the rest of the film.

Because I wasn’t playing proper attention to the film, it wasn’t until I read the wiki this morning that I realised that Holmes’ brother was called Thorpe and not Mycroft. With the revelation that Holmes’ full name was Robert Sherlock, I don’t know whether we were intended to assume that the brother’s name was either Thorpe Mycroft or Mycroft Thorpe. But there’s never (to the best of my knowledge) been any other version of the stories where Sherlock’s brother was a police inspector.
I wonder whether the revelation that ‘Sherlock’ wasn’t his first name was the inspiration for the TV show’s similar revelation in series 3.

All in all, I did not enjoy this film, and I don’t think I would have liked it better if I had actually been paying attention. It was ludicrously over-the-top, the backing music was irritating and the casting was dubious.

Oh, is this the Asylum movie? I think I saw it a while back. Yeah the mechanical beasties were odd. Asylum is known as a studio that makes "mockbusters".

I would suspect the movie started off as a completely different project and got rewritten to call it Sherlock Holmes.

Yes, that's the one. It really didn't feel Holmesian at any time; in fact it barely felt Victorian at times. I know that Conan Doyle famously told someone (I think it was a playwright who was planning a new play) that 'you can do anything you want with Sherlock Holmes,' but I doubt even he would have been happy with this!

1994 Baker Street: Sherlock Holmes Returns:
1994 Baker Street: Sherlock Holmes Returns is a TV movie in which Sherlock Holmes to the then contemporary times of 1994.
Starring Anthony Higgins as Holmes and Debrah Farentino as Amy Winslow.
Higgins had curiously played Professor Moriarty in the 1985 movie Young Sherlock Holmes.
The premise of 1994 Baker Street: Sherlock Holmes Returns incidentally is similar to the 1987 TV movie The Return of Sherlock Holmes but it is still a different story.
1994 Baker Street: Sherlock Holmes Returns instead has Holmes coming up agaiinst Moriarty’s descendants.

I like the 1959 Hammer version of Hound Of The Baskervilles.

Peter Cushing is good as Sherlock Holmes and we see Christopher Lee play a nice guy for a change (he plays Henry Baskerville.

Some characters are merged, others eliminated.

I watch this every October, as Halloween approaches.