Article title: THE CASE-BOOK OF SHERLOCK
Author: CHRISTOPH HUBER
Source: Cinema Scope Magazine
Translated by James/Proofreader: E-Yum, Feather
6. The Adventures of a Whitechapel Murderer
a) A Study in Terror (1965)
Stills from A Study in Terror (1965).
The appearance of the infamous Jack the Ripper has injected fresh blood into Sherlock Holmes, the most popular character on the movie screen over the past decade. England at the time was shrouded in several unsolved murder mysteries (Conan Doyle boldly hypothesized that Jack the Ripper might be a woman), and James Hill's then-fashionable and brilliant thriller A Study in Terror used the riots caused by the case to add a plot of class conflict to the film: protesters saw an opportunity in the Ripper's Blood Case. Even the extreme poverty in the Whitechapel area has made the headlines of the usually indifferent media. The real culprit behind the killings remains the fallen aristocrats—the kind of plot that combines the usual passages of the Ripper films is still applied for the first time in Sherlock Holmes films, rules that originated in Alfred Hitchcock's youthful work The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog (1927) and was followed by John Brahm's gripping film The Tenant. (The Lodger, 1944) rose to baroque feria and eventually rose to perfection in Hugo Fregonese's elaborate Man in the Attic (1953), which was modeled after Marie Belloc Lowndes' important novels written in 1913.
The film was slammed for being too wide and the cameras were too bloody — a two-minute long shot of Jack the Ripper approaching an unsuspecting, charming female victim at the scene of a murder that still seems creepy to this day — but there's a reason for it. Holmes often wonders how much he loses the evil side when he chooses the right side, and the audience is doting on Holmes's two-sided sex, and the violent scene interprets this concept in another way. John Neville gave Sherlock a terrifying charm beyond the ordinary, which he used in a skyscraper fire that was almost impossible to escape, and managed to escape. Three years ago in Deadly Necklace, Moriarty hid a sword in his crutches, and now Holmes can deftly use the ripper's equipment. A sentence Watson said while laughing confirmed the incident: "There is nothing compared to a dagger, right, Holmes?" ”
b) Murder by Decree (1979)
Stills from Murder by Decree (1979).
Bob Clark's masterpiece Midnight Murder replaces a simple trick in The Study of Horror with the "Whitechapel Murder" conspiracy theory, which was then carefully conceived by Stephen Knight (which is also the prototype for 2001's From Hell), inserts several viewpoint shots of 70s horror films in the middle of a well-made old-fashioned Holmes film, and ends in a clever reversal; In contrast to the complexity and variability of Watson played by James Mason, the detective played by Christopher Plummer has become a beacon of humanity. In the film directed by Clarke, the actors' acting skills are amazing. In particular, when Holmes, who knows everything but is unskilled, confronts the calm defenders of the state, this tense and exciting suspense climax is the most intense conflict in Sherlock Holmes's film ever. The parts that could not be expressed in Fisher's The Hound of the Baskervilles (1959) are thoroughly presented here, piercing the hearts of the audience.
7． The adventures of a comedic liar
They Might Be Giants (1971)
Stills from They Might Be Giants (1971).
Billy Wilder's "The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes" (1970) is also concise and sincere—not comparable to Fedora (1978) but his best film—which heralded Sherlock's revival on the big screen, but was similar to Murder by Midnight Decree) suffered a fiasco at the box office. Gene sarcastically named he as Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother (1975), (sorry, not intended to offend Marty Feldman's fans), heralding the dawn of the parody era, during which Herbert Ross and Nicholas Lee announced the dawn of the parody era, during which Herbert Ross and Nicholas Lee had been killed. Nicolas Meyer's botched Sherlock Holmes-Freud mash-up film The Seven-Per-Cent Solution (1976) was all the rage. (Let's silently skip Peter Cook and Dudley Moore for the regrettable comedy Hound, which reunited in 1978 after 11 years of bedazzled's success.)
The most interesting treatment of the Sherlock Holmes genre of the decade was Anthony Harvey's masterpiece They Might Be Giants, a bizarre tragicomedy unrelated to the Sherlock Holmes character about a judge whose spirit was mentally insane (George W. Bush). George C. Scott), claiming to be Sherlock Holmes. Nervous, he was always searching for absurd and subtle clues related to Moriarty. His unscrupulous brother places him in a mental hospital, where his fate unexpectedly changes when he first meets his "Watson", Mildred Watson (Joanne Woodward), his psychiatrist.
Although the film is not very successful, the film's delicate and true interpretation of human weaknesses by the main actors still allows Harvey's film to convey the oppressive and crazy charm of the trend of the times. Having Holmes the male protagonist in a mild anti-authority farce is the film's deviant cuteness, just as in Without a Clue (1988), michael Caine's character hired by Watson to impersonate Sherlock Holmes is also a new attempt to make the audience feel that the detective has a different side than the highly respected stereotype.
Stills from The Man Who Was Sherlock Holmes (1937).
Another film that caused considerable repercussions was Karl Hartl's The Man Who Was Sherlock Holmes (1937), which seems lighthearted and enjoyable even now. In the play, German superstars Hans Albers and Heinz Rühmann were unlucky enough to make things bigger while pretending to be Sherlock Holmes and Watson. (And the hotel guest who was hysterical while closely watching the action turned out to be Conan Doyle himself.) It is said to be one of two films found in Hitler's bunker: the other is Carl Lamac's The Hound of the Baskervilles (Der Hund von Baskerville, 1937).
8. Impressions of unity in the former Soviet Union
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson (1980)
As a successful example of leningrad film studios' global film series, Igor Maslennikov's Sherlock Holmes series is recognized as the work closest to the essence of the original work. Although the series faithfully recreates the world constructed in Conan Doyle's book, it still retains the director's unique wisdom and maintains just the right fascinating distance from the original. For example, Lestrade's exaggerated walking and his puppy (who is destined to suffer misfortune during the investigation) or the clever design of a divination game as the beginning. In the first part of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson (1979), the puzzling habits of Watson's (Vitali Solomin) new roommate make him suspicious, and by investigating Watson, he concludes that Holmes (Vasili Livanov) may be Moriarty's conclusion. And holmes's usual tone of voice to explain his inference. Finally, a boxing match resolves the duo's conflict, and the choice of boxing match shows the director's full interpretation of the unique friendship between Conan Doyle's duo, interspersed with the stunning debut of the loyal and simple landlady Mrs. Hudson (Rina Zelyonaya, who is one of the best).
Stills from The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson
Masrennikov's elaborate classical rhythm is the ideal match for Conan Doyle's unhurried, clear style: the timing is just right, while maintaining the momentum of the plot's slow progression. The Soviet series of stories was harmonious and fluid in its selection and reorganization of the original story (which was never a long item in the history of Sherlock Cinema), and the Trilogy of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson was particularly well done, with the famous Case of Charles August Milverton as the Last Case. (The Final Problem) and "The Empty House" logic line laying. From Holmes and Watson putting on masks to break into Moriarty's underworld (Viktor Yevgrafov's "Spider-Man" figure concretizes the metaphor of Moriarty at the center of the criminal network in the original book), it progresses to The Leisinbach Falls, to Holmes's resurrection. The plot treatment after "Sherlock Holmes's Death" reveals several deliberate changes in the Soviet version based on the original: the camera does not focus too much on Watson, but gives the stage to a desperate and depressing supporting character - thanks to Holmes, the "only person who gives him respect", Moriarty embarked on the road of rehabilitation from a criminal. Given that episodes such as Holmes's cocaine use still fail to pass censorship by the Soviet government, these positive rewrites are certainly strongly supported.
The charm of the Maslennikov series lies in the special relationship between Sherlock Holmes and Watson (the crux of Wilder's version is that he can only conceive of eccentric partners, so Jack Lemmon's own misconstruced ideas are imposed on poor Watson). There's a reason Holmes and Watson both appear in the title, and aggressive doctors can enjoy the same treatment, just without his friend's extraordinary reasoning ability. (This could also be interpreted as a hint of ironic self-deprecation in Watson, as the presenter, hidden behind his overly submissive behavior.) Livanov and Solomin, like Rathbone and Bruce, are outstanding combinations, and the seamless combination between the two plays a decisive role in the success of the film.
Two more stories were brought directly to the big screen: 1981's Hound in The Hound of The Barqueville (in which Nikita Mikhalkov joined the supporting cast of Soviet stars as the comical and feminine Henry Baskerville; he should have played the role of Moriarty in hindsight) and "The Treasures of Agra" 1933), the film elaborately echoes The Sign of Four and A Scandal in Bohemia. The 20th Century Approaches (1985) is the most moving reenactment of the more detached Sherlock Holmes of the late period, and the looming of the First World War heralds a new era: "Old England has faded from memory, and Holmes and Dr. Watson have withdrawn from the stage of history." Accompanying the credits on the big screen are marching military bands and video footage of cities destroyed by war.
9. A case about identity
The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes (1994)
On the one hand, there were attempts to rejuvenate Holmes for commercial purposes in the 1980s—neither Disney's The Great Mouse Detective nor the "Spielberg"-style Young Sherlock Holmes (1985) did not live up to the standards of past works—on the other hand, with the exception of Maslennikov's work and Ian's In addition to the two TV movies in which Richardson participated that were faithful to the original book, another TV series that was close to the character archetype appeared. With Granada TELEVISION's The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1984), Jeremy Brett became the iconic icon of the new Sherlock Holmes, who was fully (especially in search of clues) and devoted himself to the role, "The most challenging role I've ever played, It's more difficult than Hamlet or Macbeth. "Aware of the similarities between his temperament and Holmes's, Brett, who is sometimes manic and sometimes depressed, indulges in the role and becomes deeply involved in the role, causing his mental condition to take a sharp turn." At first, Holmes became the dark side of my personality, and gradually 'he' even replaced the original self. Although highly regarded for his superb acting skills (slightly inferior to the time-out episode in The Last Case in which Moriarty steals the Mona Lisa), in the following seasons, Brett's over-obsession with the character and deteriorating health caused the series to fall to a low point; the effects of drug treatment were revealed. The originality of his performance: the odd posture, the hearty laughter, and the dramatic tension of the role of Holmes eventually became pretentious, but Brett persevered, completing 42 adventure shoots by 1994, but died of heart failure in 1995. In The Mazarin Stone, the penultimate episode of The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, he appears only twice in front of the camera (the rest was taken over by his brothers Michael Loft and Watson), but perhaps the most frightening is the second episode, The Dying Detective.
Stills from The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes (1994).
Even with the addition of Charlton Heston as an elderly detective, the '90s and '0s were still a prolific but disastrous time for Holmes (although snatched up by William Shatner's wig, Stewart Granger's performance in the inferior 1972 TV series Hound) is worth mentioning.) Charlton's son, Fraser Clarke Heston, directed By The Crucifer of Blood (1991), came to the fore for an equally old Watson (Richard Johnson; Brett worked with Charlton Heston in 1980 and played Sherlock Holmes and Watson, respectively). This makes Watson's love line seem absurd as a sub-plot unfolding, and then the plot undergoes a subversive reversal. Even more ambitious was the BBC series Murder Rooms: The Dark Beginnings of Sherlock Holmes (2000), which assigned cases to Conan Doyle, who was still a student, and james Bell, an important mentor at the University of Edinburgh. The first episode of the series also features a wonderful scene of a donkey.
10. Great modern version
Sherlock (2010-?)
Stills from Sherlock
The BBC has not had a particularly brilliant Sherlock Holmes work for the past 20 years, but compared to the recently released shoddy film version of Sherlock Holmes, mark Gatiss (who also plays the extraordinary Mike Croft) and Steven Moffat's new BBC modern version of Sherlock has undoubtedly become a guarantee of ratings. Opening with the Battlefield of Afghanistan in a shaky shot, "Sherlock" begins with a subversive appeal, showing the perfect Sherlock Holmes logical theme in people's minds. The series is well-made, and its brilliance is not only the rational integration of Watson's military experience (originally the Second Anglo-Afghan War) into the modern setting, but also, more excitingly, leaving aside the established impression of Holmes in the past, the play truly reproduces his various personality traits. Brilliant but terrifying, arrogant and aggressive, narcissistic and opinionated, Sherlock's ironic sense of humor does not relax and is more of an offensive weapon, and his passion makes him reckless— the series allows an undercurrent of almost morbid obsession with Holmes to sweep the screen again. It was a gorgeous and astute transformation by Benedict Cumberbatch, shaping an image of British Sherlock's arrogant and alert in the context of contemporary society. Similarly, the meek and humble character of Watson, played by Martin Freeman, was deliberately diluted—and when he couldn't wait to investigate, he confronted his deep desire for war. (Andrew Scott's Moriarty, however, speaks like a clown with a monotonous and ambiguous rhythm, most striking in his reinterpretation of the original characters.) ）
Equally prominent is the show's downright modern style, reflected in its witty, lively, and exciting lines and filming methods. Compare the premiere of A Study in Pink with the internal pilot version, and it's fortunate that Paul McGuigan finally changed his mind and added to the exaggerated styling and radical driver (the fast device best matches Holmes's fiery personality). Director McQuegen's 4 episodes are the most intense, handled in segments, interspersed with a large number of high-speed dialogue and slow-motion shots interspersed in the series as a mystery reveal or unexpected expansion. This insertion perfected Sherlock's reinvention in the computer age: Holmes was a loyal user of the telegraph in the original book, and he was proficient in words, and he then learned the wonders of the telephone—Cumberbatch naturally favored text messages and Internet searches; Watson's way of recording cases became blogs. Like the original book that quotes the canonical title (the adaptation of the play is more comical), everything in the new version of the series does not feel very postmodern. It was a project that might have been seen as "Weird Baker Street," but now it's about "fan tribute." Similarly, this contemporary Sherlock Holmes does not feel unnatural: it not only logically reshapes the character of Sherlock, but also contains the worries that he has to face as an ordinary person living in the present. The Hounds of the Baskerville is a source of military experimentation (though dartmoor's topography owes it to the German romantic painters as a tribute to Fisher's version), and the terrorist attacks and conspiracies that pervade every corner of life remind us that anyone other than Holmes, once in power, can become a paranoid lunatic. As Watson puts it in The Veiled Lodger, Sherlock's materials "are a wealthy treasure trove for students who study crime, even researchers of social and official scandals in the late Victorian era." ”
The plot has always been witty (in non-smoking London, the "three-pipe conundrum" has become "the conundrum of three nicotine patches", And Holmes's brazenly provocative style has always been consistent – the naked Buckingham Palace prank merely declared that he was more cinematic than Irene Adle – Sherlock finds an exciting balance between presenting the crystallization of modern wisdom and understanding of the glamour of the original book. This is evidenced by Holmes's quiet resistance to the attraction of the opposite sex and the indestructible friendship between him and Watson, as we are familiar with. Although it seems that Holmes has never learned lessons, Moffat and Gatis realize that they can only let him grow in the challenge, so after successfully creating an ambiguous protagonist in the first season, the two continue to develop the storyline of the second season based on this character. In the 90 minutes of each of the latest three episodes of the television film, Holmes always reveals weaknesses where he considers himself invulnerable: corresponding attacks on his emotions, his powers of observation, and even his identity. The Reichenbach Fall takes this quarter's discussion of the shift in today's media to the extreme, just as Moriarty turned "The Great Game" upside down and misinterpreted What Holmes said in The Six Napoleons: "Media, Watson, if you know how to use it, it's the most valuable institution." True to Conan Doyle's original words, this season's finale should have been another exciting showdown.
But that's not the end. The lethal game will continue.