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Post by Eddie Love on Sept 5, 2009 17:51:17 GMT -5
...the new Sherlock Holmes movie how 'bout a Holmes potpourri of your guys favorites? I know you must have a few, what with Cushing's Hammer effort and the odd Christopher Lee German ones. Or Study in Terror and Murder by Decree, two separate takes on Holmes vs. The Ripper. (I hope this Guy Ritchie picture is good -- I love Downey Jr. I just fear it'll fall into one my least favorite genres -- the anachronistic period action adventure picture (see Wild Wild, West and Van Helsing -- or better yet -- don't.))
Or as we await The Wolfman re-boot, which I think looks cool and is directed by the guy who did Rocketeer which I know we all love, perhaps a lookback at some prior entries. You mentioned doing the Universal series, but I'd love someone to survey all 8 of The Howling movies (so I don't have to.)
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Post by Derrick on Sept 5, 2009 21:53:48 GMT -5
You wanna know what was my first thought when I saw the trailer for the new SHERLOCK HOLMES movie? That this was the Holmes and Watson from "Young Sherlock Holmes" all grown up. Robert Downey Jr. and Jude law do resemble the young actors from that movie a lot to my eye.
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Post by Eddie Love on Sept 5, 2009 23:28:35 GMT -5
That's funny -- the only time I ever remember seeing the guy who played young Sherlock was when he showed up as one of the stoners in Ritchie's Lock Stock. I loved YSH when it came out, but have been afraid to re-visit it in case it doesn't hold up.
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Post by james on Sept 8, 2009 9:46:12 GMT -5
This is an obvious choice, but I'll go for Granada Television's The Sign of Four, with Jeremy Brett as Holmes, as a favorite. Although the menu screen on the DVD spoils part of the mystery for anyone watching who doesn't know the story (blah).
I'm also partial to the Hammer Hound of the Baskervilles you mentioned, and the Basil Rathbone/Nigel Bruce films.
I haven't seen Murder by Decree yet, but I've heard great things about it.
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Post by Eddie Love on Sept 8, 2009 19:13:19 GMT -5
I'll have to check that Sot4 out of my library, as that's my favorite Holmes novel. (There was another loose, but flavorful translation in the 90s on cable with a too old Charlton Heston.) So many people love Jeremy Brett, but there's just something about him that annoys me. Perhaps because that series never worked for me, I thought it lacked atmosphere and never had a point-of-view. Maybe I'm way off, I'm definately gonna re-visit.
I wish there had been other Hammer entries with Cushing! The Hound is amusing what with Christopher Lee as essentially the juvenile lead. And I love the physicality that Cushing brings to Holmes, just as he did to Van Helsing and other roles in his prime. He's thrilling to watch as he throws himself around the set like he's Douglas Fairbanks Sr. People think of him as a tweedy Brit, but he must have been an amazing athlete. He's like Cagney in that he's someone who you can enjoy just watching them move.
Murder By Decree is interesting as it's the first film to get the details of the Ripper murders right and not just invoke him as some kind of bogeyman. James Mason is Watson and does a buffoonish take, but one of his scenes is simply hilarious.
Another picture that's very interesting is Billy Wilder's The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes. The final version of this doesn't really work, but if you take the time to view all the DVD extras they help you string together Wilder's very ambitious take on the character. You have to read script pages and listen to bits of soundtrack while watching stills. But the 3 hour roadshow epic he was trying for would have blended humor along with bittersweet vignettes. It's a really interesting curio.
Finally, I'm working my why through the 70s series The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes from Netflix. This frustrated the crap out of me as I kid because I couldn't understand how they could have Holmes' name in the show's title without him appearing in the stories. This anthology series is pretty dated with wildly variable performances and difficult to watch if you're not engaged in some other activity. But what's most interesting is that many of these detectives from magazine stories of the late 19th century, were really anti-heroic. Several are essentially criminals. And they get away with it! I never would have figured that these stories, some of which appeared in the same Strand Magazine as Holmes would have so much in common with later American crime writing in books like Black Mask.
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Post by Derrick on Sept 11, 2009 21:03:10 GMT -5
I'll have to check that Sot4 out of my library, as that's my favorite Holmes novel. (There was another loose, but flavorful translation in the 90s on cable with a too old Charlton Heston.) So many people love Jeremy Brett, but there's just something about him that annoys me. Perhaps because that series never worked for me, I thought it lacked atmosphere and never had a point-of-view. Maybe I'm way off, I'm definately gonna re-visit. That's THE CRUCIFER OF BLOOD you're thinking of. I remember seeing it years ago on either TNT or TBS. Much as I like Charlton Heston he wasn't a memorable Holmes. I'm surprised nobody's mentioned Frank Langella's SHERLOCK HOLMES movie which was based on a stage play and made for HBO. He was pretty good, I thought. Better than Mr. Heston.
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Post by Eddie Love on Sept 22, 2009 21:47:15 GMT -5
Not only was Langella a terrific Holmes, to my mind he's the definitive Zorro! He did a made for TV remake in the 70s that was superb with a hot young Anne Archer and a great villainous Ricardo Montalban. Not as good a film as the 20th Century Fox one with Ty Power, but Langella was soooo great -- his foppish scenes were a riot! Plus, If you ever get a chance to see him onstage you should, he owns the stage. (Although I found his Nixon very disappointing and wildly overrated in the film.)
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Post by Derrick on Sept 22, 2009 21:55:42 GMT -5
Not only was Langella a terrific Holmes, to my mind he's the definitive Zorro! He did a made for TV remake in the 70s that was superb with a hot young Anne Archer and a great villainous Ricardo Montalban. Not as good a film as the 20th Century Fox one with Ty Power, but Langella was soooo great -- his foppish scenes were a riot! Plus, If you ever get a chance to see him onstage you should, he owns the stage. (Although I found his Nixon very disappointing and wildly overrated in the film.) I do remember that Zorro film. Haven't seen it in years and years. I think it was a virtual shot-for-shot remake of the Tyrone Power classic...they even used the music from that earlier film!
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Post by james on Sept 23, 2009 7:54:12 GMT -5
Maybe this isn't a BITD-ish film, but Langella was excellent in a film last year titled Starting Out in the Evening, where he played an acclaimed novelist whose work is being researched by a young graduate student. (And if you have wondered what happened to Lili Taylor, she's in it, as Langella's daughter). Maybe Langella should have been nominated for this role, but not many people saw it (compared to the Nixon movie, anyway).
Regarding Sign of the Four, back in the early 80's there was a (then) recent film version that HBO ran frequently (about as often as they would show Beastmaster and Turk 182, which is to say heavily). I don't remember what version this was or who was in it, though. I don't think it was the one with Heston. I do remember it was very scary (to a 7 year old, anyway). I love the Jeremy Brett version, but scary it isn't.
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Post by Derrick on Sept 23, 2009 8:59:58 GMT -5
Regarding Sign of the Four, back in the early 80's there was a (then) recent film version that HBO ran frequently (about as often as they would show Beastmaster and Turk 182, which is to say heavily). I don't remember what version this was or who was in it, though. I don't think it was the one with Heston. I do remember it was very scary (to a 7 year old, anyway). I love the Jeremy Brett version, but scary it isn't. I don't think any cable channel showed BEASTMASTER more than Ted Turner's TBS Superstation when it first started. That channel ran BEASTMASTER so often and so much that most said the initials stood for The Beastmaster Station.
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Post by james on Sept 23, 2009 9:10:50 GMT -5
Derrick -
The variation I've heard (from Dennis Miller, when he was actually funny) is "HBO stands for 'Hey, Beastmaster's On!'"
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Post by Erik on Sept 23, 2009 9:41:25 GMT -5
Regarding Sign of the Four, back in the early 80's there was a (then) recent film version that HBO ran frequently (about as often as they would show Beastmaster and Turk 182, which is to say heavily). I don't remember what version this was or who was in it, though. I don't think it was the one with Heston. I do remember it was very scary (to a 7 year old, anyway). I love the Jeremy Brett version, but scary it isn't. I don't think any cable channel showed BEASTMASTER more than Ted Turner's TBS Superstation when it first started. That channel ran BEASTMASTER so often and so much that most said the initials stood for The Beastmaster Station. Didn't TBS do the Beastmaster TV show?
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Post by tombitd on Sept 23, 2009 13:53:43 GMT -5
Didn't TBS do the Beastmaster TV show? I think BEASTMASTER was a synidcated show--although I can certainly understand why we'd think it showed up on Ted Turner's favorite, given that TBS used to stand for 'The BEASTMASTER Station'
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Post by tombitd on Sept 23, 2009 13:56:06 GMT -5
Maybe this isn't a BITD-ish film, but Langella was excellent in a film last year titled Starting Out in the Evening, I think that, at this point, there isn't a film that can be considered 'not a BITD film'...if we can figure out a theme to stick a film in, and/or we feel it'd open up a good discussion, then it's on!
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Post by Eddie Love on Oct 5, 2009 21:40:28 GMT -5
This is an obvious choice, but I'll go for Granada Television's The Sign of Four, with Jeremy Brett as Holmes, as a favorite. Although the menu screen on the DVD spoils part of the mystery for anyone watching who doesn't know the story (blah). Thanks for the tip. I did look at this So4 and while the energy of the production wavered a bit it was very satisfying with a great Jonathan Small by John Thaw and a perfect Mary Morstan. By why no romance with Watson? I thought this series was especially faithful? But most of all, I confess to being an ass! Jeremy Brett is God! When I first saw him in the role (in my defense that was decades ago) I though he was too self-consciously quirky for the part, and I just kind of ignored these. But, he's mesmerizing to watch -- especially when he's doing nothing! The scene where he visits the first brother and just listens and paces around? I could have watched that for hours! He commits so much of his performance to the character's thinking. (Rupert Everett tried something similar in a recent movie that was really good too.)
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