I can't really see myself posting something every single day for 30 days, but at the very least it won't be too difficult to post more often than I have recently
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That's a brilliant meme! And I suppose it doesn't matter if you do the 30 days in interval of several months...
I must admit I haven't watched the Cushing episodes yet, even though I've heard people liked them a lot. And since your review sounds very good, too, and you say they're on youtube, I guess I don't have an excuse for not having watched them anymore... ;-)
Nice drawings, too! :-)
I'll have to think about obscure adaptations. I feel I must have watched one or the other, but I can't remember any from the top of my head apart from the very popular ones. Do they have to be film adaptations? Or are your looking for pastiche books as well?
Well, considering how many actors have played Holmes, I certainly have enough to keep me going for thirty days. (The challenge is getting hold of recordings! In fact, I expect many of the actors who played Holmes have been lost forever in the mists of time…)
Pastiche books would be fun too. I haven't read very many of them. The problem is that those few I have read were not nearly as good as the best fanfic! And there's radio plays too. In fact, while writing this I suddenly remembered seeing a Hörspiel series with Christian Rode and Peter Kroeger being highly recommended years ago on a mailing list. (That's the good thing about mailing lists. I was able to go back and find the details just now. I'd never have been able to dig up a half-remembered comment somewhere on livejournal!) So have you in fact read some good pastiches? I'm definitely interested!
Good idea! I only know Cushing's Holmes from the 1959 Hammer version of Hound, which, cheesy as it inevitably was, I enjoyed and was probably the first onscreen SH I ever saw.
I'm definitely adding that one to my list, especially since Tripleransom tells me it also features Christopher Lee, whom I adore - and the cheesier the better!
BBC 'lost' some wonderful TV from the 60's. Kenilworth with Jeremy Brett (OMG, he's Tresilian) and Dorian Gray (OMG, he's Dorian!) for example.
I, too, know Peter Cushing's Holmes only from his HOUN, which I greatly enjoyed, even though Christopher Lee was waaay over the top.
As far as other versions go, I adore Ronald Howard as Holmes and H. Marion Crawford as Watson in the 1954 TV series "Sherlock Holmes". You can pick up the complete series for a few bucks on Amzon or Ebay.
It's black and white, they are saddled with some atrocious scripts (some are pretty good, though), and each episode is only 26 minutes long, which doesn't allow for much plot development, but the chemistry between H&W is great and it's plain they had a lot of fun making it. The Royal Murder, in which they have a wonderful fencing match done in one continuous take, is my favorite episode.
Your description makes me very keen to give the Ronald Howard series a go. Atrocious scripts not necessarily a problem! Particularly if there's exuberance and good chemistry to make up for it.
Glancing through the episode titles makes me suspect that most of them are NOT based on canonical stories, which intrigues me too. I do like adaptations that are faithful to the story they're based on -- but I'd also love to watch some Holmes where I don't know precisely how it's all going to end!
Many of the eps have some canonical basis. Sheldon Reynolds had to be very conscious of copyright restrictions; hence the titles don't reflect canon, but many of them have at least a nod in its direction. For example, the first episode is a re-do of the meeting scene in Study in Scarlet, which then segues into the Musgrave Ritual - sort of.
Some of the episodes are completely off the beaten track, though. Wait until you see the one with the cowgirl from the Wild West Show. (Worst. Episode. Ever.) However, some of them are surprisingly enjoyable. I'll be interested to hear what you think of them!
No, the Rathbone version is not the most obscure of adaptations :) but I don't actually know it all that well. I don't remember it being that great, but I'm looking forward to taking another look!
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I must admit I haven't watched the Cushing episodes yet, even though I've heard people liked them a lot. And since your review sounds very good, too, and you say they're on youtube, I guess I don't have an excuse for not having watched them anymore... ;-)
Nice drawings, too! :-)
I'll have to think about obscure adaptations. I feel I must have watched one or the other, but I can't remember any from the top of my head apart from the very popular ones. Do they have to be film adaptations? Or are your looking for pastiche books as well?
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Pastiche books would be fun too. I haven't read very many of them. The problem is that those few I have read were not nearly as good as the best fanfic! And there's radio plays too. In fact, while writing this I suddenly remembered seeing a Hörspiel series with Christian Rode and Peter Kroeger being highly recommended years ago on a mailing list. (That's the good thing about mailing lists. I was able to go back and find the details just now. I'd never have been able to dig up a half-remembered comment somewhere on livejournal!) So have you in fact read some good pastiches? I'm definitely interested!
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I, too, know Peter Cushing's Holmes only from his HOUN, which I greatly enjoyed, even though Christopher Lee was waaay over the top.
As far as other versions go, I adore Ronald Howard as Holmes and H. Marion Crawford as Watson in the 1954 TV series "Sherlock Holmes". You can pick up the complete series for a few bucks on Amzon or Ebay.
It's black and white, they are saddled with some atrocious scripts (some are pretty good, though), and each episode is only 26 minutes long, which doesn't allow for much plot development, but the chemistry between H&W is great and it's plain they had a lot of fun making it. The Royal Murder, in which they have a wonderful fencing match done in one continuous take, is my favorite episode.
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Glancing through the episode titles makes me suspect that most of them are NOT based on canonical stories, which intrigues me too. I do like adaptations that are faithful to the story they're based on -- but I'd also love to watch some Holmes where I don't know precisely how it's all going to end!
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Some of the episodes are completely off the beaten track, though. Wait until you see the one with the cowgirl from the Wild West Show. (Worst. Episode. Ever.) However, some of them are surprisingly enjoyable. I'll be interested to hear what you think of them!
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I was raised on the Rathbone ones, but that version isn't exactly obscure. :)
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