Who is your favorite Sherlock Holmes?

Although he was out of the Army by the time this one was accepted into service, I like to think of Watson's service revolver as a Webley Mark II. (Just because I like it's looks and size). Given the huge pockets in a period great coat, I'm sure Watson would have no trouble concealing a Mark VI every time Holmes asked him to "bring along your service revolver." Strange that Holmes didn't invest in one for himself. IIRC, he always took "his stick" along.
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Edited to add:
Come to think of it, I vaguely recall seeing Dr. Watson with a big revolver (Webley Mk VI ?) in the Granada series. (Possibly in "The Hound of the Baskervilles" ?) Looking online I couldn't find such an image. But I did find Jeremy Brett holding what could be (?) a Mk II. I may have a new Windows Background Image ...
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And a period illustration of Watson in action: an artist's concept of his service revolver (The barrel seems to have some droop. Perhaps he was firing some really hot reloads and the barrel started to melt ? :(
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les.b said:
Cyrano:

Notice that the introduction to your 1930 Complete Holmes was penned by Christopher Morley. He was one of the founders of the "Baker Street Irregulars", a group of literati who were ardent scholars of the "Canon", or the Holmes stories. Here (center) he is seen with fellow members, the one he is facing is member Rex Stout, who penned the enormously popular Nero Wolfe novels, (which I happen to be rereading for the umpteenth time right now)!!


Another member was Watchdog's muse, Dorothy Parker, who was one of the very few females admitted to the "Irregulars", IIRC.

Edit: I believe that William S. Baring-Gould, the author of "The Annotated Sherlock Holmes", was also a member of the "Irregulars".

Best Regards, Les
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Thanks, Les. Great photo. Wouldn't you like to have sat in on one of their meetings and just listened?!?!

Some of the Sherlock Holmes clubs had very inventive names; I remember one that was called "The Speckled Band".
 
Rathbone was the first Holmes that I remember, so he is one I always associate with the role. The BBC series with Brett is likely the definitive Holmes. The most entertaining are Christopher Plumber and Robert Downy. Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee were OK. I regret not having an opportunity to see William Gillette play the part on stage - but I did get to tour his home in CT a few years back.
 
My sons like the Robert Downy version, and while I like Downy, and think he is a pretty good actor, despite his life problems, he suffers the fate of many would be Holmes portrayers thrust into the wrong era. In order for a believable Holmes, we need all of the ephemera of the late Victorian, early Edwardian England, and most especially the London of the times. The horse drawn vehicles, the clothes, the atmosphere, the fog, interior decoration, firearms, all provide for the actor to be Holmes.

BTW, any of you who have been to London should have visited the Sherlock Holmes Museum in Baker Street, ostensibly at the same street address, 221B Baker Street, as the stories. They had to juggle the rest of the numbers on the street, but made it come out right!! Across the street is the Sherlock Holmes Pub, or some similar name....its been a few years since I've been there.

THE SHERLOCK HOLMES MUSEUM - THE OFFICIAL HOME OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

Best Regards, Les
 
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Cyrano said:
Thanks, Les. Great photo. Wouldn't you like to have sat in on one of their meetings and just listened?!?!

Some of the Sherlock Holmes clubs had very inventive names; I remember one that was called "The Speckled Band".
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You touched on why I dislike and seldom read the Holmes stories. "The Speckled Band" was a krait. Why Doyle thought that snake could be trained or would drink milk from a saucer baffles me. He wasn't realistic, and many of the stories are just too unbelievable.

I like the PREMISE of his, "The Lost World" and was a big fan of the TV show of the title, made in Australia from 1999-2002. It changed the natures of some characters and added some women and made the show far more interesting than was the original book.

And the TV show even did a pretty good job of getting the guns right. They did move it from 1912 to 1919-1922.

Did anyone else here like that syndicated program? It's on YouTube now, but some presentations are in framed box format and cut off some of the screen. Fan clips and videos are impressive. One of the best has Finn dubbed in German and one has Veronica dubbed in Russian.

Usually, a book is better than its screen treatments. With Doyle, the TV shows and films tend to be better.

My favorite Victorian novel is, "King Solomon's Mines", originally published in 1883. I like the heroes better than Doyle's, and the author knew guns a LOT better. He was Sir Henry Rider Haggard.
Read the book. It's great high adventure. I think it's still in print or can be easily found on the used book market.

His later volume, "She" was probably better enjoyed as a movie, which starred Ursula Andress.
 
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TS:

One of the old books shops that I used to frequent went out of business a few years ago, and they were selling everything dirt cheap. One of the sets that I bought was the complete works of H. Rider Haggard. I already had several of his works, but now have pretty much everything he wrote. They also had a set of Richard Harding Davis, another writer from that era that I enjoy. I picked up several other "Complete Works" type sets at their sale, all of these were old hardbound contemporary volumes. Fun reading.

Best Regards, Les
 
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Basil Rathbone defined and crafted the character. All others failed miserably and in my opinion, only managed to embarrass themselves. And Nigel Bruce did the same with the Dr. Watson character. The ensuing chemistry between them is totally lost with all other actors, again, just my opinion.
 
Another ZOMBIE thread! In addition to all of the great movie and TV versions, for those of us who listen to XM radio. They regularly play several great versions of Holmes with some of the great actors of the 30s and 40s, truly the theater of the mind!
 
ExcitableBoy said:
Jeremy Brett (PBS) is the DEFINITIVE Holmes! He could express volumes with the smallest twitch of the lip, or slightly raised eyebrow. The most intelligent portrayal on any screen.
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Beat me to it by a mile and a half. I have been watching some of them on you tube the last couple of weeks.

I also like the Inspector Frost series on you tube.
 
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Put me in the Jeremy Brett camp. It's hard to believe that the same actor who played the dissipated Holmes also played the callow, foppish Freddie in My Fair Lady. Below is his most famous scene in that movie. Too bad his voice was dubbed. By all accounts, he was a pretty good singer. Quite a talent overall.

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KeybnI6OJMQ[/ame]
 
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