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  1. #286
    Extraordinary Member foxley's Avatar
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    I just watched the 1931 film The Speckled Band, starring a young Raymond Massey as Sherlock Holmes. Massey would later find fame playing Dr. Kildare on television, but is also known to mystery lovers as Jonathan Brewster (the Boris Karloff stand-in) in Arsenic & Old Lace.

    This film is a curiosity. It is mostly a (relatively) faithful adaptation of the story, but seems to be taking place in two different eras. The scenes at the Rylott appear to be set in the Victorian Era, including fashions, while the London is definitely in the 1930s, with Holmes maintaining an office full of state-of-the-art 30s office machinery and a staff of secretaries and stenographers (!). In this sense, the film presages the Basil Rathbone modern era films.

    The acting is a mixed bag. Massey's Holmes feels more Philo Vance than Sherlock. Athole Stewart is a forgettable generic Watson (but no buffoon, so he has that going for him). Angela Baddeley plays Helen Stonor like a rabbit perpetually caught in the headlights. The film's saving grace is Lyn Harding as a superbly villainous and threatening Dr. Grimesby Rylott.

    I can't say I really recommend it, but it is an interesting curio. If not the first Holmes talkie, it must be one of the early ones. And with a running time of just over an hour, it is worth a watch if you have some time to kill and are interested in the evolution of the screen Holmes.

    And your bonus trivia: Raymond Massey was Jeremy Brett's father-in-law. Brett was married to Massey's daughter Anna from 1958 to 1962.
    Last edited by foxley; 01-21-2022 at 04:26 PM.

  2. #287
    Ultimate Member Deathstroke's Avatar
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    Just finished reading A Three Book Problem, the new Sherlock Holmes Bookshop mystery by Vicki Delany yesterday.
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  3. #288
    Uncanny Member MajorHoy's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Deathstroke View Post
    Just finished reading A Three Book Problem, the new Sherlock Holmes Bookshop mystery by Vicki Delany yesterday.
    Thanks for the reminder.
    I had put in a request for a copy at a nearby town's library for my Mom, and checking the library's website it looks like it's available for me to pick up now!

  4. #289
    Old school comic book fan WestPhillyPunisher's Avatar
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    Just started what I now consider as my yearly viewing of the legendary Jeremy Brett Sherlock Holmes series. I’ve probably mentioned this before, but that series NEVER gets old for me.
    Avatar: Here's to the late, great Steve Dillon. Best. Punisher. Artist. EVER!

  5. #290
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    Quote Originally Posted by foxley View Post
    I just what the 1931 film The Speckled Band, starring a young Raymond Massey as Sherlock Holmes. Massey would later find fame playing Dr. Kildare on television, but is also known to mystery lovers as Jonathan Brewster (the Boris Karloff stand-in) in Arsenic & Old Lace.

    . . . And your bonus trivia: Raymond Massey was Jeremy Brett's father-in-law. Brett was married to Massey's daughter Anna from 1958 to 1962.
    Actually, Massey played Dr. Gillespie on the DR. KILDARE series--Richard Chamberlain, of course, played James Kildare.

    Raymond Massey was Canadian. He came from the super-wealthy elite Massey family. They owned the Massey-Harris Tractor Company (which became Massey-Ferguson). There was a saying that there are two kinds of people in Toronto--the masses and the Masseys. While Raymond went into acting, his brother Vincent was a diplomat and became Canada's High Commissioner to the United Kingdom during the war, stationed in London. While he did a lot of good for the war effort in that role, he might have also prevented many Jewish refugees from getting to Canada. Later Vincent was made Governor-General of Canada (our head of state).

    Like so many other great Canadian actors, Raymond distinguished himself by playing characters of various nationalities. In THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL he plays the French Chauvelin. In FIRE OVER ENGLAND, he plays King Philip of Spain. In DESPERATE JOURNEY, he's the Nazi Major Otto Baumeister. And one of his greatest roles was as the title character in ABE LINCOLN IN ILLINOIS (also known as SPIRIT OF THE PEOPLE) for which he gained an Academy Award nomination. Massey had previously played Lincoln on Broadway in the play of the same name. He became so associated with the role that he would appear in public as Honest Abe.

    Raymond Massey did actually get to play a Canadian. He appears as good ol' Andy Brock in 49TH PARALLEL--in a movie where many non-Canadian actors try to play Canadians--Massey's Andy stands out as the most authentic portrayal of a Canadian. It wasn't a big role, but it's my favourite from that movie.

    I did not know he had been Jeremy Brett's father-in-law. That's a new one on me.

    Note that Christopher Plummer, another Canadian, also played Holmes in MURDER BY DECREE. I wonder if William Shatner, Leslie Nielsen or Lorne Greene ever played Sherlock.

  6. #291
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jim Kelly View Post
    Note that Christopher Plummer, another Canadian, also played Holmes in MURDER BY DECREE. I wonder if William Shatner, Leslie Nielsen or Lorne Greene ever played Sherlock.
    I hope that Shatner and Greene never did, because they would have been totally wrong for the role. However, I can imagine that the 6'1" Nielsen might have pulled it off successfully.

  7. #292
    Latverian ambassador Iron Maiden's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jim Kelly View Post
    Actually, Massey played Dr. Gillespie on the DR. KILDARE series--Richard Chamberlain, of course, played James Kildare.

    Raymond Massey was Canadian. He came from the super-wealthy elite Massey family. They owned the Massey-Harris Tractor Company (which became Massey-Ferguson). There was a saying that there are two kinds of people in Toronto--the masses and the Masseys. While Raymond went into acting, his brother Vincent was a diplomat and became Canada's High Commissioner to the United Kingdom during the war, stationed in London. While he did a lot of good for the war effort in that role, he might have also prevented many Jewish refugees from getting to Canada. Later Vincent was made Governor-General of Canada (our head of state).

    Like so many other great Canadian actors, Raymond distinguished himself by playing characters of various nationalities. In THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL he plays the French Chauvelin. In FIRE OVER ENGLAND, he plays King Philip of Spain. In DESPERATE JOURNEY, he's the Nazi Major Otto Baumeister. And one of his greatest roles was as the title character in ABE LINCOLN IN ILLINOIS (also known as SPIRIT OF THE PEOPLE) for which he gained an Academy Award nomination. Massey had previously played Lincoln on Broadway in the play of the same name. He became so associated with the role that he would appear in public as Honest Abe.

    Raymond Massey did actually get to play a Canadian. He appears as good ol' Andy Brock in 49TH PARALLEL--in a movie where many non-Canadian actors try to play Canadians--Massey's Andy stands out as the most authentic portrayal of a Canadian. It wasn't a big role, but it's my favourite from that movie.

    I did not know he had been Jeremy Brett's father-in-law. That's a new one on me.

    Note that Christopher Plummer, another Canadian, also played Holmes in MURDER BY DECREE. I wonder if William Shatner, Leslie Nielsen or Lorne Greene ever played Sherlock.
    Another memorable Raymond Massey role was Black Michael in the 1937 version of Prisoner of Zenda starring Ronald Colman. I like this one better than the 1952 color version of the film.

    Quote Originally Posted by seismic-2 View Post
    I hope that Shatner and Greene never did, because they would have been totally wrong for the role. However, I can imagine that the 6'1" Nielsen might have pulled it off successfully.
    Shatner did appear in an ABC TV movie of the week adaptation of Hound of the Baskervilles as Stapleton, who is revealed to be villain of the piece.
    Last edited by Iron Maiden; 01-21-2022 at 04:35 PM.

  8. #293
    Extraordinary Member foxley's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Iron Maiden View Post
    Another memorable Raymond Massey role was Black Michael in the 1937 version of Prisoner of Zenda starring Ronald Colman. I like this one better than the 1952 color version of the film.
    Definitely the best version of the novel. It also has a young David Niven (fresh from The Charge of the Light Brigade) as Fritz von Tarlenheim .

  9. #294
    Extraordinary Member foxley's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jim Kelly View Post
    Actually, Massey played Dr. Gillespie on the DR. KILDARE series--Richard Chamberlain, of course, played James Kildare.

    Raymond Massey was Canadian. He came from the super-wealthy elite Massey family. They owned the Massey-Harris Tractor Company (which became Massey-Ferguson). There was a saying that there are two kinds of people in Toronto--the masses and the Masseys. While Raymond went into acting, his brother Vincent was a diplomat and became Canada's High Commissioner to the United Kingdom during the war, stationed in London. While he did a lot of good for the war effort in that role, he might have also prevented many Jewish refugees from getting to Canada. Later Vincent was made Governor-General of Canada (our head of state).

    Like so many other great Canadian actors, Raymond distinguished himself by playing characters of various nationalities. In THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL he plays the French Chauvelin. In FIRE OVER ENGLAND, he plays King Philip of Spain. In DESPERATE JOURNEY, he's the Nazi Major Otto Baumeister. And one of his greatest roles was as the title character in ABE LINCOLN IN ILLINOIS (also known as SPIRIT OF THE PEOPLE) for which he gained an Academy Award nomination. Massey had previously played Lincoln on Broadway in the play of the same name. He became so associated with the role that he would appear in public as Honest Abe.

    Raymond Massey did actually get to play a Canadian. He appears as good ol' Andy Brock in 49TH PARALLEL--in a movie where many non-Canadian actors try to play Canadians--Massey's Andy stands out as the most authentic portrayal of a Canadian. It wasn't a big role, but it's my favourite from that movie.

    I did not know he had been Jeremy Brett's father-in-law. That's a new one on me.

    Note that Christopher Plummer, another Canadian, also played Holmes in MURDER BY DECREE. I wonder if William Shatner, Leslie Nielsen or Lorne Greene ever played Sherlock.
    Thanks for the correction. I think I meant to say 'Massey would later find fame on Dr. Kildare on television', but lost track of what I was doing halfway through.

    Massey had the height and leanness to play Holmes, but he never really convinces in the role. As I said, he comes across more like Philo Vance than Sherlock Holmes.

  10. #295
    Latverian ambassador Iron Maiden's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by foxley View Post
    Definitely the best version of the novel. It also has a young David Niven (fresh from The Charge of the Light Brigade) as Fritz von Tarlenheim .
    I always liked Ronald Colman as the lead in films of that era. The version of Tale of Two Cities with Colman as Sydney Carton is the best one every made IMO. The scene at the end with him comforting the little seamstress going to the guillotine with him is a real tear jerker.

  11. #296
    Uncanny Member MajorHoy's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by foxley View Post
    . . . Massey had the height and leanness to play Holmes, but he never really convinces in the role. As I said, he comes across more like Philo Vance than Sherlock Holmes.
    The version of Philo Vance in the movies, or the truly annoying version of Philo Vance in the novels themselves?

  12. #297
    Ultimate Member Deathstroke's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by MajorHoy View Post
    Thanks for the reminder.
    I had put in a request for a copy at a nearby town's library for my Mom, and checking the library's website it looks like it's available for me to pick up now!
    I read the book via my library's copy as well.
    Beth Hart - Fire On The Floor CD Review

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    "I can't complain. I got to be Jim Morrison for the first half of my life, and Ward Cleaver for the second half." - Warren Zevon.

  13. #298
    Ultimate Member Deathstroke's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by WestPhillyPunisher View Post
    Just started what I now consider as my yearly viewing of the legendary Jeremy Brett Sherlock Holmes series. I’ve probably mentioned this before, but that series NEVER gets old for me.
    I am working on the series as well.
    Beth Hart - Fire On The Floor CD Review

    Beth Hart February 23rd, 2017 Boston, MA Concert Review

    "I can't complain. I got to be Jim Morrison for the first half of my life, and Ward Cleaver for the second half." - Warren Zevon.

  14. #299
    Ultimate Member Deathstroke's Avatar
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    Has anyone been able to find the Sherlock Holmes Magazine out of England in the US?

    Can't seem to find it and I would prefer not to have to order it direct from England.
    Beth Hart - Fire On The Floor CD Review

    Beth Hart February 23rd, 2017 Boston, MA Concert Review

    "I can't complain. I got to be Jim Morrison for the first half of my life, and Ward Cleaver for the second half." - Warren Zevon.

  15. #300
    Old school comic book fan WestPhillyPunisher's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by MajorHoy View Post
    The version of Philo Vance in the movies, or the truly annoying version of Philo Vance in the novels themselves?
    Or the know it all version from the radio series?
    Avatar: Here's to the late, great Steve Dillon. Best. Punisher. Artist. EVER!

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