I was watching the 2nd disc in my Jeremy Brett Sherlock Holmes series set last night.
I watched "The Crooked Man", "The Speckled Band" and "The Blue Carbuncle".
Keep in mind that I've seen all of these before, but the thing that surprised me was the connection to Star Trek that "The Speckled Band" had. Actor Jeremy Kemp played the villain in the Holmes episode and he would later go on to play Robert Picard on the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Family". Just one of those odd little things I either didn't know before or had forgotten.
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.
Avatar: Here's to the late, great Steve Dillon. Best. Punisher. Artist. EVER!
Not Star Trek related but Jude Law was in an episode in season 1, "Shoscombe Old Place" Of course later on he co-starred as Watson in the Robert Downey Jr. Holmes films.
I've never found an explanation for why Marina Sirtis could speak perfectly well in every other role she had, but when it came to playing Deana Troi she had to talk like she had marbles in her mouth. Given her Betazoid mother, Lwaxana, spoke perfectly good English with no accent, it can't be because she was an alien.
Actually, it was. Marina created that accent for her character, figuring that an alien should have an alien accent and, at the time, there were no plans for any other Betazoid characters. However, when her mother was introduced, no one gave her actress that memo, so Deanna's accent suddenly became inexplicable.
Last edited by foxley; 04-14-2021 at 02:20 PM.
I just got around to watching the 1983 TV movie version of The Hound of the Baskervilles. Quite a decent adaptation, and one I consider especially interesting for its cast.
Ian Richardson is brilliant as Holmes (which should not come as a surprise to anyone). He immediately jumps into my top tier of screen Sherlocks. Not equal to Jeremy Brett, but certainly up there with Peter Cushing, and streets ahead of the likes of Edward Woodward and Charlton Heston, and even ahead of stalwarts like Christopher Lee.
Denholm Elliott is a brilliantly distracted and absentminded Dr. Mortimer. Ronald Lacey (Toht in Raiders of the Lost Ark) is a suitably cocky and weaselly Inspector Lestrade. Nicholas Clay (Lancelot in Excalibur) plays Jack Stapleton with a constrained manic energy that fits the character perfectly. Glynis Barber (Blake's 7, Dempsey & Makepeace) plays a beautiful and spirited Beryl Stapleton: a character I'd never really given a lot of thought to, but she is now my perfect casting for it (but, then again, I've had a crush Ms. Barber ever since her Blake's 7 days ).
Brian Blessed plays Lyons, a character created for this adaptation (taken the place of Frankland, the filer of nuisance lawsuits), and is superbly brutish and belicose. Connie Booth (Fawlty Towers) is his long-suffering wife.
And now the not so good. Martin Shaw (Inspector George Gently, Judge John Deed), an actor I normally enjoy, feels sadly miscast as Sir Henry Baskerville. The character was needlessly changed from Canadian to American (presumably to make it easier to sell the movie in the US) and spouts some American platitudes about how they fought a war to get rid of titles. And his voice was dubbed by an American actor, which may be why his performance just feels off.
And Donald Churchill never quite nails it as it as Watson (IMO). His performance is inclined towards the buffoonish (although some of that is the script), but not to Nigel Bruce levels. But Hound is the story where Watson is centre stage for most of the story and Churchill just does not have the acting chops to pull it off. (And your bonus Holmes trivia: Donald Churchill would go on to play Scott Eccles in "Wisteria Lodge" in the Jeremy Brett series.)
The movie has some glorious location shooting on the moors in Devon, which unfortunately makes it very obvious that the London scenes were shot in a studio.
Overall a flawed, but definitely worthwhile adaptation. Certainly worth checking out for Richardson's brilliant Holmes, and the (mostly) excellent supporting cast.
Last edited by foxley; 04-14-2021 at 02:25 PM.
In the version of "The Sign of Four" from the Jeremy Brett series, Jonathan Small was played by John Thaw, better known to fans of British police dramas as Inspector Morse.
Avatar: Here's to the late, great Steve Dillon. Best. Punisher. Artist. EVER!