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his match.Sherlock Holmes may have metBY GEORGE ROBINSONWhat do Basil Rathbone, Christopher Lee, Christopher Plummer, George C. Scott, Arthur Wontner, Robert Stephens, Michael Caine, Reginald Owen, Clive Brook, John Barrymore, Raymond Massey, Peter Cushing, Roger Moore, Stewart Granger, John Neville, Nicol Williamson and Jeremy Brett all have in common?They all have played Sherlock Holmes — the most filmed fictional character in history — in motion pictures or television.However, Jeremy Brett can now make one claim that none of the others can equal: he has been in faithful adaptations of all the stories and novels written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of that most famous of private investigators.About twelve years ago. Sir Dennis Forman, then president of the EnglishDon’t Miss This OnceA Year Opportunity!!!Ernest HemingwaCs “To Mine md Have Not” has been filmed twice in IM44. with the original title, and in l(IJO, as “Breaking Point.’*production company Granada Television, and a fan of the Holmes stories since boyhood, proposed a new series to feature the complete canon of Homesiana, “even though the stories do get weaker as they go on, says June Wyndham Davies (pronounced Davis, by the way), who produced 27 of the 46 episodes that resulted from Sir Dennis’ bold venture. “Thankfully, it’s turned out very well, she adds with a little chuckle.Of course, for most Americans, Basil Rathbone is the very embodiment of Conan Doyle’s detective: avuncular, a little pedantic perhaps, but viewer-friendly. That is not quite the picture of the sharp-witted master of scientific detection that the books paint, however. In fact, to many eyes, Granada’s Jeremy Brett is by far the most faithful Holmes ever put onscreens, large or small.Jeremy lives on the edge of danger, Wyndham Davies says. “You always knew the path that Rathbone would take. He was marvelous but there were no surprises.By contrast, Brett s Holmes is a bit neurotic, a little threatening and, most of all, fascinatingly unpredictable, the epitome of the 19th century dandy. One could never picture Rathbone’s Holmes taking cocaine as a retreat from intellectual boredom. Brett, on the other hand, seems at*Holmes who is capable of anything. “He’s marvelously eccentric, Wyndham Davies observes. “He can be quite extreme.For British audiences, as for Brett, the series is drawing to a conclusion all the books have been filmed and the cast and crew had a large, warmly familial celebration in Manchester to mark the end of the project. For Americans, happily, there are still many episode* to see — AE is now airing the scries on Monday nights.Of course, for a producer, the end of a scries merely means that one’s attention is turned to the next project. However. Wyndham Davies looks back on this particular venture with special warmth. “We had a marvelous time, she says. “We were so lucky to have the opportunity to work with such good actors, writers andcrew, to have that period feeling so scrupulously observed. Everything on the sets was accurate.”So accurate that the set was regularly visited by groups of the Irregulars.These fans of Holmes can be quite possessive of the great man’s memory. However, Wyndham Davies has found them delightfully supportive of the Granada series, which is entirely appropriate, given its dedication to fidelity to the Conan Doyle stories.In fact, she remembers one visit from a large band of American aficionados, “all of them Sherlock Holmes — men, women, tall, short, fat, thin, all wearing the costume and smoking pipes.But none of them was Jeremy Brett. Even among Sherlock Holmeses, he’s one of a kind.Jeremy Brett s portrayal of Sherlock Holmes is a bit neurotic, a little threatening and fascinatingly unpredictable.COMMERCIAL PRINTING• Office Forms Of All Types• Booklets• Letterheads• Envelopes•Cards• TirWotc• Letter Press• Offset• Inumroc
Newspaper Details
Greenville Delta Democrat Times
Greenville, Mississippi, US
Sun, May 08, 1994
Page 63
Full Page
Clipped by
Hayner P.
IL, USA 06 Oct 2018
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