以下内容依然来自Michael Cox. 这些文章大多曾刊登在 Sherlock Holmes Gazette. 推测仍来自A Study in Celluloid 。
The Final Problem
Towards the end of his career as Sherlock Holmes, Jeremy Brett was fired with the notion of ‘completing the Canon’, an ambition which no actor has realised on the screen. He was prevented from achieving this aim by 2 factors: his own ill-health and the stories themselves. When we began it never occurred to me that there was a possibility of tackling all 60 stories. If it had been on the cards I would have made every effort to include the first meeting of Holmes and Watson in Study In Scarlet. The movie industry’s most prolific Holmes, Ellie Norwood, omitted this first case but he appeared in 47 other silent films based on the Canon. The Granada series, by comparison, eventually numbered 41 films based on 42 of the stories.
The company originally commissioned 13 scripts for one-hour slots and I chose to start with Scandal In Bohemia and conclude the series with Final Problem. If the films were popular, I was told, we might make another 6 or 7 and that would give me the option of resurrecting our hero again in Empty House.
When we began, it wasn’t a easy task to select just 13 stories from a collection of 60, not simply because there is not a single one of them which can be dismissed lightly, but also because some are much better suited to television than others. In choosing our precious baker’s dozen, John Hawkesworth and I established some rigorous criteria. First we wanted both Holmes and Watson in every film so that ruled out Gloria Scott and, at this stage, The Five Orange Pips, and The Yellow Face in which Watson is only a listener. The last 2 of these would probably have gone anyway because they are not exactly shining successes for Holmes either. Although it must be said that even a story which adds up to only a history lesson and a study of shipping registers may have some marvellous dialogue. There is great dialogue too in A Case For Identity but that is a story which is hard enough to believe on the page. On screen the spectacle of a woman courted by her step-father in false whiskers and taken in by him would require a complete suspension of disbelief.
Some tales were put aside on grounds of cost. Having built Baker Street, I could not afford to create the City of London for The Man With The Twisted Lip in this series, Silver Blaze was another costly story which we reluctantly rejected-although we tackled it later-so was The Missing Three-Quarter. In other stories there is a slight element of repetition. The threatened governess, usually called Violet, turns up in both Solitary and Copper; a man is lulled away from his work in both Red Headed League and The Stockbroker’s Clerk. Some stories are simply less satisfying. The Noble Bachelor has never been a favourite of mine, neither has The Three Students or The Golden Pince-Nez.
Some were deliberately shelved until we could find the right casting; The Second Stain is one of these, Charles Augustus Milverton is another. These decisions were often made with great reluctance because they meant the loss of some wonderful characters. One of those I missed most, who eluded us not only in this first series but right up until the end, is Colonel Lysander Stark, the villainous coiner in The Engineer’s Thumb. Sadly neither John Hawkesworth nor I could see how the bring this adventure to a satisfactory climax. The story is packed with rich drama but by the time Holmes reaches the scene of the crime, everything is over. So we lost a striking character. But waiting in the wings was the most striking supporting character of all; the man who was created to end the career of Sherlock Holmes for good: Professor Moriarty.
The Final Problem
Towards the end of his career as Sherlock Holmes, Jeremy Brett was fired with the notion of ‘completing the Canon’, an ambition which no actor has realised on the screen. He was prevented from achieving this aim by 2 factors: his own ill-health and the stories themselves. When we began it never occurred to me that there was a possibility of tackling all 60 stories. If it had been on the cards I would have made every effort to include the first meeting of Holmes and Watson in Study In Scarlet. The movie industry’s most prolific Holmes, Ellie Norwood, omitted this first case but he appeared in 47 other silent films based on the Canon. The Granada series, by comparison, eventually numbered 41 films based on 42 of the stories.
The company originally commissioned 13 scripts for one-hour slots and I chose to start with Scandal In Bohemia and conclude the series with Final Problem. If the films were popular, I was told, we might make another 6 or 7 and that would give me the option of resurrecting our hero again in Empty House.
When we began, it wasn’t a easy task to select just 13 stories from a collection of 60, not simply because there is not a single one of them which can be dismissed lightly, but also because some are much better suited to television than others. In choosing our precious baker’s dozen, John Hawkesworth and I established some rigorous criteria. First we wanted both Holmes and Watson in every film so that ruled out Gloria Scott and, at this stage, The Five Orange Pips, and The Yellow Face in which Watson is only a listener. The last 2 of these would probably have gone anyway because they are not exactly shining successes for Holmes either. Although it must be said that even a story which adds up to only a history lesson and a study of shipping registers may have some marvellous dialogue. There is great dialogue too in A Case For Identity but that is a story which is hard enough to believe on the page. On screen the spectacle of a woman courted by her step-father in false whiskers and taken in by him would require a complete suspension of disbelief.
Some tales were put aside on grounds of cost. Having built Baker Street, I could not afford to create the City of London for The Man With The Twisted Lip in this series, Silver Blaze was another costly story which we reluctantly rejected-although we tackled it later-so was The Missing Three-Quarter. In other stories there is a slight element of repetition. The threatened governess, usually called Violet, turns up in both Solitary and Copper; a man is lulled away from his work in both Red Headed League and The Stockbroker’s Clerk. Some stories are simply less satisfying. The Noble Bachelor has never been a favourite of mine, neither has The Three Students or The Golden Pince-Nez.
Some were deliberately shelved until we could find the right casting; The Second Stain is one of these, Charles Augustus Milverton is another. These decisions were often made with great reluctance because they meant the loss of some wonderful characters. One of those I missed most, who eluded us not only in this first series but right up until the end, is Colonel Lysander Stark, the villainous coiner in The Engineer’s Thumb. Sadly neither John Hawkesworth nor I could see how the bring this adventure to a satisfactory climax. The story is packed with rich drama but by the time Holmes reaches the scene of the crime, everything is over. So we lost a striking character. But waiting in the wings was the most striking supporting character of all; the man who was created to end the career of Sherlock Holmes for good: Professor Moriarty.
