Kieran McMullen

I’m not sure how anyone can not like Young Sherlock Holmes though I’ve read some less than favorable reviews. It’s definitely not canonical but it is great fun. In the 1860’s a young Sherlock Holmes and John Watson meet in a London boarding school. Sherlock is played by Nicholas Rowe who is also well known in TV. The future Doctor is played by Alan Cox. The movie was the proving ground for Spielberg’s computer generated special effects revolution in movie making. In one scene the image of a knight in a stained glass window “comes to life” attacking a cleric who has been poisoned by a hallucinogenic drug. The entire scene was done by computer.

The story of young Sherlock explains much about Holmes: his violin playing, his pipe, his inverness coat, his deerstalker hat and his decision not to deal with the fairer sex. In the course of the movie Holmes and Watson must solve a mystery involving the deaths of a group of old men who once tried to build a hotel in Egypt. They are drawn into a tale of secret societies, a pyramid in London’s factory area and the rise of the man who would be Holmes’ greatest adversary.

Watson, while initially an indecisive, meek character from the country becomes critical to the solution to the mystery. He also will, through his own deductive reasoning, save Holmes from a sure death and foil the antagonists plot. He becomes the Watson of action.

Nigel Stock who we discussed earlier as a portrayer of Watson plays Sherlock’s mentor (and victim of the bad guy) Professor Waxflatter.

Alan Cox did a super job playing the transition from mild child to action oriented teenager. Born 6 August 1970 he was about 15 when he made Young Sherlock but he was already a veteran actor having appeared on TV as early as 1976. He had at least 8 other credits before coming on the set of Young Sherlock.

Cox has not limited himself to TV and movies (although through 2011 he has 38 titles to his credit). He has also worked on the boards, appearing in works by Shakespeare, Ibsen  and Mortimer. Cox comes from an acting family, his father being Brian Cox.

The more I look at the people who played Dr. Watson over the years the more I come to the conclusion that there were far more good representations of Watson than poor ones. This is the case of another good one. The mid-‘60s TV series “Sherlock Holmes” started in 1964 Douglas Wilmer was Holmes in the first half of the series and Peter Cushing playedd Holmes in the second half. The are 29 stories in the series and for all of them, Nigel Stock was the stalwart companion. Most of the Douglas Wilmer stories still exist and can be gotten on DVD. The remaining Peter Cushing stories are also available on DVD.

Stock plays Watson the way he was. Delightfully he does an exceptional job with Wilmer and even seems better with Cushing . While I believe that Wilmer is a better Holmes, there is a better chemistry between Stock and Cushing, so it’s kind of take your pick. The constant is Stock’s portrayal. You might remember Stock from the 1955 classic “The Dam Buster”. I remember seeing it as a kid. It is one of the classic war films.

Stock shows up again in the movie “Young Sherlock Holmes” in 1985. This was the movie that tested all the theories of animated special effects. Stock played Sherlock’s mentor Professor Waxflatter. It is amazing how many actors cycle through Holmes stories at intervals of 10 or 20 years. The Sherlock Holmes series is well worth the viewing.

Nigel Stock

Nigel Stock was born in 1919 in Malta. His father was an officer in the Royal Engineers and he grew up mostly in India. He returned to England in his teens for schooling . He made his first appearance on the stage in 1931. He would go on the play with The Old Vic and on Broadway. In 1937 he made his first film but like many of his generation WWII interfered. Stock served with the London Irish Rifles and the Assam regiment, Indian Army. He served in Burma, China and Kohima. If anyone can confirm he was there during the Battle of Kohima I would like to hear from you. Kohima was also called the Stalingrad of the East, holding out against the “U Go” Japanese offensive.

After the war Stock returned to acting. He had a long and productive career in film, TV, stage and radio. He died in 1986 in London. His TV credits include some of the best series in the media: The Prisoner, the Avengers, Secret Agent, and Sherlock Holmes. Besides the Dam Busters, another classic movie was The Night of the Generals. Stock was another classically trained actor that did a superb job with Watson.

The first time that Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson were ever filmed in color was in 1959 by Hammer films. The story was “The Hound of the Baskervilles”, the most frequently filmed story of the canon. So far I know of 28 filmed versions of the story, there may well be more. Sherlock is played by Peter Cushing and Dr. Watson by Andre Morell.

Hammer was strictly B movies but hit the jackpot in the ‘50s with a couple of horror flicks. Even they didn’t understand the success and so they commissioned a survey of audiences to find out what people liked best about their movies. They liked being scared! What better to scare you than the “Hound from Hell”?

Actually, the movie is very well done, especially from the

Morell and Cushing

 perspective of the year in which it was made, long before computerized special effects. Like all of Doyle’s stories it needs some padding to extend the tale to a full length movie. So there is the addition of killer tarantula spiders, an old mine shaft from which Holmes must escape, and a horrible ritual sacrifice. All these pieces are worked in fairly well to the story. There are some changes in the characters, as usually happens when things go to film. Where you can have many characters in a book it can be confusing in a film of limited length. I won’t explain them for they will be obvious to the reader of the Holmes stories.

Andre Morell does an exceptionally fine job as Watson. He is very true to the character, strong independent and intelligent. Morell and Cushing work very well together. Cushing  played Holmes perhaps a little more low key than the Holmes of the books.

Andre Morell as Watson

Andre Morell was born in London on 20 August 1909. His birth name was Cecil Andre Mesritz but he had it legally changed in 1938. He moved from being a motor mechanic and amateur actor to professional actor in 1934. Until his death in 1978 he would find constant work in theater, movies and television. He is one of those actors you see all the time in films and ask yourself “what’s his name?” His voice is quite unique and carries that tone I always associate with a senior officer. He was a member of the Old Vic theater company and was well known for his abilities with Shakespeare. In WWII he served in the Welch Fusiliers through 1946 and attained the rank of Major. Three of the films he appeared in are among my favorites. Two received Best Picture Academy Awards: Bridge on the River Kwai and Ben Hur. The third movie was his last, The Great Train Robbery with Sean Connery. Morell had a tremendously positive reputation for hard work and attention to detail, resulting in superb performances.

Ian Fleming stared as Watson in four films with Arthur Wontner playing Sherlock Holmes. They started in 1931 with The Sleeping Cardinal (In the US it was called Sherlock Holmes’ Fatal Hour), The Missing Rembrandt (1932), The Triumph of Sherlock Holmes (1935) and Silver Blaze (US title: Murder at the Baskervilles) in 1937. There was a fifth Arthur Wontner as Holmes film, The Sign of Four, but in this case Ian Hunter played the role of Watson. It is curious that Fleming was not used because it was made in 1932. One must assume that Ian Fleming was somehow otherwise engaged. One film, The Missing Rembrandt, is considered a “lost film”. There is no known print.

Wontner and Fleming

Ian Fleming is not to be confused with the writer of the James Bond books.  Very unfortunately computer searches bury the details of this fine character actor under millions of hits for the writer. Fleming really did a sterling job of portraying Watson which would probably not be equaled until Burke or Hardwick in the Jeremy Brett episodes. Fleming comes off as a strong, likeable, intelligent fellow who has more the physique  of Doyle’s character. The interplay between Wontner and Fleming is also excellent. There is a real chemistry. It is really unfortunate that the prints of the available films are of such poor quality. These were, in their original form, B movies to begin with. So remember, if you get to watch, look at them for their story and the acting, not so much for the quality of the staging or the print.

Ian Fleming was born Ian Macfarlane in Melbourne, Australia on 10 September 1888 and died in London, England on New2 Years day 1969. Fleming acted in over 100 films. He started his formal acting career in 1916 and is one of those character actors that you see in movie after movie and who also made the transition to the small screen. I remember him showing up in the 1950’s TV series Robin Hood as Maid Marion’s father.  Fleming was also a consummate stage actor doing everything, including Shakespeare. Fleming was especially busy during the WWII years when he was too old for active service. During that time he made over 40 films. He worked actively in TV until his death in 1969. His last role was as Senius in the TV series The Caesars in 1968.

Patrick Macnee is certainly best known to the world as John Steed, that pillar of the English Secret Service in the long running Avengers TV show. He does however, appear in three made for TV movies as our hero, Dr. John Watson. His first outing is in 1976 in Sherlock Holmes in New York with Roger Moore playing Holmes and John Huston as an excellent Professor Moriarty and Charlotte Rampling as a superb Irene Adler. Macnee does a very credible job as Watson. The one lacking performance is Roger Moore. (I couldn’t get past the bizarre sideburns.)

The next time Macnee appears as Watson is in two mini-series with Christopher Lee as Holmes. Again Macnee gives two quite good interpretations of Watson but just a little to the Nigel side. Is it just me or do all the Watson’s seem to do rather well except when Holmes appears with them on screen? (It is only then that the Gabby Hays Character appears in their performances.) There are two versions of both “Sherlock Holmes and the Leading Lady” and “Sherlock Holmes: Incident at Victoria Falls”. There is the long mini-series version and a cut down DVD version. I have watched both and there is a tremendous amount lost in the cut down versions, even to the point of some scenes not making sense because of missing information. In the full versions they are well worth watching. The subtitle of these mini-series was “The Golden Years”. I wish they had made more.

Macnee also played the Great Detective in a Canadian production in 1996, “Sherlock Holmes: The Case of the Temporal Nexus” and the 1994 “Hound of London”.

Patrick Macnee was born 6 February 1922 in London England to a fairly wealthy family. His father was a successful racehorse trainer but also a gambler and known to take a drink. He left wife and son and departed for India. Patrick’s mother was a niece of the Earl of Huntingdon (descendants of Robin Hood) and moved in with her female lover who Patrick knew as “Uncle Evelyn”. At three he was packed off to school. He was eventually expelled from Eton for running a bookie operation. He then attended Weber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art on scholarship and by 1941 had started his formal acting career. From 1942-46 he served as an officer in the British Navy. Once the war was over he really found his footing, constantly traveling between the U.S., the U.K. and Canada making scores of TV and movie appearances. In 1959 he became a U.S. citizen. 1960 was to be the banner year that would make Macnee recognizable to the entire world: “The Avengers” appeared on TV! In case you can’t tell, Patrick Macnee is one of my favorite actors.

Debrah Farentino may not technically be a Watson but the character is the same. She plays Dr. Amy Winslow who happens to awaken Sherlock Holmes from his self imposed cryogenic sleep in the 1993 made for TV movie “Sherlock Holmes Returns”. Amy, of course, must take Holmes in and help him get  through the transition into the future. They live at 1994 Baker Street in San Francisco. Anyone see the set up for a TV series here? While it takes the cryogenic sleep routine from the earlier 1980’s TV movie the rest of the film is a completely different story line involving a descendant of the Morality’s, some drug dealers bent on revenge and Holmes being introduced to some technologically savvy Baker Street Irregulars. It really is an enjoyable TV film and I always thought it would have made an enjoyable series. Again, it’s not for the strict constructionist but for light entertainment. Anthony Higgins took the part of Sherlock Holmes and did an admirable job. Holmes has his technology trials with his new world but quickly overcomes. Higgins played the part of the villain Professor Rathe in “Young Sherlock Holmes” in 1985. It took me at least two viewings before I realized that if you watched that film all the way through the end of the credits you would find out who Professor Rathe really was.

Farentino plays a good Watson to Holmes. She tries to figure him out much as Doyle’s character tried to, she is there when action is required (even if she isn’t sure why) and while a little dull witted (you’ll figure out the clues before she will) is an admirable foil.

Born Deborah Mullowney, on 30 September 1959 in California she was educated at UCLA in acting. She has two brothers and a sister and two daughters, Molly and Sophie. In 1995 she was named one of the 50 Most Beautiful People in the World by People Magazine. She has been nominated for two Soap Opera Digest Awards. She is one of those actresses that finds constant work because of her hard work and talents. She has been in TV work constantly since 1984. Her most recent appearance was on the new Hawaii Five-0 this year.

James Mason has always been one of my favorite actors and as Watson in “Murder by Decree” he does not disappoint. The movie is another matching of the great detective vs Jack the Ripper. It is the dramatization of the Stephen Knight book, Jack the Ripper: The Final Solution and uses one of the long postulated theories about the Royal involvement in the case and the Masonic connection. The cast is sterling with Christopher Plummer as Holmes, Mason as Watson, Donald Southerland as the psychic, Sir john Gielgud as the government nemesis and Frank Finley reappears as Inspector Lestrade in his second fight with Jack.

Mason is able to portray Watson as an actual partner to Holmes who is willing to take chances and prod Holmes into action. There are even moments when he can bring out the humanity in Holmes. Watson provides actual assistance to Holmes with his medical and scientific training and his better connection to general humanity. In case you haven’t guessed, I really like this Watson.

There are some anomalies that most Americans will never notice since we see them all the time in other Holmes Movies. Holmes comes up on Westminster from the wrong side based on his route of travel in the cab, He calls a Growler a Hansom, Tower Bridge is shown but didn’t exist and so forth. These are all minor nit-noids but I’ve heard them mentioned as distractors Okay, if you say so Dave. Overall this is an excellent film with a wonderfully human and believable Watson. The movie was nominated for an Edgar Allan Poe Award for best picture and won Five Genie Awards including Best Actor for Christopher Plummer.

James Mason is an interesting character in his own right. Born 15 May 1909 he attended Cambridge to study architecture and almost by accident found his way into acting. In fact, at one time Alistair Cooke recommended he return to architectural studies. Instead he continued his work in the theater and became a well known and respected stage actor. By the early ‘30s he was performing in many English made movies and in the ‘40s came to the US. He could play the heavy as well as the sympathetic character. In fact he considered himself a character actor and spoke of himself that way. His credits are very extensive and run beyond his passing in 1984 with the release of two films and a mini series released after his fatal heart attack.

Roland Young played Dr. Watson in the 1922 silent movie “Sherlock Holmes”. The movie was not based on the Doyle stories directly but on the William Gillette play, “The Strange Case of Alice Faulkner”. It, in turn, was VERY loosely based on “A Scandal in Bohemia”. Sherlock Holmes marked the film debut of both Roland Young and William Powell (of Thin Man fame). Sherlock Holmes was played by John Barrymore.

“Sherlock Holmes” had been lost for decades to the movie audience and was one of the Holy Grails of silent film buffs. In the 1970’s 4,000 feet of negative were found by the George Eastman House in their vaults. Film historian Kevin Brownlow, working with the help of the original director, Albert Parker took on a project that took a decade and reassembled, to the best the available film would let him, the original movie. There have been complaints that Holmes is not portrayed correctly (he gets married in the end!) But one should remember that Doyle had disowned his creation when allowing Gillette to use him. I think the quote was something like ‘You may marry him or murder him or do what you will”. (That’s close anyway) And in fact Doyle came out with an endorsement of the movie.

There are also complaints about too many intertitles and too much information in them. Probably somewhat true. There are complaints about the pace of the movie. Again, true; However, one needs to remember that this film was pieced together and some of the parts from the original script are not there, what is there needs amplified explanation and the pace is fairly common for the transition of what is really a stage play (which has little physical action) to the silent screen. At least as a piece of cinema history it is well worth seeing.

Roland Young plays an admirable Dr. Watson but his part is fairly small. There is actually little opportunity, until the last scene, for Watson to show what he can do.

Most people will probably remember Mr. Young as the character Cosmo Topper who had to deal with the ghosts of Cary Grant and Constance Bennett. Mr. Young was born in London, England on 11 November 1887 and made his first stage appearance in London’s West End in 1908 and made his Broadway debut in 1912. When WWI came along he enlisted in the US Army. On returning from France he went back to the stage and became an American citizen. 1922 saw his film career start with “Sherlock Holmes” and started alternating between Broadway and Hollywood. From 1929 to 1932 he was a contract player for MGM and then became a free lance performer who remained busy until his death in New York in 1953. The three Topper movies were his high water mark but my favorite has always been “King Solomon’s Mines” (1937).