A Holmes-y Analysis

So first it was Doctor Who, and now it's Sherlock Holmes. Don't worry, Doctor Who will most likely be back once the next season starts (which won't be until next year or possibly even the year of its 50th anniversary in 2013 *mega cries*). However, I've been filling my empty void by watching practically every Sherlock Holmes show/movie in existence (the ones that were available to me, at least). It's been a couple months since I started this and I think I've finished. What I've really enjoyed about this experience was seeing the many different portrayals of Holmes. He’s the most portrayed movie character of all time, with about 75 actors playing him in over 211 movies. How awesome is that? This post is dedicated to a couple of my favorites. (Of course there are many other men who portrayed Holmes, but they were not worthy enough to make it on my list.)

1) Robert Downey Jr. in the movie Sherlock Holmes (2009)

One of my mom's favorites. I did sort of talk about this one in a previous post. This portrayal was not very true to the books in many respects, but it was still well done and very entertaining altogether. This version is sort of like the action-hero version of Holmes. Because even though he's still superior intellectually, he doesn't use his smarts so much as his fists in order to defeat his enemies. He doesn't have the deerstalker cap, but he does still have the pipe. Of course I must mention that this Holmes is the only one to get some romantic involvement (well, physical romantic involvement). I know this version of Holmes gets all kinds of hate, but I don't think he really deserves most of it.

2) Ronald Howard in the TV series Sherlock Holmes (1954-1955)

This version of Holmes had a lot of focus on his quirky side. I was very entertained while watching this show, I found myself laughing a lot. It wasn't that this Holmes was a goofy character, it was just that he would do weird things in order to test theories or to get out of sticky situations. For example, Inspector Lestrade and Watson had left Holmes alone with a constable at a crime scene. When they got back they asked the constable where Mr. Holmes was. "He's sliding down the banister, sir." "He's what?". They later found out he was testing to see how much faster someone could get downstairs if they slid down the banister than if they ran. Another time he, Watson, and Lestrade were being watched and guarded in a pub, so he started a brawl-- much to Lestrade's horror-- in order to get the police there. Of course he has the trademark deerstalker cap, pipe and magnifying glass. However, what he lacked was the arrogance and the occasional coldness. This Holmes was too nice and too human, but I still found him extremely enjoyable.

3) Benedict Cumberbatch in the TV series Sherlock (2010- present)

I've dedicated an entire post to this show (see here), but I really love this portrayal of Holmes so I had to include him. Set in today's modern world, he pretty much embodies everything in the books. He does seem a bit more child-like though (I sometimes wonder how he got on before he met Watson). I am a bit disappointed that he hasn't donned a physical disguise yet. Well, he sort of did... he wore a security guard's uniform in order to get a look at a guarded painting in a museum, saying, "the art of disguise if being able to hide in plain sight". He does, however take on "personality disguises" in order to get what he wants (he is capable of crying on demand and such). Of course, being set in modern times, he doesn't wear a deerstalker cap, nor does he smoke a pipe. But he does use a magnifying glass. Not a traditional looking one, mind you, but a smaller, modern-looking one. I mentioned above that the Robert

Downey Jr. was the only version to

get romantic involvement, but then I added that it was the only version to get physical romantic involvement. That's because this version has a female lab tech who has a crush on him.

(EDIT: Since I've watched season 2, he has worn a deerstalker cap! XD. Not as a fashion statement, but he grabbed it from a nearby costume rack in order to hide his face from the press. It then became his trademark in the press, him wearing the hat. Cudos to the writers for slipping that in!)

4) Jeremy Brett in the TV movies Sherlock Holmes (1984-1994)

Probably the most accurate portrayal of Holmes in comparison to the books. I really don't know how to comment on this version because it's just so spot on. I can't even give examples or anything because all the movies were just portrayals of the books. My goodness, some of the disguises though were just amazing! Even though I knew it was him, it was so hard to tell, no matter how hard you stared. Really the only criticism I can give is that his normal voice bothered me a bit XD. He does wear the deerstalker cap occasionally and he does have the pipe and magnifying glass as well.

5) Basil Rathbone in a series of movies Sherlock Holmes (1939-1946)

One of the most famous portrayals of the character. I quite liked this version. A couple of the movies were set in the proper time of the late 1800's, but then most of them were set in the (then) modern times of the 1940's. For the ones set in their proper time period, Holmes did wear the deerstalker cap, but the ones set in the 1940's, he wore a normal stylistic hat of the period. In both, he always had the pipe and magnifying glass. I really have no criticism for him at all. Nothing even trivial like an annoying voice or something. He was a very accurate portrayal. The only criticism I would give would be directed at either the plots or at the portrayal of Watson (but I won't go into how annoying I found this Watson at times or else this would be a rather extensive post). I did find this Holmes's disguises quite good, although it was fairly easy to tell that it was him most of the time.

HONORABLE MENTION: Barrie Ingham as Basil in The Great Mouse Detective (1986)

He doesn't really count since he's not actually a portrayal of Sherlock Holmes, rather a shout-out. He gets a mention because he has all of Holmes's personality traits and such (as well as his deerstalker cap, pipe, and magnifying glass). I also like that the character's name is Basil after Basil Rathbone (named above). He also gets a mention just because I just really like his voice.