| Sherlock Holmes |
|---|
 |
| Based on | Characters created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle |
|---|
| Directed by | Steve Previn
Sheldon Reynolds
Jack Gage |
|---|
| Starring | Ronald Howard
Howard Marion Crawford
Archie Duncan |
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| Composer(s) | Paul Durand |
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| Country of origin | United States |
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| Originallanguage(s) | English |
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| No. of seasons | 1 |
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| No. of episodes | 39 Episode list |
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| Production |
|---|
| Producer(s) | Sheldon Reynolds
Nicole Milinaire (associate producer) |
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| Editor(s) | George Gale
Françoise Javet |
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| Location(s) | France
Epinay-sur-Seine, Seine-Saint-Denis, France
Big Ben, Houses of Parliament, Westminster, London, England, UK
Victoria Embankment, Westminster, London, England, UK |
|---|
| Cinematography | Raymond Clunie |
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| Running time | 30 min. |
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| Productioncompany(s) | Guild Films |
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| Distributor | Alpha Video Distributors
Madacy Entertainment
Motion Pictures for Television
Reel Media International
Timeless Video |
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| Release |
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| Original network | First-run syndication |
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| Original release | October 18, 1954 – October 17, 1955 |
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The series was the first American television adaptation of Doyle's stories,
[1] and the only such version until 2012's
Elementary.
History[edit]
Sheldon Reynolds had been successful with his 1951 European-made series
Foreign Intrigue[1] (in 1956 he directed a movie with the same title starring
Robert Mitchum) and decided a
Sherlock Holmes series made in France for the American syndication market might also be successful.
[1]
Reynolds contacted the Doyle family and began his research into producing a Holmesian television series.
[3]
Casting[edit]
I was suddenly stuck by the difference between the character in that book and that of the stage and screen. Here, Holmes was a young man in his thirties, human, gifted, and of a philosophic and scholastic bent, but subject to fateful mistakes which stemmed from his overeagerness and lack of experience.
[1]
In early stories like that one, Conan Doyle had not yet grown tired of his character, who later became a literary monster for him. And, as literature, the earlier stories are far better. But practically every stage and screen presentation of the detective is based on the later stories.
[3]
Ronald Howard, then 36,
[1] was chosen to portray Sherlock Holmes. Howard shared Reynolds's view of Holmes
[3] and his portrayal was much more laid back than the more famous version
portrayed by Basil Rathbone.
[1]
In my interpretation, Holmes is not an infallible, eagle-eyed, out-of-the-ordinary personality, but an exceptionally sincere young man trying to get ahead in his profession. Where Basil Rathbone's Holmes was nervous and highly-strung, mine has a more ascetic quality, is deliberate, very definitely unbohemian, and is underplayed for reality.
[2]
Howard Marion Crawford, credited as H. Marion Crawford, was cast as Watson and it was a role Crawford had long wanted to play.
[2] Crawford desired to play Watson as something other than the buffoon as typified by
Nigel Bruce's portrayal.
[4]
I had never thought of Watson as the perennial brainless bungler who provided burlesque relief in the earlier portrayals. He is a normal man, solid on his feet, a medical student who gives valuable advice.... In other words, he is a perfect foil to Holmes' youthful buoyancy.
[2]
Besides the three principals (Howard, Crawford and Duncan), a number of actors appeared regularly in the series, including French-born
Eugene Deckers, who played no fewer than seven different characters, including both victims and villains. The most famous actor to appear as a guest was
Paulette Goddard, but others who would gain fame or near-fame in the future included
Delphine Seyrig,
Michael Gough,
Dawn Addams,
Mary Sinclair, and
Natalie Schafer.
Barry Mackay, whose career was nearing its end, also appeared in one episode: "The Case of the Laughing Mummy".
Production[edit]
Several sets were built in
Paris for the street outside
221B Baker Street and the flat itself, both of which were designed by Michael Weight,
[2] the same man who built the
Festival of Britain 221B exhibit.
[1] There were a number of other sets built for a variety of locations and then redressed as necessary (homes, Scotland Yard, shops, parks, offices, etc.).
There was very little location work and most of the series was filmed in the studio with many stock shots of carriages on London Bridge and near Big Ben, giving the impression of London. However, on a few occasions, such as "The Case of the
Eiffel Tower", the French filming locations were used. French actors were extensively used in small parts and several affected English accents with varying levels of success.
Although only 39 episodes were syndicated, a second season of 39 episodes was scheduled to begin production in June 1955.
[5]
In 1980, Reynolds produced a second Sherlock Holmes TV series, entitled Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. Many of the 1954 TV episodes were remade in the second series.
Source material[edit]
Episodes[edit]
Reception[edit]
When the series debuted, it was a hit.
This Week declared "You won't want to miss this 4-star video event."
[6] Variety reviewed the series on October 20, 1954, and called the show "a winner that avoids the customary cliches that seem inevitable in any treatment of the Conan Doyle stories."
[6]
The series was voted Best New Mystery in the non-network film series division in Billboard's 3rd Annual TV Film Program and Talent Awards, based on an "all-industry vote".
[7]
DVD release[edit]
In 2005,
Mill Creek Entertainment released
Sherlock Holmes: The Complete Series, a three-disc DVD set featuring all 39 episodes of the series. Also in 2005, Elstree Hill Entertainment released all 39 episodes as
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes on ten discs. In 2010, Mill Creek released
Sherlock Holmes: Greatest Mysteries, a five-disc DVD set featuring all 39 episodes plus eight unrelated Holmes films:
The Sign of Four (1932),
A Study in Scarlet (1933),
The Triumph of Sherlock Holmes (1935),
Murder at the Baskervilles(1937),
Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon (1943),
The Woman in Green (1945),
Terror by Night (1946), and
Dressed to Kill (1946). On March 9, 2010, Allegro/Pop Flix released "Classic TV Sherlock Holmes Collection", a four-disc DVD set featuring all 39 episodes of the series. As of 2012, the series has been released on DVD by Mill Creek yet again, this time under the title of
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. The Mill Creek DVD releases feature short introductions by
Christopher Lee, taken from the 1985 documentary
The Many Faces of Sherlock Holmes.
References[edit]
- ^ Jump up to:a b c d e f g h i j k l m Alan Barnes, Sherlock Holmes On Screen: The Complete Film and TV History, Titan Books, Third Edition, January 31, 2012, ISBN 978-0-85768-776-0, page 180-185
- ^ Jump up to:a b c d e Peter Haining (1994). The Television Sherlock Holmes. Virgin Books. p. 58. ISBN 0-86369-793-3.
- ^ Jump up to:a b c Peter Haining (1994). The Television Sherlock Holmes. Virgin Books. p. 57. ISBN 0-86369-793-3.
- Jump up^ Matthew E. Bunson (1997). Encyclopedia Sherlockiana. Simon & Schuster. p. 38. ISBN 0-02-861679-0.
- Jump up^ "Reynolds Sets 39 'Holmes'". Billboard (Billboard Publishing Company). May 28, 1955. p. 32. Retrieved June 9, 2011.
- ^ Jump up to:a b Peter Haining (1994). The Television Sherlock Holmes. Virgin Books. p. 61. ISBN 0-86369-793-3.
- Jump up^ "The Billboard's 3d Annual TV Film Program and Talent Awards". Billboard (Billboard Publishing Company). August 6, 1955. p. 5. Retrieved August 9, 2012.
External links[edit]
