Steve Doyle and other Sherlockians look forward to film festival in Zionsville

Steve Doyle and other Sherlockians look 

forward to film festival in Zionsville

Steve Doyle has been a Sherlock Holmes fanatic -- a Sherlockian, as they say -- since he was a teenager in the 1970s, when he received some books about the famed detective for Christmas.

A member of the Sherlock Holmes appreciation society The Illustrious Clients, Doyle, Zionsville, meets with his fellow members several times a year. "I even wrote 'Sherlock Holmes for Dummies' a few years ago," he said. "I'm one of those guys who just fell under the spell of Sherlock Holmes."

One of the society's more anticipated events is the Sherlock Holmes Film Festival, which has been playing at the Zionsville Public Library for more than 20 years. This year the festival will showcase rare films, including the first Holmes mystery, a one-minute film from the early 1900s called "Sherlock Holmes Baffled," and a variety of feature-length films and televisionepisodes.

Question: Tell more about The Illustrious Clients?

Answer: The Illustrious Clients is a local Sherlock Holmes society, the local chapter of a group called the Baker Street Irregulars. The Irregulars were founded in 1936, and the Illustrious Clients were founded in 1946, so we've been around a long time. I've been a member since 1988.

We meet nine times a year, about every six weeks, for dinner and a discussion about a featured story, and Sherlockian show-and-tell of interesting memorabilia. We also have a summer field trip, and we've gone to a bee farm out by Martinsville, because Holmes in his retirement took up beekeeping, and a tour of Crown Hill Cemetery, which has a lot of Sherlockian associations. James Whitcomb Riley is buried there, and he and Arthur Conan Doyle were friends, and Doyle visited Riley when he came to Indianapolis.

Q: What is your opinion on the more recent films starring Robert Downey Jr.?

A: I like them. You have to keep in mind that Holmes is a character that has always been a mirror of the time he's made in. It's interesting to take this single character that has existed for so long, through so many eras and mediums.

These new films have much more action, and everything is kind of heightened. It's not perhaps the most faithful adaptation in that the stories are much bigger and more action-packed, but the relationship of the characters, the Holmes-Watson partnership, and the friendship they have, is very much in the spirit of the story. Taken as films in their own right, I think they're great.

Q: And they're also creating a new version on American network television too, right?

A: They are. It's called "Elementary." All of us Sherlockians are taking a wait-and-see attitude. It seems on the surface to be a knockoff of the very popular BBC series. It's not unusual for American television to do an adaptation of a BBC series, so there's kind of a whiff of cashing in about it. There are elements of it . . . a female Watson, and other things. It could certainly be great, though.

Q: What is the best cinematic version of Holmes that you've seen?

A: I would pick a couple. On the big screen, the best adaptation is between Basil Rathbone's first turn as Sherlock Holmes, his version of "The Hound of the Baskervilles," and the Nicholas Meyer-directed version of "The Seven Percent Solution," which was produced in 1976.

On the small screen -- the younger generation might pick the current BBC series -- but for my money the best, most faithful, sometimes astoundingly good version was the series starring Jeremy Brett. Especially the first two seasons, which were just phenomenal. I don't see how they can ever be topped by anything on television or the big screen.

Q: What would you say is the best Holmes story?

A: In short stories, my favorite is "The Final Problem," where Holmes goes up against his arch-nemesis, Professor Moriarty. I pair that with "The Empty House," where he makes his return. Then there are two novels, and my favorite is probably the least popular of the series, which is the "Valley of Fear." I love that book, but for the general public reading, I would recommend "The Hound of the Baskervilles."

Q: Are there any modern literary tellings of Sherlock Holmes? Is there someone carrying on the torch?

A: There's a modern book called "The House of Silk," but I don't know that anyone considers that canon. There's a pastiche of fan fiction, where Holmes enthusiasts write their own stories. It's been going on since around 1900, but it really picked up in the past 30 years or so. Many of them are dreadful, of course, but many are really quite good.

We missed the date, but you can put it on your calendar for next year.

Sherlock Holmes Film Festival

When: Noon to 5 p.m. Aug. 4.

Where: Hussey-Mayfield Memorial Public Library, 250 N. Fifth St., Zionsville.

Cost: Free. Popcorn, candy and beverages will be provided.

Registration required: Visitwww.zionsville.lib.in.us or call (317) 873-8341.

Information about The Illustrious Clients: emailillustriousclients@gmail.com or visit them on Facebook.

.

Credit where credit is due.