Chapter #12 - Prayers answered and Sidney Paget didn't help us much, and Snarky tours keeps going in the gutter.

Well, Jude Law didn't come out of the stone hut and pummel RDJ. (Funny, that is one of the few adaptions where we actually cheer when Watson pummels Holmes).

Instead, we hear a big sigh of relief from Watson as he finds out it is Holmes. His prayers have been answered, he is no longer in it alone.
Although he is a little angry at the deception, it is soon abated and Watson once again, happily, returns to Holmes' side.
Ever the man of action, he is now ready to set his sights on Stapleton. And who knows where Snarky Tours is setting their sights.
(Art Work by)
                                       
Just a few weeks ago I read a reviewer of the HOUN complaining about the way Brett was dressed in this scene in the Granada version of this story. And although it is inaccurate by Doyle's description, it does at least capture one of the lines from the description correctly, " . . with that catlike love of personal cleanliness which was one of his characteristics. . ."

If there was ever a scene in the Canon where we wished Holmes dressed like that (inaccurate?) iconic image of Holmes we have come to love, Iverness cape and deerstalker, surely this is where it should be, in the HOUN.
Cold and windy, foggy and damp, what better please for a caped great coat and deerstalker than Grimpen Mire.

But alas. . . . it is not to be found in the HOUND I'm afraid.

Brett is pictured wearing a long black coat, with a long lighter black or grey scarf and a black banded fedora type hat. The hat looks like felt but could be something else.

Watson's (Doyle's) description of Holmes' attire is slightly different. He was wearing a "tweed suit and cloth cap he looked like any other tourist upon the moor,. . ."



If we look at the Paget image of Holmes coming up upon the stone hut, before he greets Watson, the shadow would suggest something other than the deerstalker or cloth cap. Showing instead a hat with some sort of brim around it. (Of course, if you wear a deerstalker as Michael Caine did on occasion in 'Without a Clue', it could appear to have a brim when shadowed from the back) While cap is usually associated with a particular style of , well. . . hat, hat is a broad term for many different types of head coverings.

The image as drawn by Paget would seem to be of the sort Brett is wearing on the moor, a brimmed hat with a flat top.

But that hardly corresponds with Watson's description of a cloth cap. Caps are describe as; 'Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head and have no brim or only a visor.'
 
                                                                                                                     (Cloth cap above.)
A cloth cap, which is not usually very warm, would hardly seem appropriate for October on the moors.

                                                             (Tweed cap to the right, if we take cloth in the broadest sense.)





If we want our image of deerstalker and cap we would have to go with something along these lines. . .

which fits Watson's description of a cap and if we take the word cloth, again, in a very broad sense, cloth could mean tweed.


Again, though, none of these match Sidney Paget's image of Holmes' headgear.
Is there an error in Sidney Paget's image? Or are we not taking something into consideration?

Remember this scene in the story takes place very late in the evening, just before the sun sets.
A sun very low on the horizon casts a very long shadow.
A persons shadow seems very tall early in the morning or late in the evening near sunset. So also could a hats shadow.

If we take Watson's use of the word cap as loose as we could the word cloth we come up with a couple of options that could match Watson's description as well as Paget's drawing.

Two options are;
Although fedoras are usually considered hats, (which Watson would not mistake for a cap) we can come up with tweed fedoras. . .                    

which we can picture Holmes wearing on his next visit. to Reichenbach, maybe with a little feather.

Our, if we prefer something a little more associated with the U.K., here modeled by Sir Sean Connery, we have the tweed cap. . .

usually found with a crease in the top, we can image Holmes placing a can of tongue

 inside at night to keep it from blowing away which would give it that flat look we see in Paget's image.

Although Brett's hat also slightly resembles a Trilby, the brim appears to wide, as does the shadow in Paget's work. 

If we are going with hats, and not caps, the Homburg also resembles the shadow a little bit.

Paget's image of the man on the tor hardly throws any light on the matter.

Although Brett's hat could fit the image done by Paget, it may not fit Watson's description given in the tale, it all depends on what you call a cap and what you call a hat.

When it comes right down to it, how he looks is going to be determined by how we imagine him.

What do you think.

One of may favorite scenes from Brett's HOUND is when he offers Watson some of his cooking in the hut. 

Now, about the coat and suit Brett is wearing and how it corresponds with Watson's description. . . .

. . . OK, maybe tomorrow.

Did anyone count how many times Watson checks his gun in the Granada version?

Seven Degrees of Sherlock Holmes - #17 - Eddie Murphy

Once again, these may not be the only connections, but are the first ones I find a complete connection to.

So here goes.

Funny man Eddie Murphy (1961)

was in 2011's "Tower Heist" - 

which also featured the popular Matthew Broderick (1962)

who starred in 1989's "Family Business" 

which also starred Mr. Bond himself, Sean Connery (1930)

who starred in the adventure film, "The Man Who Would Be King" - 1975

along with not only Michael Caine (1933)

who played Sherlock Holmes in 1988 wonderful "Without a Clue",

but also featured Christopher Plummer (1929)

who first played Sherlock Holmes in 1977's "Silver Blaze"

And then again in "Murder by Decree" 1979.

So, there you have it, there you are.

Seven Degrees of Sherlock Holmes - #6 - Ashton Kutcher

Trying to keep things trendy, but thinking I need to go unknown, I have picked Ashton Kutcher.
In the news a bit, made some OK movies and took over for Charlie (the idiot) Sheen.

So here goes.

Ashton Kutcher - 1978 . . . .

. . . was in 2003 Cheaper by the Dozen . . .

. . which also starred Steve Martin, 1945 . . .

. . . who starred in 1988's Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. . .

. . . which also starred the great Michael Caine, 1933 . . .

. . . who, sort of, played Sherlock Holmes in 1988's Without a Clue. . . 

Well, it wasn't to far for Mr. Kutcher to get to the connection with Holmes.

I really have no plan in mind when I pick a name, but will try harder next time.

Send me some names if you like, but pick them at random.

See ya next week.

'E' Cads! Messing with the Canon, who ever heard of such, . . oh, wait.

8 unconventional Sherlock Holmes adaptations

By The Week's Editorial Staff | The Week – Wed, Feb 29, 2012

• 
  

In CBS' Elementary, Dr. Watson will be played by Lucy Liu. Is the controversial gender-swap the strangest twist among the many retellings of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's tales?

It's been 125 years since Sir Arthur Conan Doyle first introduced British super sleuth Sherlock Holmes to readers, and, since then, the classic character and his slower-on-the-uptake sidekick Dr. Watson have been reinterpreted in unconventional, inventive, and sometimes downright strange ways. The latest is a just-announced CBS pilot called Elementary, a potential fall 2012 series which will follow a modern day Holmes (played by Jonny Lee Miller) in New York City. Dr. Watson, controversially, will be played by female Asian-American star Lucy Liu. Here's a look at eight of the many efforts to tinker with the Holmes formula:

1. Elementary (2012)
Elementary will be set in present-day New York City. Its Holmes, just returned from rehab, is consulting for the NYPD and living with "sober companion" Watson. Jane Watson, that is, a former surgeon whose license was revoked after the death of a patient. The casting of Liu as Watson is enough to make you "slap your head in despair," says Stuart Heritage at the U.K.'s Guardian. The gender reversal will completely "cancel out the asexual ambiguity of Sherlock's character." How long before a romantic relationship blooms between the central characters, wonders Joe Cunningham at Indie Wire? "Maybe we'll finally see Holmes and Watson going at it."

2. Sherlock (2010)
Another modernization attempt, BBC's Sherlock, which airs on PBS in the U.S., has the duo solving crime in 21st century London. Like the literary character, Watson is injured from war service, only in this case, he sustained the injury in Afghanistan fighting in the post-9/11 invasion. That and other contemporary references (think smartphones) make "so much sense" and translate seamlessly, says Alyssa Rosenberg at The Atlantic, creating a series that is at once unmistakably Doylian and fittingly modern.
3. Sherlock Holmes (2009) and Game of Shadows (2011)
In Guy Ritchie's high-octane, special-effects-and-fight-scenes adaptations of Sherlock Holmes, Robert Downey Jr. plays "literature's greatest detective as a sort of self-loathing action hero," says Bill Goodykoontz at The Arizona Republic. He's a bare-knuckle boxer with six pack abs. And yet, because Downey has a blast in the "rock and roll" role, audiences do too. Not so fast, says Michael O'Sullivan at The Washington Post. "Ritchie and company try so hard to make sure this isn't your father's Sherlock Holmes that it comes across as, well, cartoonish."

4. House (2004)
Astute fans of Fox's medical drama House who notice similarities between Hugh Laurie's smarmy Dr. House, with his penchant for brilliant diagnoses, and Sherlock Holmes are right on the money. The show's creator, David Shore, has gone on record saying that Dr. House was directly inspired by Holmes. Both are experts in their fields brought in when cases prove too difficult for other investigators to solve, and are roommates with their right-hand men (in House's case, it's Dr. Wilson). The similarities extend so far that Dr. House's apartment number 221B is the same as Holmes'.
5. Sherlock: Case of Evil (2002)
In the 2002 made-for-TV movie Sherlock: Case of Evil, the titular detective — here, a womanizing, drug-addicted, self-involved 28-year-old — is far younger than in most other adaptations. And, as played by actor James D'Arcy, he "appears closer to 18," says Mystery File. Portraying "a sexy Sherlock Holmes" is certainly a risk, says Laura Fries at Variety. But by ditching the character's dowdy checkered hat and pipe, and revamping his stodgy reputation, this "slick and sophisticated" movie ultimately succeeds.
r

6. The Return of Sherlock Holmes (1987)
Lucy Liu isn't the first Jane Watson to join Sherlock on his investigations. In the 1987 TV movie The Return of Sherlock Holmes, actress Margaret Colin played a different Jane, in this case the great-granddaughter of the famed Dr. Watson. When attempting to sell her ancestor's estate, she stumbles upon a hidden basement housing a cryogenic capsule with a man inside. After thawing the body, she discovers that the man is, in fact, Sherlock Holmes. Reanimated in the '80s, Holmes joins Watson on a few investigations. Considering the world didn't end when a woman assisted Holmes that time, says Sarah Anne Hughes at The Washington Post, perhaps we should reserve judgment on Liu.

7. Young Sherlock Holmes (1985)
1985's Young Sherlock Holmes offers a meet-cute scenario for the legendary partners. A young John Watson is shipped off to boarding school, where he meets and befriends Sherlock Holmes, a bizarre and brilliant fellow student. The two begin investigating a series of local murders. "It's the origin story for the world's first consulting detective that Conan Doyle was never considerate enough to write for us," says MaryAnn Johnson at Flick Filosopher. Unfortunately, this "exquisite idea," says Common Sense, yielded a "mediocre result."

8. Without a Clue (1980)
In Without a Clue, Ben Kingsley plays Dr. Watson, who, in this case, is the brilliant one. Not wanting to draw attention to his own sleuthing skills, he hires an actor to play "Sherlock Holmes," the face of their crime-solving operation. Michael Caine plays the actor/Holmes, and "it's impossible not to derive some pleasure out of Caine and Kingsley's effortless chemistry," says David Nusair at Reel Film. Vincent Canby at The New York Times, on the other hand, calls the film "an appallingly witless sendup," arguing that the very premise of the flick "wouldn't support a five-minute revue" — much less a full-fledged movie.

Credit where credit is due. . .