Douglas Wilmer as Sherlock Holmes

Close on the heels of the great detective’s birthday, here comes another reason for Sherlockians/Holmesians to rejoice: Douglas Wilmer celebrates his 93^rd birthday today.

Douglas Wilmer starred as Sherlock Holmes in the BBC series (1964-68) for the first 13 episodes and was succeeded by the late, great Peter Cushing for the rest of the series. Nigel Stock portrayed Dr Watson for the entire series.

Wilmer also had a cameo role as a Diogenes Gent in “The Reichenbach Fall” - the final episode of the second season of the BBC series Sherlock.

Wilmer’s run as Sherlock Holmes in the 1964-68 BBC series consisted of the following episodes:

·        The Speckled Band

·        The Illustrious Client

·        The Devil's Foot

·        The Copper Beeches

·        The Red-Headed League

·        The Abbey Grange

·        The Six Napoleons

·        The Man with the Twisted Lip

·        The Beryl Coronet

·        The Bruce-Partington Plans

·        Charles Augustus Milverton

·        The Retired Colourman

·        The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax

All but the 2 episodes (The Abbey Grange and The Bruce-Partington Plans) are available on DVD.

Most of the episodes are very faithful takes on their source materials with some minor changes. A recurring change is that the episodes do not start with the client’s visit to 221 B Baker Street. Instead, we see the actual crime happening and then we have our customary visit by the client. This is a welcome change and is something unique to this adaptation.

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My favorite episodes are “The Devil’s Foot” and “The Beryl Coronet”. These are two of the least filmed stories in the Canon. The Granada version is the only other adaptation of The Devil’s Foot. There are references to the story in The Hounds of Baskerville (BBC’s Sherlock) and The Spider Woman (Sir Basil Rathbone).

As for “The Beryl Coronet”, I believe this is the only adaptation.

Wilmer brought the right amount of humor and eccentricity to the role. This version of Holmes is one of the most Canonically faithful ones ever portrayed on screen. Vasily Livanov presented the brighter aspects of Holmes’ personality and Benedict Cumberbatch is doing a great job at portraying the colder side of Holmes and his black moods. Wilmer’s version provides a fine balance between these two extremes.

Wilmer did a lot of research as part of preparing for the role and the hard work is quite evident in his portrayal. Wilmer’s natural sense of humor and intelligence shines through and his performance is a delight to watch.

Some of the script work for the episodes was not upto the mark. Wilmer himself rewrote the scripts to make them more in the Doylean mold.

Wilmer left the series after the rehearsal periods were reduced severely. It is gratifying to come across a dedicated craftsman like Wilmer who did not bow down to commercial reasons and stood by his artistic integrity.

Happy Birthday Douglas Wilmer and wishing you many more years of healthy life ahead!

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Book Review: Bait & Switch: A sci-fi Sherlock Holmes by Ashley Marie Bergner

This is a review of the Kindle version.

The author, Ashley Marie Bergner is a fan of the science fiction genre and Sherlock Holmes. This book successfully combines both these components and the end product is a delightful Sherlock Holmes pastiche with a sci fi flavor.

There are a total of 6 cases in this pastiche. The first one begins with Sherlock Holmes and Jaymie Watson meeting at building 221 in Quadrant B. A woman disappears shortly and our duo is off on their first case together. The second and third cases have Holmes solving the murder of an actress and the theft of a precious diamond respectively.

The final 3 cases have Holmes piecing together the pieces that would help him stop a criminal mastermind with unlimited resources and power at his command.

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Here are the things I liked the most:

1. Good representation of the Canonical Holmes – Calm with a dry/sarcastic sense of humor. Some of his exchanges with other characters are similar to those of Cumberbatch’s version.
2. Nods to classic Holmesian traits – Conducting experiments, operating outside the law, thorough knowledge of London, lack of respect for social titles and designations, breaking into buildings as part of investigations, using his memory to store facts only when needed, knowledge on poisons, Holmes’s penchant for adopting disguises and accents.
3. Lestrade is featured heavily in this pastiche. As can be expected, there are familiar jabs by Sherlock at the efficiency of the Official Police force and the “little sallow, rat-faced, dark-eyed fellow” in particular.
4. Good sci-fi flavor to the Legendary Detective – All the familiar settings and characters but cast in a different universe. Couple of examples: London is Loudron and Scotland Yard is Civic Security Station.
5. My favorite character is Miles Zawker. To reveal more will be spoiling the fun and I will leave it at that!

Ashley Marie Bergner

Canonical References

1. When Watson first meets Holmes, the latter is conducting a chemical experiment.  A very similar scenario happens in A Study in Scarlet.
2. This line from the pastiche - “… his eyes quickly darting about the room like a praxit cat’s, taking in every detail.” is a nice variation on following observation made by Dr Watson in The Sign of the Four: “So swift, silent, and furtive were his movements, like those of a trained bloodhound picking out a scent..”.
3. There is a reference to this line in The Adventure of the Three Garridebs – “The clear, hard eyes were dimmed for a moment, and the firm lips were shaking. For the one and only time I caught a glimpse of a great heart as well as of a great brain.”
4. One of the characters refers to Holmes as a meddlesome, far-too-nosy busybody. Readers familiar with the Canon will recognize the “Holmes, the busybody!” line spoken by Dr. Grimesby Roylott in The Adventure of the Speckled Band.
5. Sherlock Holmes cautions Watson against judging her date based on his (seemingly) nice behavior. Reference to The Sign of Four - "It is of the first importance not to allow your judgment to be biased by personal qualities… The emotional qualities are antagonistic to clear reasoning."
6.  I especially loved "room No. 1893". Very subtle and yet very satisfying!

I found some nods to the current Sherlock Holmes adaptations:

Guy Ritchie directed movies

• Holmes pastes pictures, words and thoughts on his bedroom wall. He calls the wall his "association map". This is similar to the diorama maintained by Robert Downey Jr.’s Holmes in Watson’s office.

Diorama from the movie 'Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows' 

• Holmes enacts his plans as a digi-drama in his mind before things happen. This reminded me of the Holmavision of Robert Downey Jr.'s version.

Sherlock Holmes (Robert Downey Jr.) performing his Holmesavision 

• The plot of Case # 4 has some similarities to the first movie.

BBC series Sherlock

• The sci-fi version of Holmes is verbose and wears a trench coat and scarf.

BBC Sherlock (Benedict Cumberbatch) in his signature trench coat

• Anderson, Sherlock's nemesis in the Scotland Yard is referred to indirectly.

Anderson in 'A Study in Pink'

Some things that did not work out:

1. In Case # 1, Holmes guesses some things about Watson. This is a significant departure from the Canon. In The Sign of the Four, Holmes makes the following observation - "No, no; I never guess. It is a shocking habit - destructive to the logical faculty." But to the author’s credit, this is a rare misstep.
2. Case # 5 - I personally found it to be considerably less involving than the rest. There is not much mystery or suspense in this section and the main focus is on Watson’s date with another character.
3. The final case contained some melodramatic elements and the resolution was a bit clichéd.
4. Too many times, the words “meddling” and “meddler” are used with reference to Holmes. I can only guess that the author likes Scooby Doo a lot!

In conclusion, this pastiche is a good example of how to give a futuristic update to the Victorian settings of the Canon. It is an excellent homage to the legend of Sherlock Holmes.

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Image Sources: Amazon, Fanpop, GQ Magazine

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