Jeremy Brett

[Inge l-w]

And what about the Sussex Vampire? I saw in another discussion how this could be used in future versions, but his whole physicality, as BC says, comes out there. That and The Illustrious Client are my favourites, because in the former he is playing against another iconic loner ( although of the Scotland Yard variety, Commander Dalgliesh himself!) and in the latter against Raffles in the person of Anthony Valentine. There is a thread about Sherlock meeting/seeing Bond on rooftops, but that is as nothing compared to these two episodes!

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

 

And when Messers. Moffat and Gatiss talk about the more serious versions needing to have the cobwebs blown away from them because Sherlock and John are a comedy double act, they should bear in mind the sheer exuberance of The Second Stain! There, Brett does some wonderful things with his hands, as well. Simply brilliant!

 

     Since BC does say that he studies Brett to help with his own portrayal, it could be that we might see some of that. Let's hope anyway.

[joanneta1]

Just watched some excerpts of Jeremy Brett's interviews on YouTube, and I am still reeling from the shock. Talk about Parallel Lives, like Plutarch used to write:

JB claimed that being an old Etonian was a distinct drawback he had to fight against, since people immediately assumed he had been born with a silver spoon in his mouth.

BC in the Cheltenham festival with Louise Brealy said that he had been misquoted and it was never a case of posh bashing, because posh people are educated and can generally stand up for themselves.

JB claimed that after three seasons of playing the eponymous character, he still found him very daunting and difficult to get around, a loner and he was originally terrified and did not want to play him at all.

BC claims that the character's moods and changes from a violin-playing quiessence to hard action fighting villains on train roofs are still occasions of "minor heart attacks".

JB said that he was scared of his character's intellect and he himself was more of a Watson type, since it would be much more fun to be Watson

BC echoed that he is more of a Watson type, a follower.

JB said that Holmes has a very dark private part inaccessible to others (dark enough to commit murder?)

BC said in the extra material that there is an essential darkness to the personality.

JB attributed some of his hero's tours de force to "brilliant feminine-like intuition".

Could we have the Magnussen deleted scene?

JB said that his father didn't want him to be an actor and did not go to watch him play for two years

BC has repeatedly gone on record to say that his parents tried to dissuade him from following in their footsteps.

JB said that he insisted on a very pale makeup, "white", he called it, to add to the inscrutability of the face.

BC remarked on his particularly pale complexion during the filming of S1.

Of course, BC has said that he knew him as a youngster, but for the moment it is enough to be going on with.

Oh, and speculation-wise, the play Brett and Hardwick acted in, by Jeremy Paul, had seven GHOSTS in it.

Also, in there, it was mentioned that at ACD's school, Stonyhurst, the brothers John and Michael Moriarty had won prizes in mathematics.

Good grief!

 

[Ruthyone]

Jeremy Brett/Edward Hardwicke Interview..........

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBI_5Rzf1aI

[Carol the Dabbler]

JB attributed some of his hero's tours de force to "brilliant feminine-like intuition".

I am tickled pink to hear that said by someone who's so familiar with Holmes.  I've been thinking something similar about Sherlock, but I don't know the original Holmes well enough to know whether it applied to him as well:

 

I believe that Sherlock's elaborate "deductions" are actually flashes of insight strung together with logic.

 

[joanneta1]

Carol, help, I pushed the wrong button and liked my own scribbling! How is that possible?

[Carol the Dabbler]

Carol, help, I pushed the wrong button and liked my own scribbling! How is that possible?

 

Added:  The following is a reply to my gross misinterpretation of joanneta's question.  I'll leave it here, on the off-chance that somebody might actually have the question that I was answering.  The rest of you may prefer to read my actual reply, two posts down.

 

 

Are you saying that you had typed something in and were ready to post it -- and then you clicked the wrong thing and your whole thing just disappeared?  If so, you have my condolences!

 

If you've accidentally gone to another page, the browser back-button will sometimes bring you back to where you were, text and all.

 

Otherwise, you  can sometimes recover by using the auto-saved material -- click in the edit box to activate it, then wait a bit to see if you get a "Last auto saved" message in the lower-left margin of the box.  If you do, click on that message and if it offers, see what it has saved.  It should then offer to restore it for you.

 

Or if I've misinterpreted what you said -- sorry -- please try again!

[SherlockedCAMPer]

I think she may have pushed the Like This button on one of her own posts.

[Carol the Dabbler]

Oh!  Of course, now I see what she means.  Sorry, joanneta -- all I can say is, yes, the forum software allows that.  You should be able to "Unlike" it, though.

 

[Inge l-w]

D'you have any photos of Brett as Holmes as the plumber in "Milverton"? I'm always amazed by how different he looks -- sorta cuddly!

Dear Carol,

Here you are: it's the scene where she says "give us a kiss" and he very truthfully replies as Sherlock "I do not know how"

[Inge l-w]

D'you have any photos of Brett as Holmes as the plumber in "Milverton"? I'm always amazed by how different he looks -- sorta cuddly!

And here is another one while he tries to find out their sleeping arrangements, hope it comes out all right!

[Carol the Dabbler]

You inspired me to look on YouTube.  Aha!  Some samples of those scenes:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jnsvOYB1L0&feature=player_detailpage

 

[Inge l-w]

Indeed, my thanks to you! Because I saw your query, and because I had just watched HLV for the umpteenth time and wanted to throw something at the screen or break something while visualising getting my hands around the scriptwriter's neck and shaking him until his back teeth rattled, I put on the Master Blackmailer to get some nice little shots for you, and enjoyed myself hugely! And everybody on the forum knows to what extents this one was taken in the modern version:

[Ruthyone]

 

JB attributed some of his hero's tours de force to "brilliant feminine-like intuition".

I am tickled pink to hear that said by someone who's so familiar with Holmes.  I've been thinking something similar about Sherlock, but I don't know the original Holmes well enough to know whether it applied to him as well:

 

I believe that Sherlock's elaborate "deductions" are actually flashes of insight strung together with logic.

 

I think all the actors who have played 'Sherlock' have had to find 'his essence' - the eccentricity and the magnetism.

[joanneta1]

Parallel lives again, but this time it's Raffles and Holmes, (anyway, when E.W. Hornung created Raffles, he dedicated it "To ACD, this form of flattery",

but JB complains in both the story and the episode of The Second Stain : "Women, how can you build anything in such quicksand!" and Raffles echoes in An Old Flame: "It is useless to deny things when a woman knows better"!

[Ruthyone]

Possibly because the series JB was in, was set in the Victorian era and women were not seen as equals then.

[joanneta1]

Oh, and the 21st century one replies to Molly's "Well, we all do silly things" with a scathing "Yes, they do, don't they", presumably because he is still basically mistrustful of them as a species!

[Boton]

I just started watching this version last night.  Truthfully, it is taking some doing for me to adjust to Brett as Holmes -- more than it did for me to adjust to RDJ, or Miller, or whoever is the Russian Sherlock.  But I like him.  It's almost like watching our Sherlock's great-grandfather or something.  I suspect it will grow on me quickly.

[joanneta1]

Oh, it will, it most certainly will! When the Moffatt-Gatiss duo have managed to drive me to distraction a g a I n, I grab any Granada series DVD and restore order to my world and my compromised sanity. If I could compare this series to anything in the modernised version, it is to me what his signature scarf and coat have become to Sherlock, indispensable.

[Boton]

Yep, I'm toast.  I'm only four episodes in, and I already want to take this Holmes home with me and take care of his arrogant, smart-arse, yet vulnerable self.  IIRC, this is how it started with Sherlock.....

[Pawse]

[Inge l-w]

Yep, I'm toast. I'm only four episodes in, and I already want to take this Holmes home with me and take care of his arrogant, smart-arse, yet vulnerable self. IIRC, this is how it started with Sherlock.....

Oh, dear Boton you are in for a treat!

Throughout the series, watch out for his behaviour towards Mrs Hudson ; "Yes, Mrs Hudson, I apologise for the state of my bedroom!"

How he gives her a fit of hysterics in The Empty House, but carefully coaches her how not to become collateral damage by moving the bust, how she dangles his keys in her hand after an insomniac attack has driven him to roam London in The Noble Bachelor, and he puts his hand up against the partition door glass EXACTLY like Sherlock in Scandal just before facing the Americans!

[Boton]

Still working my way through the Brett series, mostly because we are interspersing our Netflix DVDs with the Avengers movies.  

 

Just saw The Speckled Band.  How much do I love Holmes just scampering up that field on his way to take on the case.  That man takes far too  much pleasure in solving crimes.  

[221bbakerstreet_]

Jeremy Brett is my favorite Victorian Sherlock. When I read Doyle's books, my image of Sherlock was Jeremy. He had such a dedication to his work. I absolutely loved the series and wished life would have let him live a longer life.

[Inge l-w]

That is from The Naval Treaty, where he stops a moment trying to analyse everything and just takes in the wonder of nature in creating something as superfluous as a rose! Of course, the whole case got binned by the two fanboys in Scandal, where it metamorphoses into the Navel Treatment or Belly-Button Murders, just before he picks up the Silly Hat to cover his face from the press!