Welcome back to Dark Corners Streaming.
Earlier this year we conducted a Twitter poll asking for people’s favourite Sherlock Holmes actor,
and the star of this week’s review received zero votes.
That should be a surprise; between 1921 and 1923
Eille Norwood played the detective in 45 shorts and 2 features,
which given that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote 56 short stories and 4 novels is an excellent conversion rate,
he played Holmes onscreen more than any actor until Jonny Lee Miller
and still holds the record for the big screen and for adaptations of the original stories.
Conan Doyle said of him ‘If William Gillette was Sherlock Holmes to theatre audiences,
then this new man is Holmes to cinema-goers’.
BUT the vast majority of his films are lost and those that remain have never had a proper restoration or release.
Fortunately you can find a handful on Youtube – though be careful as some have been messed about with.
We watched The Man With the Twisted Lip, The Devil’s Foot and The Dying Detective,
all co-starring Hubert Willis, somewhat making up the numbers as Watson,
and directed by prolific British director Maurice Elvey,
whose Sci-fi film High Treason we have previously reviewed.
The adaptations are mostly very faithful,
sometimes lifting dialogue verbatim for the titles
with only The Dying Detective making major changes to add action to a very static story.
Norwood apparently insisted on accuracy, arguing over changes he felt to be unnecessary or out of character.
The series makes little concession to period and the speed at which it was made also sacrifices atmosphere.
It must also be said that while Norwood gives an understated and natural performance
this is not always the case with his co-stars.
But the major problem is dramatic structure; the climax comes too early in The Man With the Twisted Lip
and with surprisingly little drama.
While in The Dying Detective, what ought to be a major twist is revealed just 8 minutes in.
The Devil’s Foot is the best of this trio here,
Elvey draws our attention to the lamp which will later prove pivotal
a rare piece of really cinematic storytelling.
It’s the one that best captures Holmes ‘at work’ on a crime scene
as well as having some action.
These are solid but not the best versions of Conan Doyle’s stories,
and truthfully the best way to enjoy them is to have read the story in advance,
not least because it allows you to appreciate how good Eille Norwood is.
The best silent actors manage to be natural yet expressive,
we know Holmes is suspicious of Mortimer Tregennis, but it is not overplayed.
All the more obvious alongside other actors.
One of the hardest things about playing Holmes is that his ‘superpower’ - for want of a better phrase -
is thinking, yet Norwood’s quiet intensity makes even this cinematic.
He casually inhabits the role in a way that raises these films from below average,
and for fans of the books they are must-see.
One final fact; Norwood’s real surname was Brett,
a name he coincidentally shares with the stage name of one of the few other actors to make accurate adaptations of the Sherlock Holmes stories.
'My name is Sherlock Holmes, it is my buisness to know what others don't.'
Thanks for watching. If you’re a fan of a book then adaptations are a lottery,
what actors have nailed screen versions of literary characters you love? Let us know in the comments below,