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sherlock60Let's talk telly in the discussion post for Granada's TV adaptation of Charles Augustus Milverton, called The Master Blackmailer. If you haven't seen this episode yet, you can find it at YouTube, Netflix, Amazon Video, and DVD. Follow me behind the jump for my random thoughts and impressions. Please add your own in the comments!
Canon discussion for The Six Napoleons is available in this week's canon discussion post.
- These Granada episodes are often odd, but the opening to this one struck me as particularly out of place. I suppose the scene is implying that heated temperatures lead to heated emotions and later a Beat It-esque knife fight that sets the story in motion. But it seems pretty incongruous that to demonstrate this, the camera spends ten or twenty seconds ogling a woman's breasts as she pours water all over herself, her mouth sensuously open. The patriarch of the Venucci family seems to enjoy the soft-core porn show, though, hiding ineptly behind half a screen one building over. As I said, it's an odd scene.
- Once the ball gets rolling, this episode is excellent. Granada's actors do a marvelous job portraying real camaraderie between Holmes, Watson, and Lestrade. Their happiness at working together and simply being together is infectious. The sleepover is boyishly sweet for the adorable way Holmes simply insists Lestrade is staying over at their place and that is that. And although he doesn't understand it, Lestrade goes along with the plan. Holmes is frugal with his information, but Watson is generous with port. He makes his friends work for it, sitting in the cold without tobacco or even humbugs, but Holmes' proposal for an exciting evening for the three of them eventually pays off well.
- What's not to love about the last scene with our three boys, when Colin Jeavons' expressive Lestrade finally tells Holmes he and the rest of the Yard are proud of him? The shock and evolving realization of what he's saying in Jeremy Brett's face is a treasure. He's so demure at first, expecting just praise as he normally gets for doing what he does, but this is not something he anticipated at all, and it breaks his careful cool, touching him deeply. And Brett does all of it wordlessly. Impressive work.
- A few small disconnected compliments. The man who plays Pietro deserves credit for playing dead so effectively while Jeremy Brett's Holmes crawled all over him. The simian references to Beppo stay in this version, but the racism of it is pleasantly blunted by making the man truly acrobatic like a monkey. He's all over the place, and mad as a hatter. And hats off to Jeremy Brett for pulling off the tablecloth trick with such aplomb!
Canon discussion for The Six Napoleons is available in this week's canon discussion post.
- These Granada episodes are often odd, but the opening to this one struck me as particularly out of place. I suppose the scene is implying that heated temperatures lead to heated emotions and later a Beat It-esque knife fight that sets the story in motion. But it seems pretty incongruous that to demonstrate this, the camera spends ten or twenty seconds ogling a woman's breasts as she pours water all over herself, her mouth sensuously open. The patriarch of the Venucci family seems to enjoy the soft-core porn show, though, hiding ineptly behind half a screen one building over. As I said, it's an odd scene.
- Once the ball gets rolling, this episode is excellent. Granada's actors do a marvelous job portraying real camaraderie between Holmes, Watson, and Lestrade. Their happiness at working together and simply being together is infectious. The sleepover is boyishly sweet for the adorable way Holmes simply insists Lestrade is staying over at their place and that is that. And although he doesn't understand it, Lestrade goes along with the plan. Holmes is frugal with his information, but Watson is generous with port. He makes his friends work for it, sitting in the cold without tobacco or even humbugs, but Holmes' proposal for an exciting evening for the three of them eventually pays off well.
- What's not to love about the last scene with our three boys, when Colin Jeavons' expressive Lestrade finally tells Holmes he and the rest of the Yard are proud of him? The shock and evolving realization of what he's saying in Jeremy Brett's face is a treasure. He's so demure at first, expecting just praise as he normally gets for doing what he does, but this is not something he anticipated at all, and it breaks his careful cool, touching him deeply. And Brett does all of it wordlessly. Impressive work.
- A few small disconnected compliments. The man who plays Pietro deserves credit for playing dead so effectively while Jeremy Brett's Holmes crawled all over him. The simian references to Beppo stay in this version, but the racism of it is pleasantly blunted by making the man truly acrobatic like a monkey. He's all over the place, and mad as a hatter. And hats off to Jeremy Brett for pulling off the tablecloth trick with such aplomb!
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Date: 2013-07-28 11:45 pm (UTC)Jeremy Brett does some of the finest acting in the entire series in this episode. His reaction to Colin Jeavon's praise, as you pointed out, is a real tour de force. He actually tears up, which is amazing.
If I had to pick one favorite scene in the entire series, it might be the completely non-canonical, but perfectly in character 'business' with the tablecloth. Brett pulls it off with the air of a master showman. I absolutely love it!
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Date: 2013-07-30 11:54 pm (UTC)