★ 5 / 10
I worked backstage on a stage play called
R T
I worked backstage on a stage play called The Game's Afoot (or Holmes for the Holidays) by Ken Ludwig. This farce had as its main character William Gillette, a…
I worked backstage on a stage play called The Game's Afoot (or Holmes for the Holidays) by Ken Ludwig. This farce had as its main character William Gillette, a real life actor who played the role of Sherlock Holmes hundreds of times internationally on stage. Recently this restored film was released on DVD, the only time Gillette committed his portrayal to film. I had to own this bit of history. Unfortunately I did not find the mystery thrilling or the shift from stage to screen to really make use of the new medium. Four acts of Gillette's long running stage play are transferred into four episodes. Gillette is responsible for many of the visuals we associate with Holmes. The film is fairly sophisticated in narrative form with amber and blue tints to distinguish interiors and exteriors, parallel editing, and occasional close-ups. But it is based on a play with spoken words and has fairly wordy title cards. Even with the pantomiming of the stage actors the story would not be conveyed without the ability to read some long passages. We do at least see Holmes as master of detection and disguise face off with Moriarty, master of the underworld.
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★ 10 / 10
The cinematography was beautiful and clever, the acting
cole
The cinematography was beautiful and clever, the acting was great, and Robert Downey Jr gave of a comedic but also genius attire. Altogether, a Clever…
The cinematography was beautiful and clever, the acting was great, and Robert Downey Jr gave of a comedic but also genius attire. Altogether, a Clever entertaining film
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★ 7 / 10
The Sherlock Holmes We're Familiar With, Thanks to William Gillette
springfieldrental
There have been over 50 movies and TV series of the famous British detective Sherlock Holmes since novelist Arthur Conan Doyle introduced him to print in 1887.…
There have been over 50 movies and TV series of the famous British detective Sherlock Holmes since novelist Arthur Conan Doyle introduced him to print in 1887. Of all the Holmes films produced, the one that was maddeningly lost and most prized was Essanay Studio's 1916 production with actor William Gillette, who made the detective famous on the stage. He was the Sherlock Holmes everyone is familiar with, molding the detective with the appearance and personality during the 1,300 performances he gave on the American and English stages before mesmerizing audiences. All film depictions of Holmes are based on the Gillette persona he lent to his detective, a portrayal heartedly approved by Doyle.So when the movie was discovered in Paris' Cinematheque Francaise archives in 2014 after a film canister had been mislabeled for decades, the cinematic community went bananas. At the May 2015 San Francisco Silent Film Festival, after the 1916 print was meticulously restored, lines formed outside the theater patiently waiting to see the United States premier of the newly-discovered movie. Movie aficionados knew this was Gillette's only appearance on film; this was his only acting of the detective preserved which greatly influenced future acting generations on the mien and presence of Sherlock its originator Doyle endorsed."Sherlock Holmes," originally released in May 1916, is a combination of four Doyle stories, which the 1899 stage play was based. Seen on the screen for the first time was Sherlock wearing his famous deerstalker hat, introduced by Gillette when he played him on the stage. Also seen was the curved-stem calabash pipe clinched between the detective's lips, a choice Gillette made when he noticed the straight-stem pipe impeded his voice projection and pronunciations. Gillette is also credited in giving Holmes the line directed at Dr. Watson, "Oh, this is elementary, my dear fellow."Before the movie production, Doyle gave Gillette permission to do anything he wanted with the Sherlock Holmes' franchise, so trusting was the author to the actor's knowledge and temperment of the detective. Gillette went ahead and introduced to the screen the role of the Dr. Watson character, played by Edward Fielding. In addition, Holmes' arch-villain, Professor Moriarty, is given more stage presence in the film than Doyle wrote about him in his novels.Gillette continued to have a lucrative acting career after the film release of "Sherlock Holmes,' but alas, not in cinema. He was one of those rare actors in his day who made a fortune in his profession, affording him the luxury of building his dream home, the Gillette Castle in East Haddam, Connecticut. He was especially passionate about his three-mile miniature railroad surrounding his estate. The state of Connecticut bought his property six years after his death and created the Gillette Castle State Park. A four-year $11 million renovation of the castle, museum and performance stage, completed in 2002, is one the top three state tourist attractions.Gillette, who died at age 83, is buried with his family in Farmington, CT's Riverside Cemetery.
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AUDIENCE
6.2/10
550
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Great! Thank you so much!