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elabyYou may have noticed my unabashed squee the other night concerning the Russian Sherlock Holmes series. They're actually a bunch of television movies, which I didn't know (thought it was a whole TV series!) and the whole thing was sparked off by watching their version of "The Hound of the Baskervilles," which I found in its entirety subtitled on YouTube. I had no idea, until I looked after seeing that video I posted, that the series was available to buy. I want to continue in the tradition of reviewing every Hound movie I see (more accurately, probably, every Holmes movie I see XD) so here we go.
This is, by far, the most canon-accurate Hound movie I've come across. I'm not sure if it's just that whoever subtitled it conveniently used ACD's text, but the dialogue is almost word-for-word. I'm delighted, because I had previously thought the Granada series was the only Holmes series that bothered to pay close attention to canon, in terms of both story and setting, instead of picking and choosing whatever was most interesting and adding on to bits that supposedly needed embellishment. I haven't seen the second half of the movie yet, so I can't say for sure, but so far this Hound has followed the book impeccably.
On to the actors and characters. Vasily Livanov is charming as Holmes. Owing to the nature of the story, we haven't seen as much of him as we would in other films, but when he has been onscreen his version of Holmes is incredibly endearing. Let me just relay the opening scene for you:
Watson: *standing behind Holmes, examining walking stick left behind by client*
Holmes: What do you make of the stick, Watson?
Watson: You must have eyes in the back of your head.
Holmes: If you had read my monograph on the anatomy of the detective, you would know that the tips of my ears get hot when—
Mrs. Hudson: He was watching your reflection in the coffee pot.
Holmes: *practically falls into his breakfast laughing*
Watson: *eyeroll*
Livanov does a very good job of balancing Holmes's eccentricities with his more serious qualities. He's flippant, but not in the 30's-movie "I know everything so I don't need to bother getting excited about this" way. Because the dialogue is so close to canon, he acts very much like Holmes – bored and impatient when he thinks Dr. Mortimer's story about the hound is just some piece of folklore, and intent and excited when he finds out it has connections with a modern murder. Sir Henry Baskerville is played in this film as extremely loud, boisterous, and forgetful, and during the scene where they meet, Holmes is constantly telling him (in the politest tones, of course) to STFU and pay attention. His short-temperedness is delightful. In an interesting detail, his Holmes wears reading glasses, which I never thought I'd appreciate with Holmes, but it really works. He also excels at portraying Holmes's talent for steamrolling over people, Watson especially.
Holmes: Oh, Watson would be happy to accompany you to Dartmoor!
Watson: Wait, what?
It helps that he takes every opportunity to stand very very close to whoever he's with. Again, Watson especially. In the first scene, when Dr. Mortimer leaves, he comes over to stand so close to Watson that he's practically pressed up against him, and not because the shot required it or because of the layout of the set. [/frivolous fangirling] I'll know more about my opinion of him when I finish the movie, since a lot of how I would judge his acting would depend on the scenes near the end of the story.
Vitaly Solomin as Watson is quite a bit different from the Watson I imagine, but I still really like his portrayal. In most of the first half of this movie, he comes across as extremely serious. Very stoic, very straight-faced. Except when he's laughing at Holmes. You know.
Solomin is also, which throws me off a bit, SUPER young and very pretty. Even though I know that Holmes and Watson were quite young when they met, I always expect them to look older because of the actors I've seen portray them before. It takes some getting used to, but I really do like his Watson. Since the story is so close to canon, Solomin's Watson does not fall prey to the usual bastardization of character. He's loyal, fairly smart, extremely dependable, and in this movie, suspicious as all get-out XD Almost nobody crosses his path without him looking at them with a sort of wary skepticism. He also seems extremely tense when they first arrive in Dartmoor. I guess I can understand that, since he understands the danger of the situation and Holmes told him to observe all of Sir Henry's neighbors, but it's still just a little hilarious.
He loosens up after a while, though. The first you see of this was the first part of the movie that made me really like his Watson: he does this little "OMFG the floor is FREEZING!" dance in his nightshirt before getting into bed. It was adorable. And then – and this really caught me off guard – it appears for all the world like he and Sir Henry get totally plastered the night after they have dinner with the Stapletons, before they discover Barrymore's communication with Seldon on the moor. It's a really bizarre scene, and I can't be sure if we're supposed to think they're drunk or what. Sir Henry is sitting against the foot of a bed, presumably on the floor, and he says something like "So, Watson..." and you hear Watson say "Yes?" and Henry asks something about Beryl Stapleton, and then you see Watson sit up on the bed from where he'd been laying hidden by the footboard. He's all unsteady and wobbly, as is Sir Henry (but Henry's kind of a loony in this movie anyway and it's hard to tell with him). They talk about Beryl and orchids and sound like they're about to burst into giggles at any moment (they don't, much to my dismay). Then when they go find Barrymore, they still seem kind of tipsy. That's where the first half ended, so I need to see the rest in order to decide whether for some reason the director decided they should be drunk during the "running around out on the moor in the middle of the night" scene. That would certainly be an interesting interpretation.
As of right now, Livanov's Holmes and Solomin's Watson are completely divorced from the Holmes and Watson in my head, to a greater degree than are Jeremy Brett's Holmes and Burke's/Hardwicke's Watson(s). This is probably due to the fact that I've seen exactly half a movie and about five minutes of clips from the Russian series, whereas I've seen seven seasons of Granada Holmes episodes. Either way, I don't expect adaptations to match the characters in my head, so it's all good :3
Why the heck haven't I uploaded any of my Paget Holmes icons? Oh well! Jeremy Brett and David Burke will certainly suffice ^_^
I am waiting with extreme impatience for the DVDs from this series to arrive. *bouncebounce*
This is, by far, the most canon-accurate Hound movie I've come across. I'm not sure if it's just that whoever subtitled it conveniently used ACD's text, but the dialogue is almost word-for-word. I'm delighted, because I had previously thought the Granada series was the only Holmes series that bothered to pay close attention to canon, in terms of both story and setting, instead of picking and choosing whatever was most interesting and adding on to bits that supposedly needed embellishment. I haven't seen the second half of the movie yet, so I can't say for sure, but so far this Hound has followed the book impeccably.
On to the actors and characters. Vasily Livanov is charming as Holmes. Owing to the nature of the story, we haven't seen as much of him as we would in other films, but when he has been onscreen his version of Holmes is incredibly endearing. Let me just relay the opening scene for you:
Watson: *standing behind Holmes, examining walking stick left behind by client*
Holmes: What do you make of the stick, Watson?
Watson: You must have eyes in the back of your head.
Holmes: If you had read my monograph on the anatomy of the detective, you would know that the tips of my ears get hot when—
Mrs. Hudson: He was watching your reflection in the coffee pot.
Holmes: *practically falls into his breakfast laughing*
Watson: *eyeroll*
Livanov does a very good job of balancing Holmes's eccentricities with his more serious qualities. He's flippant, but not in the 30's-movie "I know everything so I don't need to bother getting excited about this" way. Because the dialogue is so close to canon, he acts very much like Holmes – bored and impatient when he thinks Dr. Mortimer's story about the hound is just some piece of folklore, and intent and excited when he finds out it has connections with a modern murder. Sir Henry Baskerville is played in this film as extremely loud, boisterous, and forgetful, and during the scene where they meet, Holmes is constantly telling him (in the politest tones, of course) to STFU and pay attention. His short-temperedness is delightful. In an interesting detail, his Holmes wears reading glasses, which I never thought I'd appreciate with Holmes, but it really works. He also excels at portraying Holmes's talent for steamrolling over people, Watson especially.
Holmes: Oh, Watson would be happy to accompany you to Dartmoor!
Watson: Wait, what?
It helps that he takes every opportunity to stand very very close to whoever he's with. Again, Watson especially. In the first scene, when Dr. Mortimer leaves, he comes over to stand so close to Watson that he's practically pressed up against him, and not because the shot required it or because of the layout of the set. [/frivolous fangirling] I'll know more about my opinion of him when I finish the movie, since a lot of how I would judge his acting would depend on the scenes near the end of the story.
Vitaly Solomin as Watson is quite a bit different from the Watson I imagine, but I still really like his portrayal. In most of the first half of this movie, he comes across as extremely serious. Very stoic, very straight-faced. Except when he's laughing at Holmes. You know.
Solomin is also, which throws me off a bit, SUPER young and very pretty. Even though I know that Holmes and Watson were quite young when they met, I always expect them to look older because of the actors I've seen portray them before. It takes some getting used to, but I really do like his Watson. Since the story is so close to canon, Solomin's Watson does not fall prey to the usual bastardization of character. He's loyal, fairly smart, extremely dependable, and in this movie, suspicious as all get-out XD Almost nobody crosses his path without him looking at them with a sort of wary skepticism. He also seems extremely tense when they first arrive in Dartmoor. I guess I can understand that, since he understands the danger of the situation and Holmes told him to observe all of Sir Henry's neighbors, but it's still just a little hilarious.
He loosens up after a while, though. The first you see of this was the first part of the movie that made me really like his Watson: he does this little "OMFG the floor is FREEZING!" dance in his nightshirt before getting into bed. It was adorable. And then – and this really caught me off guard – it appears for all the world like he and Sir Henry get totally plastered the night after they have dinner with the Stapletons, before they discover Barrymore's communication with Seldon on the moor. It's a really bizarre scene, and I can't be sure if we're supposed to think they're drunk or what. Sir Henry is sitting against the foot of a bed, presumably on the floor, and he says something like "So, Watson..." and you hear Watson say "Yes?" and Henry asks something about Beryl Stapleton, and then you see Watson sit up on the bed from where he'd been laying hidden by the footboard. He's all unsteady and wobbly, as is Sir Henry (but Henry's kind of a loony in this movie anyway and it's hard to tell with him). They talk about Beryl and orchids and sound like they're about to burst into giggles at any moment (they don't, much to my dismay). Then when they go find Barrymore, they still seem kind of tipsy. That's where the first half ended, so I need to see the rest in order to decide whether for some reason the director decided they should be drunk during the "running around out on the moor in the middle of the night" scene. That would certainly be an interesting interpretation.
As of right now, Livanov's Holmes and Solomin's Watson are completely divorced from the Holmes and Watson in my head, to a greater degree than are Jeremy Brett's Holmes and Burke's/Hardwicke's Watson(s). This is probably due to the fact that I've seen exactly half a movie and about five minutes of clips from the Russian series, whereas I've seen seven seasons of Granada Holmes episodes. Either way, I don't expect adaptations to match the characters in my head, so it's all good :3
Why the heck haven't I uploaded any of my Paget Holmes icons? Oh well! Jeremy Brett and David Burke will certainly suffice ^_^
I am waiting with extreme impatience for the DVDs from this series to arrive. *bouncebounce*
