Basil Rathbone & Nigel Bruce.
Friday nights in the Milwaukee Area in the 70s meant UHF Movie fun for little kids!
Holmes, Tarzan, Godzilla, Kong, Bob Hope & Bing Crosby…good times!
Yup, still true. All the others have their moments, but Brett still rules.
I’m not familiar with most of the older adaptations, but I think the contrasts between the current Elementary and Sherlock are quite interesting.
Overall, Sherlock at its best is better than Elementary at its best, but I find it wildly, and disappointingly, variable. Two or so of the six episodes from seasons 1 and 2 are mediocre or bad, and it suffers from a lot of the stupid hollywood cliches like the villain’s plan that is clearly designed to lead to interesting sets of clues leading to other clues, but which makes absolutely no sense when you eventually find out what it is, and they hope you don’t remember what you saw happening 20 minutes earlier. On the other hand, its sense of style and the way it visually represents Sherlock’s thought processes are just fascinating, and Benedict Cumberbatch absolutely owns the role. I feel like the Holmes/Watson relationship is pretty close to books, transported through time.
Elementary, on the other hand, does suffer the predictability that comes with being an American procedural TV show trying to make 20+ episodes a year, so silly things like “whoever the biggest name guest star is must be the guilty party” often apply. And the non-Sherlock characters (Watson, Mycroft, Irene Adler, etc.) are more or less made up out of whole cloth. (Although for the most part made out of interesting and well-acted whole cloth.) On the other hand, Jonny Lee Miller as Sherlock is nearly as good as Benedict, and very convincing as what Sherlock Holmes from the book would have been if he lived 110 years later. The show has also done a good job of mixing case-of-the-week with larger-story-arc with interesting little slice-of-life moments. For instance, in this week’s episode there was a subplot about how random NYPD detectives resent what Holmes and Watson do, and how Sherlock’s brusque manner (to put it nicely) doesn’t help things out, etc.
For me, the best is Rathbone/Bruce in The Hound of the Baskervilles. Say “Holmes”, and my mental picture is of Basil Rathbone and his great profile and wonderful English accent. Unfortunately, none of the other Rathbone/Bruce movies are anywhere near as good, so my second choice is, of course, Brett/Hardwicke, mostly because Watson is played as a normal guy, and not as a knucklehead.
However, the Downey Jr/Law movies have, I feel, the best Watson of all. A good friend, not at all awed by the Great Detective, and quite a capable adventurer in his own right.
Brett’s work is deeply enjoyable for the entire production. I really like it. I’ve also seen Elementary, and am entertained by it and enjoy the acting.
Well, what I was trying to say was that I like it because it’s NOT trying to be an American take on a sterotypically British thing. It’s trying to be it’s own thing. It’s the other ones, the ones that are “trying” to recreate the original that I think fail so badly.
Anyway, speaking of American, what did you think of “The Valley of Fear”? The good thing about adaptions of S.H. is that you can just take the great idea and run with it – it’s not like you’re going to be contrasted with a really great original version of the idea.
No equal. Only a superior. Basil Rathbone. 
But, this is unfair, perhaps. Basil Rathbone was a fantastic, no, FANTASTIC actor, perhaps one of the greatest, so, naturally, he can outshine all mere mortals in anything, even a Holmes movie.
Again, this may be unfair, because Brett was in a TV scenario, and Rathbone was big screen.
The first Holmes movie I really enjoyed was The Seven Percent Solution, mostly because it broke ground in showing Watson as something other than a bumbling nitwit.
Basil Rathbone was the best Holmes.
I love Basil Rathbone as Sherlock, but the films are not very good. No matter how good he is the adaptations are not very interesting.
I love the Jeremy Brett adaptations of the stories and I’ve watched them all, but I think his interpretation is just a little too mannered and odd. All those jerky tics and Tourettes-like exclamations (“Ha!”) were a bit over the top for me. The more subtle and ironic Robert Stephens in The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes is closer to the way I imagine him.
All you Holmes fans might want to see post 5 here: Has a stopped clock ever really helped solve a crime? - Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports - Straight Dope Message Board
This guy. This guy knows what’s up. I love Merrison’s Holmes with the power of a thousand burning suns.
And I guess I’m the only one who vastly prefers Elementary’s Sherlock to, err, Sherlock’s Sherlock? He’s just too much of a dick to Watson for me. I’m not going to call him on being too much of a sociopath, which is not actually used as a term in psychology anymore. Which always makes that “Do your research!” bit in A Study In Pink hysterical to me.
Brett first, foremost, and always.
Nope. I just find the relationship between Liu’s Watson and Miller’s Holmes more appealing than the newest BBC version. Freeman’s a treat, but I intensely dislike Cumberbatch’s Holmes. I barely made it through the first season.
Miller’s Holmes seems more self-aware than other Holmeses. Do you see any of the others having thisconversation?
Actually, yes, I could, with a few tweaks. Nice scene, though.
The Onion AV Club weighs in on Elementary vs. Sherlock.
The thing I love about the Sherlock series is the way it characterizes Watson. He’s not meant to be a buffoon like he is in all the TV adaptions I’ve seen. He’s a pretty accomplished doctor and knowledgeable man. Also, when I read the books, Sherlock did seem like a bit of an obnoxious sociopath. You’re not meant to connect with and like him.
Of course, I don’t know if Sherlock can really be called a true portrayal of the original books, as it doesn’t really follow the literature, but it’s a very clever modern day take.
Jeremy Brett is my favorite Sherlock.
The Robert Downey Jr. things are fun, but that’s all. sometimes that’s enough, I guess.
Benedict C. is amazing in the role, and looks mahvelous…but a little goes a long way. was fascinated by the guy who played his Moriarity. Freeman is stuck in my head as Bilbo right now.
Jonny Lee Miller should get more acclaim. I think he is an amazing talent. But dammit that top shirt button needs to be unbuttoned. ! All I can notice when I see the show sometimes.
Lucy Liu - playing a lovely and smart and vital female character and she doesn’t have to do judo throws or karate kicks. What could be better?
“A Man Lay Dead” by Ngaio Marsh. Skip Christie altogether.
I would say don’t bother with the books. The movie and TV versions of Christie (especially Suchet’s Poirot) are frequently much better than the books. Christie was brilliant at devising intricate and fascinating plots, but she couldn’t really write. A good production team and good actors can do much better justice to her plots than her turgid prose could ever manage.