Sherlock Holmes Mystery Magazine #1. Arthur Conan Doyle

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ than that by casting the same actors (1972’s William Shatner and 1983’s Nicholas Clay) as both Sir Hugo and Stapleton without taking any pains to make the family resemblance a subtle one. Others (the 1988 Granada for one) show too much of the mysterious figure dogging Sir Henry in London to make his identity much of a mystery.

      Suspense concerning the hand on the devil-dog’s leash could be enhanced by delaying the revelation of the villain’s identity (although Basil Rathbone in 1939 only risked his client’s life a second time by not sharing his suspicions with Watson until the very end of the film), or, as Denis Smith suggests, by writing in “in a few extra encounters with Frankland and Mortimer, to try to make them appear a little furtive or suspicious, and possibly making a little more of Laura Lyons’s absconding husband.” Ef­forts along these lines have been attempted — the 1939 and 1959 versions do make token efforts to transform the genial young Mortimer of the book into a scowling, belligerent figure with some secrets to hide, but fail to develop the concept. (Many Holmesian scholars have noted plot inconsistencies in the original — how did the doctor’s spaniel make its way to the heart of the Grimpen Mire? — that suggest to them that Mortimer and Stapleton were in league. And the first Cushing Hound featured a half-hearted attempt to cast suspicion on Frankland, now both an entomol­ogist and a bishop, by introducing a deadly spider into the action. The 1983 Richardson adaptation substitutes a brutal drunkard Geoffrey Lyons, complete with Roylott-like poker-bending strength, for Frankland, but then undercuts the logic of the plot by not only having his wife strangled, thus eliminating any re­sidual belief that unearthly forces might have been at work in Sir Charles’ death, but by showing Lyons snoring downstairs while she is murdered., thus eliminating him as a suspect. Having Laura Lyons killed by Stapleton — but in a way that suggests she fell afoul of the legendary hound — could be a logical amplification of Doyle’s story — after all, the original text has Holmes remarking that she had had a “fortunate escape,” having had Stapleton in her power.

      UNPLUMBED DEPTHS —

      There are abundant variations on the basic plot that could give a film version a better shot at creating menace, fear and sus­pense. The supernatural angle could be played up. Intriguingly, one of the few (if not the only) interesting aspects of the Granger Hound is its very ending, when a mournful howl echoes over the moors after Stapleton and his beast have sunk into the Grimpen Mire, suggesting that the curse has not ended after all …

      A similar notion was to be the basis of an unmade Keith McConnell Holmes film, The Werewolf of the Baskervilles, which reportedly postulated that the family had been haunted by a lycanthrope all along. Incorporating aspects of the various myths that may have been the “west county legend” Fletcher Robinson recounted to Doyle also could provide new angles that could help. (The Roxburgh Hound does portray the beast of the legend as a loyal pet defending his mistress’s honour, rather than an in­strument of satanic forces, but does virtually nothing with this in­novation.) Given Holmes’ encyclopedic knowledge, it would not be surprising that a man who kept entries in his commonplace book for vampires would be aware of the Whist Hounds or the Black Dog of Dartmoor, and be able to employ that knowledge to un­cover Stapleton’s scheme.

      A NEW HOPE? —

      Perhaps, despite the pessimism of this column’s subtitle, The Hound is not an unscalable peak. When analyzed, flaw by flaw, the problems with these films should be susceptible to correction. Perhaps we, as the second Hugo Baskerville might have put it, (if he were alive today, and a reader of SHMM), should learn then from this essay not to fear the fruits of these past adaptations, but rather put to use them as a prism to highlight Doyle’s original re­markable act of creation. And when the next version hits the screen, just maybe it will be the product of a Sherlockian Peter Jackson, who could be out there, even as I write, preparing a film that deserves Doyle’s own description of his work, a film that is “a real Creeper.”

      * * * *

      Leonard Picker, an inspector general in New York City, has written on the Master for Publishers Weekly, Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, and the Baker Street Miscellanea, and is for­tunate to be married to someone willing to sit through six straight hours of Hound movies without complaint. He may be contacted at [email protected].

      ASK MRS HUDSON, by (Mrs) Martha Hudson

      It is both gratifying and a tad onerous that ever since I became landlady to the illustrious Mr. Sherlock Holmes, my life has become richly endowed with incident, and at times is down­right adventurous. One may therefore well imagine the enlarged experience that such an association brings an industrious gentle­woman as I hope I may represent myself.

      Mr. Holmes’s dear friend Dr John H. Watson has encouraged me to share this store of worldly knowledge with the readers of this apposite periodical. To get things started, he has solicited several queries which I have endeavoured to answer below.

      In future, should you wish to seek my advice, address your query to Ask Mrs Hudson at <[email protected]>. Letters may be of a personal or impersonal nature; I am happy to give advice on any topic whatsoever.

      Sincerely,

      (Mrs) MARTHA HUDSON

      * * * *

      Dear Mrs Hudson,

      I am an American, and my cousin is almost forty, lives alone, is meticulous to a fault (I once caught him refolding the guest towels after I had used the lavatory). He shies away from women — in fact, he seems afraid of them. He is a member of the Guilford Choral Society, and enjoys Gilbert and Sullivan operet­tas. He says his years at a boys’ public school were the best of his life, even though I know the boys were beaten and forced to take cold showers. Is he “peculiar?”

      Sincerely, Puzzled in Pembroke

      *

      Dear Puzzled, Don’t worry about your cousin. No, he is not peculiar; he is merely British. Yours, Mrs Hudson

      * * * *

      Dear Mrs Hudson,

      My mother in law goes everywhere with us — holidays, shop­ping trips, even restaurants. To make matters worse, she lives next door and has taken to popping over for tea without being invited. She goes on at length regarding my performance as a wife and housekeeper — I wasn’t even allowed to buy drapes for the bedroom without her advice. When I complain to my husband, he says he only wants to be a good son and that I should be more re­spectful of my elders.

      Ignored in Ipswich

      *

      Dear Ignored:

      Here is what you should do: Have your husband transfer his assets to your name, then book a one-way ticket for one to Palermo. Take a train in the middle of the night. Leave no for­warding address. Get an Italian boyfriend. He will be just as at­tached to his mother, but it will be worth it, as he will be much better in bed.

      Ciao,

      Mrs Hudson

      * * * *

      Dear Mrs Hudson,

      My husband likes to dress in women’s clothing. Should I di­vorce him?

      Doubtful in Dublin

      *

      Dear Doubtful,

      Not unless he looks better than you do in heels.

      Sincerely,

СКАЧАТЬ