Alan Barnes has watched - and read - a LOT of Sherlock Holmes. Pretty much every appearance of Sir Arthur Conan Doyles’ most famous creation in TV, movies, and more have been consumed, and recontexted for your reading pleasure in Barnes’ new book, Sherlock Holmes On Screen. The tome not only details Holmes’ appearances with wit and humor worthy of the Great Detective, it also serves as a great reference for anyone wondering where to start in the great breadth of Holmesian filmic literature.
To find out more about what makes Holmes so special, and why the BBC’s Sherlock may be the best Holmes ever, read on:
MTV Geek: General question to start off with… Why the fascination with Sherlock Holmes? Both from the world at large, and you as a writer/chronologist?
Alan Barnes: What really interests me about Holmes is that, because he peaked in popularity in the first years of the 20th century, he's one of only two characters to have been repeatedly portrayed right from the very moment the cinema was invented – the other being Dracula. So a history of Holmes film is actually a history of the moving image – from silent shorts, to early sound, to film series, to heritage TV, to multiplex blockbuster, and all points in between. I've heard it said that whenever a new moving image technology is invented, the first thing to exploit its possibilities is pornography; the second, I reckon, is that someone sticks a guy in front of the camera wearing a deerstalker and puffing a pipe.
Geek: Or both at the same time, I guess! How has the character changed over time? Do you think he’s still Doyle’s creation, or has he become more of an archetype?
AB: From the outset, Doyle's Holmes was a scientific, rationalist hero – and that was something new. For a while, people forgot that he was always meant to be a modern hero, someone progressive, someone who uses new forensic techniques and clear-headed deduction as opposed to instinct and prejudice. That's the essence of Holmes – not hansom cabs and capes. The deerstalker and pipe have made his silhouette immediately recognisable, but if he didn't have that modernity about him, I don't think people would still be interested – he'd be just another Victorian relic.
Geek: What about other countries – are there different Holmes in different area codes?
AB: Oh, yes – in fact, the vast majority of the earliest Holmes films came out of Europe. The Germans always loved 'The Hound of the Baskervilles' in particular, which they made and remade over and over again; supposedly, Hitler had a print of one of the later versions of 'Der Hund von Baskerville' in his private cinema. Doyle's stories have been translated into every language imaginable, so there've been Holmes films in China, Italy, Brazil... you name it. One of the best was Vasily Livanov, who played Holmes on Soviet state TV in the late 70s/early 80s – in fact, there's a new Russian TV Holmes in production right now!
Geek: Let’s talk about the relationship between Holmes and Watson... There’s certainly been many, many different interpretations.
AB: Actually, Watson was left out of a lot of the earliest film productions, because he wasn't obviously necessary: Doyle used him to narrate the stories, so he didn't have an obvious role. He's much maligned these days, but Nigel Bruce, opposite Basil Rathbone in the 40s Universal films, was the first to make Watson essential. Holmes is a pretty unsympathetic callous sort of hero, so Watson has become our way into the stories – someone human we can actually identify with.
Geek: Do you feel like something, perhaps, essentially changes when you translate the character to TV/screen? Or is it truly just the same character as in the stories?
AB: It's more important to stay true to the spirit of Holmes – the arch-rationalist – than the letter of the Doyle stories. Holmes films go bad only when they forget that – when they mistake his deductive abilities for psychic superpowers, for example.
Geek: Is there a definitive Sherlock for you? And is there some actor you’d love to see play Holmes who hasn’t yet?
AB: Like Doctor Whos, everyone's definitive Sherlock is the one they saw when they were 11 years old – so for me personally, still Basil Rathbone, whose films were replayed endlessly on the BBC in the late 70s and early 80s!
I don't know about current actors, but I always thought 'Prisoner'-era Patrick McGoohan would have made a brilliant, slightly cruel, slightly ascetic Holmes. Definitely one who got away!
Geek: Do you have a single favorite episode/movie/story from Holmes?
AB: Novel – 'The Sign of the Four'. Short story – I always loved 'Thor Bridge'. Movie – impossible to say, but 'The Spider Woman' is one I never get tired of. TV episode – until a few weeks ago I'd probably have said the Jeremy Brett 'Second Stain', but Benedict Cumberbatch's 'A Scandal in Belgravia' might just have changed that!
Geek: When it comes down to it, what are the one or two elements every interpretation must have before it intrinsically becomes something other than Sherlock Holmes?
AB: It's the ruthless application of logic and method that distinguishes him from, say, Hercule Poirot. That, and the case itself must hang on a perfectly explicable device – the Baskerville hound can't ever be a 'real' spectre.
Geek: Looking through the book, I was surprised about the amount of cartoons and scifi shows that used him… Why do you think Sherlock is such a natural fit?
AB: It's the silhouette, isn't it? Deerstalker, pipe – there he is, he doesn't need explaining to the audience. That's what makes him the ideal 'Special Guest Star' in 'Batman', 'Scooby-Doo', 'The Real Ghostbusters' or whatever.
Geek: When you were putting the book together, what was your reaction to sitting down and having to critically analyze an episode of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles?
AB: It's funny, even in the worst Holmes productions, there's usually something to surprise you – and one of the Turtles calls 'The Spider Woman' a "primo flick", so its heart is probably in the right place, even if it's missing its head!
Geek: I was also very happy to see the Star Trek episodes included… If you had a holodeck, do you think you’d boot up a Holmes simulation, knowing that Moriarty would probably escape into the real world?
AB: Oh, Moriarty escaped into the real world decades ago, don't you read the news?!? But I wouldn't have booted up a Holmes simulation – he's just about the last person anyone would want to meet, surely? "By the toothpaste stains on your shirt, I see you are worried about money, and that your great-aunt Priscilla has an embarrassing medical condition..." The worst dinner-party guest in history, bar none!
Geek: Ha! Okay, let’s talk about the current BBC show… What works for you, and what doesn’t? Clearly, having Moffat write an intro to the book indicates you’re probably a fan?
AB: Definitely, yes – 'Sherlock' understands what's brilliant about the characters of Sherlock and John, and proves beyond any reasonable doubt that the appeal of those characters isn't going to diminish any time soon. Certainly, it proves that there's another century-and-a-bit in him at least, and that he'll outlast every other fictional detective of today.
Geek: No spoilers, since we haven’t seen them yet here, but have you seen the second season? Any reactions?
AB: The first season was merely brilliant by comparison.
Geek: This may be too far off, but I was surprised not to see House in the book, given its basically Holmes in all but name. Is it that name thing that kept it out?
AB: Well, if I'd included everything that owes a debt to Holmes, the book would never have got finished! But yes, there are some films it seemed cruel to exclude – 'The Name of the Rose' being an obvious one, recasting Holmes and Watson as mediaeval monk and novice.
Geek: With so much new Holmes material being generated all the time, do you think you’d revisit the book again?
AB: When there's another 32-page signature or two's worth of new stuff – yes!
Geek: What’s next for you?
AB: Most of my time is spent writing and script-editing Doctor Who audios for Big Finish (www.bigfinish.com) – but I've always got an idea or two for other books bubbling away...
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