The adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson (film series)
| Television series | |
|---|---|
| German title | The adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson |
| Original title | Приключения Шерлока Холмса и доктора Ватсона (Prikljutschenija Scherloka Cholmsa i doktora Watsona) |
| Country of production | Soviet Union |
| original language | Russian |
| Year (s) | 1979 - 1986 |
| Episodes | 5 |
| genre | Detective film |
| music | Vladimir Dashkevich |
| First broadcast | March 22, 1980 (Soviet Union) on 1st channel of Central Television of the USSR |
| occupation | |
| |
The adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson is the collective title of the five-part television film series by Igor Maslennikov , which was filmed in the Soviet Union between 1979 and 1986. The Maslennikow films are characterized by their high degree of fidelity to the original books by Arthur Conan Doyle . Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson were played by Vasily Liwanow and Vitaly Solomin .
Components of the series
The series consists of five mostly two-part films:
- 1979 - Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson (two-part: "The acquaintance" / "The bloody inscription")
- 1980 - The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson (three-part series: "The Blackmailer King" / "The Deadly Fight" / "The Tiger Hunt")
- 1981 - The Hound of the Baskervilles (two-part)
- 1983 - The Treasure of Agra (two-part)
- 1986 - Sherlock Holmes in the 20th century (two-part)
History of origin
The story of the multi-part TV series began when the screenwriters Juli Dunski and Waleri Frid delivered their script to the Lenfilm studio in 1979 . The director Igor Maslennikow was not a big fan of Conan Doyle's works, but the idea of a television film about Sherlock Holmes appealed to him. The script featured an interesting juxtaposition of the characters of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson , which would make the story more interesting for viewers.
Maslennikov had no doubt that Holmes would be a role for Vasily Liwanow - although he did a rehearsal with Alexander Kaidanowski to be on the safe side . Watson, who is not described at all in Conan Doyle's books, had to be searched longer. Maslennikov became aware of an archive photo of the actor Vitaly Solomin , on which he wore a mustache stuck on and looked like an Englishman. Actress Rina Seljonaja was approved as Mrs. Hudson even though she was 77 years old when filming began.
“Holmes is opposed to the official police force at Scotland Yard because the most important thing for him is to help, not just punish. This, it seems to me, is the secret of the incessant love of readers and viewers for Sherlock Holmes, the vivid embodiment of loyalty and reliability - qualities that people always need. That was exactly the reason why we enjoyed working on these films so much. "
The premiere of the first film took place on March 22, 1980. The film immediately became popular in the USSR. Holmes and Watson in the portrayal of Liwanow and Solomin became characters of jokes, and their quotes were adopted into common parlance. After the first film, the makers were showered with letters asking for a sequel. In a sense, they repeated the fate of Conan Doyle, who only continued the Holmes books after much reader requests. In 1986 the series was discontinued: the aged characters were retired. The actors got tired of playing the same characters over and over again. Rina Seljonaja had become almost completely blind by this time.
In the GDR, the Russian Holmes films were broadcast in the 1980s, initially in Russian with German subtitles, then in a dubbed version. Some of the films have been shortened compared to the Russian version. Sherlock Holmes was founded by Wolfgang Lohse and Dr. Watson was voiced by Erik Veldre .
In 2000, a 13-part television series "Memories of Sherlock Holmes" with a newly filmed framework about the life of Arthur Conan Doyle and newly edited parts of the old TV series was broadcast. However, there were legal disputes over intellectual property between the creators of the original series (Lenfilm) and the television company that produced the new series (Media-Most); as a result, the series may not be re-broadcast or otherwise republished.
Filming
Much of the recordings were made in the Lenfilm studios; locations in Leningrad , the Leningrad area, the Baltic states and the Caucasus were used for outdoor shots .
Most of the buildings featured in the film are historic buildings from Leningrad, Tallinn, and Riga . The Reichenbachfall was filmed at the Circassian waterfall in Abkhazia . Jauniela Street in Riga was used to depict Baker Street and "House 221b" (the same street was used as the fateful "Flower Street" in the Seventeen Moments of Spring series).
Interestingly, the real Baker Street in London is far wider and livelier than what is usually portrayed in the cinema.
Conan Doyle uncovered some mistakes during the filming. For example, it was found that snakes cannot crawl along ropes. Another mistake is in The Hound of the Baskervilles . In the book, the dog was smeared with glowing phosphorus. When the creators tried the same thing in the film, they found that the dog immediately started licking itself clean.
Trivia
- With the third part of the film series one began to cast the roles of the villain with Soviet star actors. Among others, Oleg Jankowski , Sergej Schakurow , Nikolai Karatschenzow and Leonid Kurawljow play the antagonists.
- The design of the film series is largely uniform, with minor deviations in the fifth film, Sherlock Holmes in the 20th century . The introductory text is scrolled over a picture of Big Ben and Westminster Abbey ; the titles are represented in an ancient cipher type: among other things by sprinkling reagent powder on paper , developing photo paper or placing a cardan grid .
- Boryslaw Brondukow (Inspector Lestrade) was dubbed by actor Igor Yefimov throughout the film series . This had to be done, according to Igor Maslennikov, since Brondukov had a distinct Ukrainian accent . However, the replacement voice was so similar to the original that often not even Brondukov's closest friends and relatives noticed the exchange of his voice.
reception
Since its premiere, the series has been positively received and reviewed. The audience liked the cast of cast and the amateur detective who humbly trumps the Scotland Yard professionals.
The reactions in England were also quite positive. The critics pointed out that the creators of the series adhered closely to the template and that the atmosphere of Conan Doyle's works was captured with a sincere love of the classics of the crime genre.
The third part of the series, " The Dog of the Baskervilles " was shown on English television. Director Igor Maslennikow received positive reviews from abroad, including a letter from Conan Doyle's daughter who wrote: "Had my father seen this film, he would have been happy"; the Daily Mirror published a review with a quote from Margaret Thatcher who called the film "the best Sherlock Holmes film she had ever seen".
On June 15, 2006, Vasily Liwanow was awarded the Order of the British Empire by the Ambassador of Great Britain in Moscow for his performance as the actor of Sherlock Holmes.
Deviations from the original
The films are very much based on the literary models of Conan Doyle, with a few deliberate exceptions. These deliberate deviations from the original were created on the one hand to combine the stories into a plot, on the other hand for reasons of censorship. Towards the end of the novel " The Sign of Four " it is mentioned that Holmes was using cocaine - this was out of the question for a Soviet film. In the film, this sentence was replaced by an ambiguous silence from Holmes. When he first met Watson in A Study in Scarlet , Holmes guessed that he had served in Afghanistan. When the film was dubbed, “Afghanistan” was replaced by “East”, because Soviet ideologues wanted to avoid an allusion to the recent invasion of Afghanistan by the Soviet armed forces .
DVD publications
In German, Der Hund der Baskervilles , The Treasure of Agra and Sherlock Holmes in the 20th Century were published in 2019.
Web links
- 221b.ru - website for the Russian Holmes series
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c "The same Holmes": Tatiana Gurjanowa, Irina Iwanowa, Jekaterina Sacharowa, "Wersija" from February 11, 2005 (Russian) ( Memento from May 11, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Igor Maslennikow: Dear J and Ddw… . Aurora, July 1985 (Russian)]
- ↑ a b "Sherlock Holmes & Dr. Watson - Made in USSR "/" Nesawisimaja Gazeta "September 24, 2004 / Alexei Naumenko (Russian)
- ↑ Michael Ross: Sherlock Holmes in Film and Television - A Handbook. ISBN 3-930932-03-2 .
- ↑ "Moskovsky Komsomolets" from February 15, 2005. The sufferings of Sherlock Holmes. (Russian)
- ↑ "Jauniela, alias Blumenstrasse, alias Baker Street" - Nikita Krasnoglasow, "Argumenty i fakty", No. 05 (69-72) of May 31, 2004 (Russian)
- ↑ Geography of the locations of the series.
- ↑ The Truth About Sherlock Holmes
- ↑ The Russian Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson
- ^ "London visit of Vasily Livanov" 16th Jan 2007, Sherlock Holmes Society of London ( Memento from October 14, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ "Foreign Screenings" on 221b.ru (in Russian)
- ↑ In the USSR, Sherlock Holmes was censored (Russian) . NTV . Archived from the original on May 9, 2009. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved March 29, 2009.
