A Study in Terror and Murder By Decree
Current mood: sleepy
Category: Movies, TV, Celebrities
Two really excellent Sherlock Holmes films. Both concerning Jack the Ripper. The had released Murder By Decree (which I own) on DVD several years back, but unfortunately they have yet to release A Study in Terror on DVD at some point in the near future. Here are a couple excellent scenes from the movie. Robert Morley makes an excellent Mycroft in the first one and James Mason is very good as Watson delivering an excellent line:
Currently
listening
:
Heliocentric
By
Paul Weller
Release date: 2000-05-09
Some horror movies to add to your Netflix list...
Current mood: sleepy
Category: Movies, TV, Celebrities
All of which are perfect for your Halloween horrorfest:
Cabinet des Dr. Caligari., Das (1920) Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens (1922) Frankenstein (1931) Dracula (1931) The Body Snatcher (1945) The Curse of Frankenstein (1957) Dracula (1958) Also Known As: Dracula 1958 (USA) Horror of Dracula (USA) The Hound of the Baskervilles (1959) The Mummy (1959) Pit and the Pendulum (1961) A Study in Terror (1965) The Oblong Box (1969) Nachts, wenn Dracula erwacht (1970) The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971) The Ruling Class (1972) Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht (1979) Murder by Decree (1979) The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) Sleepy Hollow (1999) From Hell (2001)
Someone posted snippets of a radio broadcast William Gillette did as Sherlock Holmes. It was broadcast in 1936 when Gillette was 82 years of age. It's probably the only audible thing left of Gillette's performance as Holmes. There was a silent movie of his play produced with him in the starring role but the film only exists in some still pictures:
Currently
listening
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Hours...
By
David Bowie
Release date: 1999-10-05
Sign up for 24 Hour Comic Jam at WAM!!
Current mood: sleepy
Category: Parties and Nightlife
What better way to spend your time from 3pm on a Saturday afternoon till 3pm on a Sunday afternoon drawing an entire comic book!! Sign up today while you have a chance!!
Currently
listening
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Hours...
By
David Bowie
Release date: 1999-10-05
24 Hour Comic Book Jam at WAM!!
Current mood: sore
Category: Art and Photography
Well, I'm getting my non-photo blue pencils, erasers, bristol board and pens together because I officially signed up for a night of comic art and sleep deprivation at WAM!!
This is also know as 24 Hour Comics Day.
The event will be taking place at the Worcester Art Museum from Saturday to Sunday, October 18-19, 3-3pm.
24 Hour Comics Day is an annual event where cartoonists around the world attempt to create 24 comic panels in 24 hours. Last year, over 1200 comic artists took part at challenge events in 17 countries, sustaining themselves on art and coffee for a team total of 28,800 hours of comic creation. WAM will also be hosting 3-hour and 8-hour challenges.
For more information on the international event, visit
I still refuse to drink Red Bull because I hate the ad's. But I am preparing to bring several thermos's of coffee and those whiskey shots of energy drinks to the event!!
If you haven't signed up yet, I recommend you call WAM now and reserve your spot. But be warned. Come prepared to work or Andy will have you secretly killed.
My thoughts on the new Sherlock Holmes film and the character of Sherlock Holmes...
Current mood: complacent
Category: Blogging
I'm not completely put off by the thought of Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law as Holmes and Watson respectively. In that respect Guy Ritchie got it fairly right as far as age is concerned. In the first Sherlock Holmes stories, both Holmes and Watson are actually around the age of 27. Although, this would make both actors too old to play the part seeing that Robert Downey Jr. is 43 and Jude Law is 36. But in the grand scheme of things they're young guys. So, let's not split hairs.
Although, here's a tidbit of information for you all. One of Jude Law's earliest acting appearances was all the way back in 1991 in an episode of The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes. The episode was Shoscombe Old Place which starred the ultimate Sherlock Holmes Jeremy Brett.
I happen to like Jude Law. I thought he gave a really great performance as Lord Alfred 'Bosie' Douglas in the film Wilde. That was the movie that kind of won me over for his acting chops. Sort of the same way Chaplin won me over for Robert Downey Jr.'s acting.
Strangely enough, both films are bio's.
But with this said, I think this is probably the most unusual Holmes and Watson since Nicol Williamson and Robert Duvall were Holmes and Watson in The Seven-Per-Cent Solution.
And yes. You read that right. Robert Duvall as Watson.
I don't know much about the series of comic books by Lionel Wigram this upcoming movie is based upon. So, I really can't give an opinion on something I haven't seen or know nothing about.
I suppose from a marketing standpoint, I understand Guy Ritchie's choice for Holmes. There's no bigger name in Hollywood that is in demand other than Robert Downey Jr. at this very moment. And like I said, he's an actor I really like. And I'm happy he has cleaned up his life and he's getting the respect and the attention he deserves.
But here's my feelings. I think a lot of books and movies take a huge risk at trying to make Sherlock Holmes more dynamic. Because it can either work brilliantly or it can blow up in your face.
A good case in point is the movie A Study in Terror which starred John Neville as a more youthful Sherlock Holmes than most moviegoers were use to seeing with the tagline: "Sherlock Holmes meets Jack the Ripper! Here comes the original caped crusader!"
Both Batman T.V. series and James Bond were massively popular at the time. So, the producers were really heavily marketing it on that angle.
And it's a great film!! It didn't do good originally in the box offices. But it's one of my favorite Sherlock Holmes films.
The reason I feel this movie works is because despite stuff like making Holmes a man of action and even giving him a knife which pops out the end of his walking stick, the producers stick close to the original character of Sherlock Holmes. They still remain true to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's character while making him James Bond with a cape.
An example of reinventing Holmes that went horribly, horribly wrong is 2002's USA Networks production Sherlock also titled A Case of Evil starring James D'Arcy. It's yet another attempt to do a Young Sherlock Holmes type movie. The producers also saw it fit to give their Young Sherlock a sex drive and make Dr. Watson an eccentric inventor.
How could you possibly go wrong with that? Well, you could and it did!! The movie was awful. AND once again you have Richard E. Grant horribly miscasted as Mycroft Holmes.
As I have stated before I thing REG should be the one playing Sherlock Holmes in most of the productions he has been a part of.
But it's an example of how reinventing the character can make for a really bad film. In this particular film's case, it tried to completely reinvent the whole history of Sherlock Holmes.
With all that said, I'm willing to give Guy Ritchie's film a chance. Mostly because that part of me that likes to see how someone approaches the character of Sherlock Holmes. Good or bad, I like to see how actors approach the character.
Here's another historical fact for you all before I close this blog. When William Gillette took his play Sherlock Holmes to England, the young boy who played Billy the Page on stage was a young Master Charles Spencer Chaplin...
...who Robert Downey Jr. portrayed.
Currently
listening
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Moon Over the Freeway
By
The Ditty Bops
Release date: 2006-05-23
I love old movies!!
Current mood: okay
Category: Blogging
I had already mentioned my affections for old movies in a prior blog post but watching The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes with Basil Rathbone last night reminded me why I love that simplistic approach of old movies.
Yes, Nigel Bruce's irritating, bumbling and harrumphing Doctor Watson makes me want to tear my hair out. Which I suppose isn't wise nowadays seeing that my hair doesn't grow back so quickly anymore.
But that's besides the point.
The soft tones of the black and white as well as the flickering lights in the background.
Movies between the 1900's to the 1940's are probably my favorite to watch. I love silent films. I take a silent movie approach to many of my illustrations. It's easy to draw a scene and have a speech balloon saying "The murderer got away!"
But it takes a great deal of skill to show that without the use of words. Merely expression and body language. And I think that's why I feel many silent movie actors are very underrated.
I love movies from the 30's and 40's because that was the time my Grandparents lived through. I was very close to my Grandparents and even though they are gone, these movies are what keeps me connected to their time.
Actually, when I was as young as many of the students in my art classes, I was watching stuff like the Marx Brothers, Laurel and Hardy as well as movies with Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, W.C. Fields and Mabel Normand.
My Grandfather loved Laurel and Hardy. They had a night of Laurel and Hardy films on TMC over August. I found myself chuckling at a scene where Stan Laurel is sitting with this child who is telling him the story of the Three Bears. With voices. During the story Laurel keeps falling asleep. And what wakes him up is when the little girl does the baby bear voice.
To some, they would find the scene boring and unfunny. Mostly because nowadays if you're not getting kicked in the crotch, it's not funny. But what was funny about the scene was the look on Laurel's face everytime the little girl would make him wake up with a start.
Like I said, I knew about most, if not all these movies when I was a kid. I've found a lot of my students have never seen a silent movie in their life. And I think it's kind of sad that a lot of these films are being missed by people nowadays.
So, if you get a chance go on Amazon.com, put them on your Netflicks list. Or wait till they're on TMC again.
Currently
listening
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Diamond Hoo Ha
By
Supergrass
Release date: 2008-06-10
Polly and Handgraves design
Current mood: artistic
Category: Art and Photography
I just finished up coloring the new Polly and Handgraves image this morning and started putting it on t-shirts. I will probably continue doing that later on today.
I'm planning an image based on The Spaghetti Strand Murder in a couple days in between continuing work on the Sherlock Holmes graphic novel.
Currently
listening
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Atom Heart Mother
By
Pink Floyd
Release date: 1990-10-25
sleepy
sore
complacent
okay
artistic
amused
