回复：The Jeremy Brett Archive

补充关于Brett's Holmes...
                Sherlock Holmes on Screen
By Damian Magee Part Three（一，二部分找到后再予补充）
It was a sad day when Jeremy Brett died. He was the best Holmes on film or television. As I look back on those ten years that Brett played Holmes, one thing has kept coming to my mind - that Brett chose to play Holmes as Doyle wrote him, and as Sidney Paget had drawn him in the pages of The Strand. It was also sad that in the beginning of the series everyone hailed it as being in true spirit of the stories, but towards the end many turned against it. These included many TV critics, and more damaging, Lady Jean Conan Doyle, the daughter of the author. This really hurt Jeremy Brett. Many critics had said Brett was not as good as he should be. If these critics had bothered to check the true facts about Brett's health, they would know the reason why: he was not up to it. In this article I will be examining the Granada series.
There have been two producers, Michael Cox and June Wyndham Davies (Who is no stranger to producing Victorian crime. In 1982, she made the Sergeant Cribb series based on the Peter Lovesey novels for Granada) and 42 episodes of this acclaimed series. When the series began, Michael Cox, wanted actors who could project the image of Holmes and Watson that everyone knew from the stories, not from the stereotypes of past films and television. Cox chose two from the stage, Jeremy Brett and David Burke. Later Edward Hardwicke played Watson when Burke left. All three had done some film or television work. When Brett was asked about the role of Holmes, he said "Sherlock Holmes has undoubtedly changed me for better or worse."


Michael Cox saw in Brett as the Holmes from   his childhood, and saw in David Burke the qualities of Watson, a warm, witty, and inventive person. Brett often spoke about the partnership of Holmes and Watson: "To me, the Sherlock Holmes stories are about a great friendship. Without Watson, Holmes might well have burnt out on 可卡因 long ago. I hope the series shows how important friendship is." Edward Hardwicke, the son of the late actor Sir Cedric Hardwicke seconds the view: "Close friendships need humour and tolerance. Watson needs a sense of humour to survive Holmes' worst excesses."' This comes across in the series as both actors who played Watson developed a chemistry with Brett which is a great joy to watch.
When the first series went to air the critics, the public and Sherlockians agreed that the performance of Jeremy Brett was masterfully unique. As for David Burke's performance, it was solid and intelligent. When Burke left the series to join the Royal Shakespeare Company, a new Watson was found in Edward Hardwicke. Hardwicke's Watson was much older, and became tolerant of Holmes' foibles, though still with the sense of being warm and friendly.
The writers had captured the stories of the late Victorian and Edwardian times, as if you were looking into them. Michael Cox proved within a few short episodes, that he and his crew could destroy all other Holmes series that had gone before, and make this series the eternal one. It will take a long time to shake Brett's Holmes and Burke's and Hardwicke's Watson from our minds, as it took with almost 40 years of Rathbone and Bruce.


Brett was always determined to seek perfection on the scripts. If the adaptors had missed out important words from the text of the stories, he would just remind them of Conan Doyle. In the early part of the series Brett kept an Illustrated edition of the complete works of Sherlock Holmes, so he could open up the book to see that the original story and illustrations were coming to life. Michael Cox, and June Wydam Davies believed that the series owed much to a team effort from the writers, actors, directors, and the crew who all made their contributions. Both Cox and Davies highly praised Jeremy Brett for being a father figure to the company. It is Brett who wanted everyone to do well and to be successful.
It seems not all the critics liked Brett's Holmes, nor how the stories were made. One critic, a noted Sherlockian, Michael Pointer, said in his book, The Pictorial History of Sherlock Holmes, "Adverse critical reviews of the series may not have been taken into account and one is frequently in the position of liking particular episodes, but not Brett's Holmes." To his mind, Brett is overacting, always shouting and ranting, which he feels is not in character of Holmes.
I think its Mr Pointer overreacts towards Brett. For many, Brett has always been in character as Holmes. Mr Pointer has missed the point. The series at first seems to take the standard path of telling the stories, however Holmes and Watson become real people and really develop, becoming greater heroes than those in the printed page or illustration. They had developed in such way that non-Sherlockians could enjoy the stories, the series, and the characters of the two men. An example: as Holmes comes to terms with what his drug taking has done to him in "The Devil's Foot".
Another example of Mr Pointer missing the point about Holmes is that he does shout and rant at anyone or anything. A good example is when Holmes shouts at James Ryder in "The Blue Carbuncle". Another critic of the series, who at the beginning had placed her stamp of approval, was Dame Jean Conan Doyle. It is a well known fact that she does not like pastiches of her father's work. Yet, she criticises the last three full-length episodes, as well as last series made ("Memoirs"). Her criticism is that the producers of the series had changed the stories to suit themselves. The two full-lengths she was concerned about were "The Last Vampyre" ("The Sussex Vampire") and "The Eligible Bachelor" ("The Noble Bachelor"). She thought that they were too gothic. Which comes to the second point, that both Pointer and Dame Jean had missed the point, dramatisation.


再来一段采访，此段落内容来自数个不同的采访的摘录：
                          SPEAK, JB!
JB wasn't just good-looking...he was well-spoken, too. Here are some random quotes that I've personally gathered over the years from off-line sources (e.g. magazines and newspapers), with citations. Enjoy!
JEREMY BRETT
                         
Sherlock Holmes
Which screen Holmes JB thought was "best" - "I liked Robert Stephens very much in the Billy Wilder film, The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes, and I liked Colin Blakely very much too as Watson, though I don't rate the film too highly. There are so many ingredients to bring together in portraying Holmes and Watson that it's very difficult to pick out the best, however, I would like to mention that Nigel Stock was a very, very fine Watson. I liked bits of John Neville's Holmes, and I liked bits of Christopher Plummer's Holmes. Again, there are so many facets to Holmes that it's very difficult to see all of him in just one film."
Playing the "definitive" Sherlock Holmes - "I've done 33 Sherlock Holmes stories and bits of them are all right. But the definitive Sherlock Holmes is really in everyone's head. No actor can fit into that category because every reader has his own ideal."
"I see the definitive Holmes as a cross between Ben [Kingsley] and Al Pacino with a touch of Daniel Day Lewis thrown in."
"There is a tremendous delicacy in preserving Holmes in other people's
imaginations because there are a million different ways of seeing him. You try not to interfere with anybody's image."
"As a person I'm hooked, but as an actor I'm confused by playing a man who lives by his brain. I keep asking the lighting man on the [Sherlock Holmes] set to light my forehead to see if there's anything inside!"
"Holmes is such a cool cat. I much prefer to play romantic extroverts with long, flowing hair and passion in their souls."
"I will never get to the bottom of the barrel. When I get stuck, I put my hand further into the sawdust. Holmes is the most complex, isolated creature--a complete eccentric, a very private man, a very lonely man. He's a man with a brilliant instinct who can be a demented nightbird, driving around the streets of London in the dead of night. He's very gracious to women, but a man with a fear of women--a man who doesn't believe in society of trivia."
The "heroic" appeal of Sherlock Holmes - "Tina Turner may not agree, but the world does need heroes and yet again, at the end of another century, Holmes captures the heroic bent...I think he's a very modern person. He's interested in the poor, the street, law and justice. He got there before Clint Eastwood."
The image of Sherlock Holmes vs. the image of Jeremy Brett - "His [Holmes'] image isn't me. My image, I think, is a kind of cross between Ben Kingsley and Al Pacino with a touch of George Hamilton. [Holmes is] a genius, I'm just an actor. He's an isolationist, I'm gregarious. I think he's better read. I must be truthful."  


   关于Jeremy影，剧，舞台作品的总结                    
                         JBTV - Part I
Hello Everyone,
This issue begins a series on Jeremy Brett's television career. But, where to begin?! JB appeared in so many television productions, acting in dramas, musicals, comedies--everything but Westerns! (He once said he wanted to do the latter, but casting directors thought his accent was all wrong.) :->
Rather than taking a linear, all-inclusive look at Jeremy's television
appearances, I've decided to discuss some of them in categories. These include suspense, "Huh?," made-for-TV movies/miniseries, "masterpieces" (the really good stuff, like Rebecca), and, of course, Sherlock Holmes.
Part of the reason I'm taking this approach is because I haven't seen all of JB's TV performances. This is where you, the reader, can help. If you've seen any of JB's TV roles not mentioned here (particularly his early British appearances), please feel free to write a brief review and send it in for possible inclusion in a future "TBE." Thanks!
THE SECRET OF ONE DEADLY FERRYMAN WHO LOST HIS STRADIVARIUS...
...Or, "Some TV Suspense Films of Jeremy Brett"
Actually, two of these are films, and two are series episodes. Jeremy appeared in other tingly TV shows such as two versions of The Picture of Dorian Gray and an episode of the British series Supernatural as "Mr. Nightingale" (not to be confused with his later role as Florence's pop).


Mystery and Imagination - "The Lost Stradivarius"
January 29, 1966 (Series Episode)
Long before he fiddled around as Sherlock Holmes, Jeremy Brett played a violinist in the premiere episode of Mystery and Imagination, a hair-raising British series based on ghost stories from the late 19th century.
Holmes would have felt right at home in the series' gloomy Victorian setting.
However, JB plays an Oxford undergrad named "Sir John Maltravers." As one might guess from the episode title, Maltravers finds a long-lost Stradivarius (behind the secret panel of his bookcase, no less!) When Maltravers uses the violin to play music written on an old manuscript, the music--and the malevolent spirit of the violin's former owner--begins to possess him. He flees to Italy, hoping to escape from his madness, but finds death instead. (Not exactly The Sound of Music...)

If Mystery and Imagination ever does materialize, be sure to heed the warning intoned at the beginning of each episode: "If there is anyone in the room who is of nervous disposition, please leave the room." (No, wait...if you did that, you'd miss JB!)
TRIVIA: British actress Patricia Garwood portrayed Maltravers' sister in The Lost Stradivarius. Ms. Garwood is married to writer Jeremy Paul, author of several Granada Sherlock Holmes scripts and the play The Secret of Sherlock Holmes. She also appeared with Jeremy B. in a television production of Beauty and the Beast. 

One Deadly Owner - 1973 (Film)
This film was first presented as an episode of the British TV series Thriller. It first aired in the US on November 6, 1973, on ABC TV's late night (11:30 pm - 1:00 am ET) Wide World of Entertainment series and often ran on local US television in the 1980's.
In One Deadly Owner, Jeremy plays fashion photographer (and '70's fashion victim) Peter Tower. Peter is seeing a model (played by a very young, pre-Knots Landing Donna Mills) whose dream is to own a Rolls-Royce. She buys one, but her dream becomes a nightmare when the car starts steering itself and replaying old news on the radio. Needless to say, it takes more than a tune-up to solve this mystery, which, as it turns out, should really be called One Deadly Passenger.
As "possessed vehicle" plots go, One Deadly Owner isn't as scary as Christine, but it's better than My Mother the Car.


Haunted - "The Ferryman" - 1974 (Series Episode)
Supernatural - "Mr. Nightingale" 1977 (Series Episode)
The Secret of Seagull Island - 1981 (Film)
HUH?
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The Champions - "A Desert Journey" - 1969
Okay, there are these three people, see? And they work for this super-secret agency called "Nemesis." Anyway, their plane crashes in 西藏, and they're rescued by a tribe who gives them great physical strength and mystical powers (e.g., they can keep in touch through telepathy-- much cheaper than long-distance). Thus rejuvenated, the terrific trio goes about keeping the world safe for democracy.
One of their assignments is to restore the exiled Bey of El-Hammi to power in his desert country. Just one hitch: The Bey doesn't want to go. (He's too busy throwing wild parties.) So, they nudge him a little by knocking him out and forcibly flying him back home. (I hope the UN doesn't hear about this.)
Guess who plays the reluctant ruler? Yep, Berkswell boy Jeremy Brett wears tan makeup and affects a slight Middle Eastern accent to portray the Bey.
"A Desert Journey" is wildly improbable, especially when one considers that JB was acting with the National Theatre at the time he made this guest shot. It's great fun, though. "Jeremy of Arabia" looks terrific, and soap fans will instantly recognize Stuart Damon from General Hospital as one of the Champions.
(The theme music is catchy, too.)
TRIVIA: It was announced in November 2007 that The Champions will be adapted into a feature film produced by Tom Cruise's production company. 

The Protectors - 1973
Young Dan'l Boone - "The Trail Blazer" 1977
The Incredible Hulk - "Of Guilt, Models and Murder" 1978
Hart to Hart - "Death in the Slow Lane" - 10/06/79
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Galactica: 1980 - "Spaceball" - 1980
What's the worst TV series?
Everyone has their own opinion, but to my mind, if Galactica: 1980 isn't the worst TV series ever, then it comes mighty close. And, "Spaceball" is probably the worst episode of the series. (I don't know for sure; I couldn't bear to watch every episode.)
Galactica: 1980 began in 1978 as Battlestar Galactica, an expensive attempt to bring Star Wars-style sci-fi to television. BG told the epic tale of a "rag-tag" race of space-refugees battling an evil empire while searching for "a shining planet called 'Earth'."
BG had lots of zoomy space action, but it was still cancelled. The fans wanted Galactica back; the ABC network wanted a "family" show to run in its early Sunday evening time slot. So, in an attempt to make everyone happy, the series was reconstituted to focus on a band of Galactican children who'd been sent to Earth for safekeeping. (One suspects it was also cheaper to set the series on Earth than to keep building all those costly starship models.)
The ploy didn't work: Battlestar Galactica fans loathed Galactica:1980, and the show was swiftly cancelled--again. (Of course, having the CBS warhorse 60 Minutes scheduled in the same 7:00 pm time slot didn't help, either. ABC could have presented World War III and it would have been swiftly cancelled, as well.
Anyway, Galactica: 1980 is sort of like "The Sound of Music Meets E.T." The kids have superpowers, so they're disguised as a touring scout troop to keep the authorities from getting nosey. Of course, the authorities get nosey anyway--it's hard not to notice when an urchin hurls a baseball into the next county. In addition to dodging government agents, the tots must also elude villains beaming down from outer space.
One such villain is Xaviar, played by JB. Xaviar looks fantastic in his flight suit. But, since he's actually impersonating an innocent Galactican officer (Lt. Nash) and he speaks through clenched teeth in an odd, Bela Lugosi-like accent, you know he's up to no good. Indeed, he threatens to kill the kiddies if the Galactican elders don't give in to his demands. First, though, the bambinos must play a game of baseball to save an orphans' camp. (It's a long story...)
Xaviar is foiled, of course, but then he escapes, or gets vaporized, or something--by that time, my eyes had glazed over and my brain had grown numb so I don't rightly remember...um...er... what was I talking about?
Oh, yes--Galactica: 1980. Did I mention this is probably the only time you'll ever see Jeremy Brett fire a laser gun?
The Sci-Fi Channel is, of course, currently airing the 21st century version of Battlestar Galactica; it also airs the original Battlestar Galactica/Galactica: 1980 now and then.


The Love Boat - "Ace's Valet" - 1984
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OF TV-MOVIES AND MINI-SERIES
An Act of Reprisal - 1965 (Film)
This is a forgotten treasure that's worth seeing, if you can find it.
Jeremy plays "Harvey Freeman," an ineffectual British official stationed in politically tense Cyprus. Freeman escapes the growing unrest by tooling around in his Jaguar and sailing.