Change Your Image
Humpty-Dumpty2
Reviews
Timeshift: How to Be Sherlock Holmes: The Many Faces of a Master Detective (2014)
A survey of Sheerlock Holmes films
This BBC production is a survey of Sheerlock Holmes films from the earliest to the most recent, and the evolution of his character.
The survey is limited to British and American films; sadly the wonderful Livanov's characterization (Russian television series, 1979--1986) is not mentioned at all. As a complement to BBC's survey, also see Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson: The Acquaintance, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0079902/ for the first episode of the series. English subtitles are easily found on the Web.
The Hound of Baskervilles (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083100/) done as two episodes in the series, comes closest to Conan Doyle's original story among a dozen or so versions that I have seen.
The Christmas Box (1995)
Plugging religion
Most Christmas stories tend to focus on the holiday aspect and minimize religious/doctrinal overtones. This film, on the other hand, is overtly religious, complete with quotations from the New Testament, such as "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son" (John 3:16), and exhortations such as "Faith, is believing in something that you can't really see", as if that's a good thing. The overt religious plug in this film can be quite off-putting for the non-religious.
In contrast, 'Miracle on 34th Street' (1947), also starring Maureen O'Hara, succeeds in telling a warm and sweet Christmas story without plugging religion.
By the way, you will notice that the little girl in 'The Christmas Box' is a dead ringer for Natalie Wood in 'Miracle on 34th Street'. I don't think that's accidental.
Gaav (1969)
Interesting idea, but...
Very primitive. Villagers don't speak, they take turns, as if on cue, to SHOUT their lines at the top of their lungs, and in a pronounced Tehrani accent at that. The incessant SHOUTING gets annoying real fast.
What makes things worse is that the sound level is the same regardless of the actors' distances from the scene. Someone shouting from the top of a roof several houses away is as loud as someone standing next to you. If you don't look at the screen, you will get the feeling that all actors are standing around a single microphone and shouting into it.
This could have been a much better movie in the hands of a more experienced director and crew but as it is, I couldn't stand it. Fast-forwarded through.