Recently I reread "The Musgrave Ritual" story in the Sherlock Holmes canon. I
blogged my thoughts then. In a nutshell it's one of my favourite all time Sherlock Holmes stories, revolving around an old riddle and a treasure hunt. I mentioned in that blog that I planned to rewatch the Jeremy Brett version, and newly watch the Basil Rathbone film version. I've done that now, so will jot down some brief thoughts. Note there are some spoilers in here, though light.
Firstly I rewatched the Jeremy Brett TV version from 1986. This takes some liberties with the plot, which in the original story involved a young Holmes on his own in the past, but here was changed to Holmes and Watson going together to a countryside manor for Holmes to recuperate. There are lots of little elements even early on retained and reworked from the original story, such as Holmes having a big box full of old case papers that tantalise Watson. The TV version puts the story of the manor's butler firmly in the forefront, and we see this back story play out early on. James Hazeldine as butler Brunton is extremely effective, and carries his scenes very well. A few small changes are made to the treasure hunt itself, but the story is otherwise largely faithful. And those changes that are made are effective for transferring it to a TV episode. Good stuff.
The Basil Rathbone 1943 movie version is a much looser retelling, but charming in its own way. Here Watson - during WW2 Britain - is working in a Northumberland convalescence home for servicemen suffering from shell shock. And a series of murders lead him to call in Holmes for help. In this version of the story there are three members of the Musgrave family to meet, not one as in the original story, plus a characterful group of wounded servicemen, who are superbly written and acted. The butler Brunton is retained, though here with a wife. And there's another medic, and also the American airman that Sally Musgrave is in love with. The ritual is totally reworked, not really recognisable from Conan Doyle's original. Rather than a hunt around the physical grounds of the manor, this ritual leads to a giant chess game in the house, with the inhabitants playing the chess pieces as Holmes shouts out moves. Ultimately the secret treasure is uncovered and there is a satisfying ending. But it doesn't feel much like the original story. But, as I said, I like it. The direction is dynamic, with sometimes amazing special effects for 1943. The cast of British and American actors generally do a great job, with only a few dodgy accents (London-born Dennis Hoey as Lestrade has a surprisingly poor accent). The film is a little over an hour long, but full of incident and interest, and kept my attention throughout.
So two fun but different retellings of this Arthur Conan Doyle story. My favourite is the Jeremy Brett version, which is more faithful, and also features my all-time favourite Holmes and Watson pairing of actors. But the Basil Rathbone version is a delight in its own way. There's also a 1912 short silent film version of the story, that can be viewed on
the story's Wikipedia page.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
