Duncan Eagleson

The Early Films: Silents and Black and White

“You have a grand gift for silence, dear Watson.” – The Man with the Twisted Lip

Recapping:  Considering Sherlock Holmes has appeared in more films than any other literary character except Dracula, I decided to narrow the field, at least to start, by looking only at feature length, or at least standalone films that are based on the original stories written by Conan Doyle.

Most of the Holmes tales are short stories, which would require some padding to make them run to feature length, so filmmakers have generally left them alone.  Of the four novels, only The Sign of Four and the Hound of the Baskervilles have made it to the screen. There being dozens of versions of Hound, I decided to narrow the field to begin by taking on Sign first.

One of the early silents based on Sign (1905) has been lost, though fragments it exist in the Library of Congress. Another (1913) apparently still exists, but despite extensive searching, I have been unable to find a Bluray, DVD or streaming version of it. So we’ll begin our consideration of the film versions of this tale with the Eillie Norwood version of 1923.

In all of what follows, I’m assuming the reader has read Doyle’s book, and knows the plot, so fair warning, there will be spoilers.

THE SIGN OF FOUR (1923)
Eillie Norwood, Arthur M. Cullin, Isobel Elsom, Directed by Maurice Elvey, Screenplay by Maurice Elvey

Between 1921 and 1923, Eillie Norwood played Sherlock Holmes in a whopping 47 silent films – 45 shorts and 2 features, all produced by Stoll Pictures.  Conan Doyle himself was apparently quite impressed by Norwood’s performances. Throughout the series, his Watson was played by Hubert Willis, but in  The Sign of Four, the final film of the series, director Maurice Elvey felt Willis was too old to be romancing Isobel Elsom as Mary Morstan, and replaced him with Arthur Cullin.

Eillie Norwood as Sherlock Holes, The Sign of Four (1923, Stoll Pictures)

Many of the characters in this film are un-named, but for convenience, I’m going to use the names of their cognates in the novel.

Strangely, as the film started out, I almost thought I was going to see a version of Scandal in Bohemia. A man introduced as a Russian Prince arrives at Baker Street, wanting Holmes to find a missing girl. Holmes turns him down because he lied about being a Russian when he is actually a Hindu. Chagrined, as he is leaving, he sees Mary Morstan arriving and gives her a Significant Stare (Significant Stares being a staple of these silent films).

After which, we start into the plot of Sign. Though there are minor variations, the basics are there: Mary Morstan’s father is dead – killed this time by a poisoned dart as he arrived in England – the anonymous pearls sent to her each year, and now an invitation to a mysterious meeting. Holmes and Watson will accompany her.

From there on, the story falls increasingly further from Doyle’s novel. It’s not the son of Major Sholto, but Sholto himself (unmarried and childless in this version) who has sent the pearls, and now wishes to share the Agra Treasure with the daughter of his old friend. In this film adaptation, of The Four, Abdullah Khan, rather than Jonathan Small, is the primary villain. Khan, in the film, is a stereotypical Evil Villain, while in the novel, Small is a more nuanced character. Small is remorseful about Tonga killing Bartholomew Sholto, as he held no grudge against Major Sholto’s sons, only against the Major himself, who cheated the rest of the four out of their shares of the treasure. Khan is just utterly unscrupulous and avaricious.

Fred Raynham in egregious blackface as Abdullah Khan

There’s no tracking Small and Tonga with a bloodhound, and rather than Holmes seeking the two and their escape launch disguised as Captain Basil, he disguises himself as an organ grinder to watch the house of Abdullah Khan. Holmes almost gets swept up in a raid on a “restaurant” in Limehouse (which is obviously intended to be a bar and brothel), and Small is taken there – Tonga killed trying to rescue him.

Khan abducts Watson and Miss Morstan, and tortures them to find out where the treasure is (though they don’t actually know). Happily, Miss Morstan shows some gumption rather than being simply the damsel in distress throughout, and frees herself while the villains are busy with Watson, but when she throws a knife at them, it instead hits a secret switch, revealing the treasure. Then she’s back to kidnaped damsel as they escape, leading to the chase on the river, wherein Holmes, Watson, and the river police eventually rescue Morstan and capture Khan.

Mary Morstan (Isobel Elsom) and Watson (Arthur Cullin) tortured by Khan & Co.

In the end, Watson marries Miss Morstan, and Holmes is left alone in Baker Street to play his violin.

On the whole, I admit I was not impressed. I can see why Norwood became “the” Holmes for filmgoers of the silent era, as he has a compelling presence and commands the screen whenever he’s on it. But his dynamism cannot overcome the weak and cliche aspects of the script, and Cullin’s Watson is weak tea – I’ll be interested to see if Hubert Willis is any better in the other Norwood films.

 

THE SIGN OF FOUR (1932)
Arthur Wontner, Ian Hunter, Isla Bevan, Directed by Graham Cutts, Screenplay by W.P. Lipscomb

Holmes (Arthur Wontner) and Watson (Ian Hunter) (1932, RKO Pictures)

At the start, you think you’re going to see a fairly canonical Sign of Four, with the basics of the backstory of Jonathan Small and the Agra treasure, and Major Sholto and his two sons, dramatised and front-loaded. But of course, this gives away a lot of the solution to the book’s mystery, where Doyle saves it for the end. The film follows broadly the outlines of the book, with the introduction here and there of utterly superfluous nonsense involving a sideshow and a tattooed man. There’s also an added element of Jonathan Small’s attempts to recover the pearls from Mary Morstan.

Wontner looks perfect for the role of Holmes (with the exception of a rather precious hairstyle), and handles it well. He’s not as dynamic as Rathbone, but he is convincing. His “Captain Basil” disguise is priceless. Ian Hunter as Watson isn’t a buffoon, but he is an ass. That’s as much the writer’s fault as the actor’s. Graham Soutten as Small snarls and stumps his way across the screen, oozing nastiness from every pore. The supporting actors are generally pretty lackluster, most of them sporting that nasal, 1930s delivery.

Holmes (Arthur Wontner) and Watson (Ian Hunter) investigate the death of Bartholomew Sholto. (1932, RKO Pictures)

There are several set pieces preserved from the book – notably Holmes’ investigation of the room where Bartholomew Sholto was murdered, which, aside from Watson appearing as dense as a black hole, is done quite well.  Athelney Jones (Gilbert Davis) shows up and is pompous and overbearing as usual — actors never seem to miss by far with Jones.  Unfortunately, the dog Toby and the tracking of Small and Tonga is missing, as are the Baker Street Irregulars.  Rather than having to track Small and find the steam launch Aurora, Holmes, it appears, is already familiar with Mordecai Smith. In the book Smith is the captain whose boat Small hires for his escape.  Here, he’s not just the captain of a hired boat, but a well known underworld character who maintains a pub, and regularly smuggles goods and people out of the country.

The steam launch Aurora has become a speedboat. Smith (Edgar Norfolk). Small (Graham Soutten), Tattooed Man (Roy Emerton), and Tonga (Togo) escape with the kidnaped Mary Morstan (Isla Bevan) (1932, RKO Pictures)

The denouement is jazzed up with Small and company hiding out in a sideshow, and the kidnapping of Mary Morstan. We do eventually get to the river chase, but instead of ending on the bank, there’s some extended stalking and fighting through a warehouse.  And rather than ending on the bottom of the Thames, the Agra Treasure here gets recovered.

Cinematographer Robert De Grasse does some interesting work here, playing a lot with light and shadow (foreshadowing later film noir techniques), and he likes to throw in overhead shots — which works pretty effectively during the warehouse fight, where we can see the various participants stalking each other, but they can’t see each other.

All in all, though it’s very dated,  and introduces a bunch of invented material that’s not really needed, it’s not a bad effort.

NEXT:  The First Signs of Colour – Peter Cushing, Ian Richardson, and Peter O’Toole

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