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[struth]

The Sign of Four, 1983..bluray



In 1982, American producer Sy Weintraub partnered with English producer Otto Plaschkes to make six television films of Sherlock Holmes stories. Charles Edward Pogue was enlisted to pen the screenplays but only The Sign of the Four and The Hound of the Baskervilles were ultimately filmed as Granada Television's Sherlock Holmes series premiered in 1984.

In an interview with Scarlet Street, Ian Richardson explained:
"That was the fly in our ointment. Initially, an unseen fly. You see, when Sy Weintraub was planning the films, he was unaware that the copyright on the Holmes stories was about to expire in England and he had to go through a great deal of legal negotiations with the Conan Doyle estate in order to gain permission to use them. However, he was totally ignorant of Granada's plans to film a series with Jeremy Brett...Weintraub was furious, because he'd paid a lot of money to get permission from the estate and here was Granada saying, 'Thank you - but we're going to do it.' So Weintraub took them to court. He had a very good case, apparently; but eventually there was an out of court settlement for an extraordinary sum of money - something like two million pounds - which was enough for Weintraub to cover his costs on both The Sign of Four and The Hound of the Baskervilles, and make a profit, too. And so he wrapped the project up."

[struth]

2 Days in the Valley, 1996...




Charlize Theron revealed in an interview that she overdid the audition a bit for this role, and was later embarrassed about it. It was her first audition and she followed advice she got in acting class about making it as real as possible. The scene involved her character showing up at a house after being shot. So when her audition began, she walked into the hallway and poured ketchup all over herself. Then she barged back into the room, starting stumbling everywhere, getting ketchup all over the furniture, as she recited her lines very loudly. To her shock, it worked. They eventually gave her the role and director John Herzfeld said it was because, "I knew you'd be up for anything."

[struth]

Scarlet Street, 1945...bluray



Director Fritz Lang and three of the stars (Edward G. Robinson, Joan Bennett, and Dan Duryea) also made the similarly themed The Woman in the Window (1944).

Edward G. Robinson's character talks lovingly about art and says he wishes he owned a Cezanne. In real life, Robinson was a great collector of fine art and was considered an expert.

[Gazjam]

Sitting down to watch first episode of this this later today,



HBO adaption of an acclaimed viral outbreak/ post apocalyptic earth based Video Game .
Enjoyed the game, very story/ character driven so curious about this.

Pedro Pascal (Mandelorian) stars as one of the main leads, always worth a watch.

From the same Showrunner as Chernobyl, which was incredible.
Been looking forward to it.

[struth]

The Woman in the Window, 1944...bluray...



Fritz Lang has another winner here with the same cast that he used in "Scarlet Street" a year later in 1946.....wonderful portrayals from all concerned. In both films, Edward G. is caught up in a situation that traps him and forces him to make decisions that go against his sense of morality. Joan Bennett is gorgeous as the beautiful woman who ensnares Robinson in her troubles. Dan Duryea again proves that he was one hell of an actor.....he was stereotyped throughout his career in roles in which he was a coward, a weakling and a thoroughly unlikeable guy and nobody played it better.

"Lux Radio Theater" broadcast a 60-minute radio adaptation of the movie on June 25, 1945 with Joan Bennett, Dan Duryea, and Edward G. Robinson reprising their film roles.

[struth]

Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison, 1957...

[struth]

The Hound of the Baskervilles, 1983... bluray





Rather bafflingly, the character of Inspector Lestrade is introduced far earlier in the story in this version than he is in the novel, but is left out of the scene of Holmes and Watson confronting and killing the hound - the one scene in the book in which he appears.

Ian Richardson is regarded by fans of the Baker Street sleuth, to be one of the best Holmes interpretations of the last 35 years.

[Barry]

I haven't seen that version Grant. But any film with Ian Richardson and Denholm Elliot in it is worth watching.

[struth]

Its pretty decent Barry...
another version now... The Hound of the Baskervilles, 1959... bluray..



Originally proposed by brief Hammer cohort Kenneth Hyman, this movie was planned to be the first in a series of many Sherlock Holmes movies starring Peter Cushing, produced by Hammer Films. The audience disapproved of a Hammer movie without any monsters and failed to turn up. The planned series was consequently dropped.

André Morell was one of the first movie portrayals to show Watson as a more than competent colleague of Holmes, rather than the lovable buffoon that Nigel Bruce had portrayed.

[struth]

The Wolf Man, 1941...



In Curt Siodmak's original script for the film, whether or not Lawrence Talbot really underwent a physical transformation to a werewolf or if the transformation simply occurred in his mind was left ambiguous. The Wolf Man was never to appear onscreen. Ultimately, the studio determined that Talbot's literal transformation into a werewolf would be more appealing to the audience and thus more profitable. The script was revised accordingly.

The Wolfman battled a bear in one scene but unfortunately the bear ran away during filming. What few scenes were filmed were put into the theatrical trailer.