Review:Jeremy Brett & David Burke/Christopher Roden
This review of the booklets "Jeremy Brett & David Burke: An Adventure in Canonical Fidelity", by R. Dixon Smith and "Remembering Jeremy Brett", by Michael Cox & R. Dixon Smith was written by Christopher Roden and published in the A.C.D. - The Journal of The Arthur Conan Doyle Society (Vol. 8, 1998).
This review discusses two Rupert Books monographs on Jeremy Brett, judging them as affectionate tribute volumes of interest to Sherlockian collectors despite their recycled material and some editorial limitations. It reflects on Brett's lasting reputation as Sherlock Holmes on television and concludes that, whatever the debates around his performance, his presence still looms large in Holmes adaptation history.
Review
- The Rupert Books Monograph Series
- Jeremy Brett & David Burke:
- An Adventure in Canonical Fidelity
- R. Dixon Smith
- Monograph #6; Rupert Books, Cambridge, 1998; 40pp.
- ISBN: 0-9530869-5-X; £10 (Limited to 1,000 signed copies).
- Remembering Jeremy Brett
- Michael Cox & R. Dixon Smith
- Monograph #4; Rupert Books, Cambridge, 1997; 32pp.
- ISBN: 0-9530869-3-3; £10 (Limited to 600 copies).
Reviewed by Christopher Roden
Almost fifteen years have elapsed since Jeremy Brett first appeared on our television screens with his enigmatic portrayal of Sherlock Holmes, and almost five years have passed since 'The Cardboard Box', the final episode of the final series. For a while following Brett's untimely death in 1995, it seemed that things might never be the same again. But times change. Opinions on Brett's interpretation of the Holmes character remain as divided as ever, and, even though the various series receive regular re-screenings both in Britain and North America, one wonders if the time is now right for another actor to take up the flame. Jeremy Brett was a good Sherlock Holmes some would say an excellent Sherlock Holmes — but the personal difficulties of the actor were given so much publicity, and his story was so pathetically mistreated at the hands of a hack journalist following his death, that I cannot help but feel that we have perhaps read quite enough of Brett for the time being.
That said, these two booklets, which both reprint material already published in other places at other times, attempt nothing other than to be a tribute to Jeremy Brett. The first, Jeremy Brett & David Burke: An Adventure in Canonical Fidelity, was originally published by University of Minnesota Libraries in 1986. Its original incarnation was as a large format, beautifully produced and designed booklet printed on high quality stock, and inevitably, therefore, the aesthetics. of its successor are something of a disappointment. Gone is the large format; gone, too, to a large degree, is the quality of design, leaving us with a straightforward, small format booklet, in which the illustrations, chiefly in a centre-page section, appear as something of an afterthought.
I've always been a little confused as to why the author chose to single out Jeremy Brett and David Burke as the apparent feature, for the section dealing with them occupies less than a half of the booklet, even in its new format. The early chapters are taken up by what went before: William Gillette, Eille Norwood, Arthur Wontner, and Basil Rathbone. As Mr Smith admits in his introduction to the new edition, he would wish to add the name of Douglas Wilmer, whose performances, he notes, are 'stunningly effective, emphasising the detective's commanding self-assurance and arrogance'. That Wilmer is not in the volume was, he admits, the result of ignorance: residing in America until 1994, the Wilmer series had been virtually unknown to him. Mr Smith notes that he would also have liked to include mention of Ian Richardson's two 1983 appearances as Holmes. Yet despite this, he took the decision to reprint the booklet in its original form, thereby 'preserving the integrity of observations made when the [Granada] series was in its earliest stages'.
In general terms, those observations of the early episodes remain valid, though Brett's wish to maintain canonical fidelity as the series progressed was, as we subsequently learnt, to some degree governed by the various producers, directors, and the limitations of the budgets. and sets available for the later series.
To a large extent, much of the material written about Brett in those heady days of the late '80s and early '90s has been superseded by David Stuart Davies's Bending the Willow and Michael Cox's series 'A Study in Celluloid' which is still running in Sherlock Holmes: The Detective Magazine.
Nevertheless, Jeremy Brett & David Burke: An Adventure in Canonical Fidelity remains a desirable part of the film and television section of any Sherlockian collection, and since the original edition. has become very expensive to acquire, this new reprint will be welcomed by many.
Remembering Jeremy Brett is an oddity in some ways, being a gathering of six previously published pieces by Michael Cox and R. Dixon Smith. It is none the worse for that, and must be viewed as a sincere tribute from the two writers concerned. My own memories of Jeremy Brett centre around his laughter and his willingness-indeed desire to be the centre of attention. For that reason alone, my favourite piece in this slim volume is Michael Cox's 'Jeremy Brett in the Eighties', which originally appeared in The Sherlock Holmes Gazette as 'Upward and Onward!'
Whether you loved Jeremy Brett or hated him, his laughter was infectious. When he was on perfect-or even good-form it was a joy to be with him. As R. Dixon Smith concludes in 'Jeremy Brett: An Appreciation': Jeremy Brett has slipped into history. Now he belongs to the ages, but his shadow looms large over the world where it was always 1895. Indeed it does. I still believe that Brett was the finest Sherlock Holmes, certainly of existing generations and I am happy to remember him in that way.
Christopher Roden
- Article courtesy Christopher Roden, founder of The Arthur Conan Doyle Society (1989-2003).
