The 1912 "Copper Beeches" on Grapevine's "Sherlock Holmes" disc is mainly of curiosity appeal.
Directed in a remarkably flat-footed style by star, Georges Treville (a hammy and diminutive Sherlock Holmes) and his compatriot, Adrien Caillard, under the personal supervision (so the credit titles inform us) of Arthur Conan Doyle, in a small studio at Bexhill-on- Sea and the surrounding countryside, this short movie has at least five strikes against it:
1. No Watson; 2. No editing whatever. Each set-up is filmed in one long take; 3. Doyle and company manfully resist any temptations to actually move the camera, even when all the action is staged right at the left side of the frame; 4. Hammy, gesticulating performances, particularly from the actors playing the villain and Holmes himself (namely Treville, who is not only hammy, but surprisingly small in stature. "In height," Doyle tells us, Holmes "was rather over six feet, and so excessively lean he seemed to be considerably taller." This does not match Treville, who is dwarfed by the rest of the cast, particularly the villain); 5. All the actors are obviously under the impression they are emoting on a theater stage to an audience seated immediately in front of them.
On the credit side, this little movie is attractively photographed, and the tinted print on offer from Grapevine certainly rates 8/10.
Unfortunately, the other movies on Grapevine's Sherlock Holmes DVD are of lesser appeal pictorially. The plot of The Dying Detective is both obvious and dull. The Devil's Foot certainly engages the attention, but the print is murky and, aside from Norwood's Holmes and Willis's Watson, the acting is nothing to write home about.
Directed in a remarkably flat-footed style by star, Georges Treville (a hammy and diminutive Sherlock Holmes) and his compatriot, Adrien Caillard, under the personal supervision (so the credit titles inform us) of Arthur Conan Doyle, in a small studio at Bexhill-on- Sea and the surrounding countryside, this short movie has at least five strikes against it:
1. No Watson; 2. No editing whatever. Each set-up is filmed in one long take; 3. Doyle and company manfully resist any temptations to actually move the camera, even when all the action is staged right at the left side of the frame; 4. Hammy, gesticulating performances, particularly from the actors playing the villain and Holmes himself (namely Treville, who is not only hammy, but surprisingly small in stature. "In height," Doyle tells us, Holmes "was rather over six feet, and so excessively lean he seemed to be considerably taller." This does not match Treville, who is dwarfed by the rest of the cast, particularly the villain); 5. All the actors are obviously under the impression they are emoting on a theater stage to an audience seated immediately in front of them.
On the credit side, this little movie is attractively photographed, and the tinted print on offer from Grapevine certainly rates 8/10.
Unfortunately, the other movies on Grapevine's Sherlock Holmes DVD are of lesser appeal pictorially. The plot of The Dying Detective is both obvious and dull. The Devil's Foot certainly engages the attention, but the print is murky and, aside from Norwood's Holmes and Willis's Watson, the acting is nothing to write home about.