A STUDY IN SCARLET
US, 1933, 71 minutes, Black and white.
Reginald Owen, Anna May Wong, Alan Mowbray, Warburton Gamble.
Directed by Edwin L. Marin.
A Study in Scarlet is one of the rare film versions of Sherlock Holmes’ 1887 story. However, screenwriter Robert Florey departs from the basic plot of Conan Doyle’s novel and constructs a parallel story with influences from other Sherlock Holmes tales. The film resembles Agatha Christie’s Ten Little Indians/And Then There Were None. This is especially true of the elimination of victims, the fact that the murderer had eliminated himself in pretence – and the use of the nursery rhyme finishing ‘and then there were none’. However, Agatha Christie did not write her novel until 1939.
The film has an atmospheric London setting, has a British cast, has the atmosphere of London and of Holmes’ stories (and of the films made of them in the 20s and 30s).
Reginald Owen had played Doctor Watson and now plays Sherlock Holmes, the intention being a series. However, this was not to be. Anna May Wong is an exotic presence in the film as Mrs Pyke. Alan Mowbray, often in comic roles, is Inspector Lestrade.
There is a particularly interesting sequence at the end when the unknown murderer visits his lawyer – and the camera is the eyes of the murderer, walking into the room, having an interview, blowing smoke. Edwin L. Marin directed a number of genre films up till 1951 and his death, his last films being westerns with Gary Cooper and Randolph Scott.
1.The popularity of Sherlock Holmes stories? The many film versions? This particular story? The screenwriter’s departing from the original?
2.Hollywood studios and London settings, Victoria Station, the streets, Limehouse, the river? The interiors? Effective? The impact of the subjective scene with the murderer visiting his lawyer? Musical score?
3.Reginald Owen’s impersonation of Sherlock Holmes? A man of the 1930s? An investigator? Not having the usual characteristics of clothes, deerstalker, smoking as in the traditional pictures of him? Doctor Watson as supportive, a touch eccentric but rather subdued? An effectively different Sherlock Holmes?
4.The focus on the scarlet ring, Thaddeus Merridew and the meetings? The discussions about the inheritance? People dying, the list of members and their deaths? The motivation for greed, larger shares of the inheritance? Eileen Forester and her presence? The other members, British, Chinese? Holmes’ explanation of the Chinese background and the division of the jewel?
5.The successive murders and their effect, including Captain Pyke?
6.Holmes, his antagonism towards Merridew? His being approached by Mrs Walsh, the visualising of her husband’s death? Murder? The contact with Eileen Forester, with her fiancée? The notice in the paper, the biblical references? Holmes and the detail of his investigations, exploring the buildings, the river?
7.The encounter with Mrs Pyke, her Chinese background, touch of the exotic?
8.Wilson, his going to the meetings, his fear, his decision to go to Holmes, giving information, going to the hotel?
9.Merridew, the plan? Captain Pyke faking his death? The set-up to kill Eileen Forester? To kill Wilson? The presence of Mrs Pyke?
10.The atmosphere for the final confrontation, the atmosphere of the deaths, the telegrams, the concern of the fiancée, the abduction of Eileen Forester? The rescue, the confrontation, the arrests? The role of Inspector Lestrade, his contacts with Holmes, getting the credit?
11.An entertaining Sherlock Holmes film – 30s style?
