The Speckled Band

The IMDb has it at 90 minutes long, 66 in the US the same as it states on the back of the budget DVD box I've just watched, but timed at a mere 50. For this has been slashed to ribbons over the years, Persistance Of Vision is sorely tried as well as guessing what scenes were deleted between frame slippages and leaps. Puzzling gaps in the plot are easy in comparison!

There are many bits to enjoy however through gritted teeth - Massey did all right as Holmes, although Athole Stewart as a bald headed and vibrant Watson took me some getting used to. Lyn Harding as Dr. Rylott was splendidly OTT - almost made me wish for Tod Slaughter to make an appearance! Favourite bits: Holmes' bustling outer office at Baker Street, an intriguing development but one I'm glad to report unique; the romantic clinches in the garden between Helen and her boyfriend (straight from getting shot in Elstree Calling) who's not heard of again; Holmes solving the mystery in her darkened bedroom. Where it allows, a beautiful misty gleaming nitrate atmosphere pervades.

I hope there's a decent print out there somewhere, because ultra-creaky as it is this film probably deserves a little more attention than I fear this copy will ever get!

It is clear to see why Sherlock Holmes has been popular in film, with the care and quality given to this early film as an example. When this was produced, all the stories had been written, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was dead. Audiences of the day had perhaps seen a few screen versions--most likely the awful John Barrymore vehicle--but Holmes was already known all over the English-speaking world. So here, before the B movies of the '40's, we have a really fine production that is beautifully true to Sir Arthur's creation. Raymond Massey, a young Canadian actor in his first film outing, interprets the part solidly, and imaginatively. The pace is a little slow for modern tastes, but perhaps that is respect. An admirable effort.

Had I seen the director's cut of The Speckled Band I might have given it a higher rating. But the version I saw was one released in Canada and only ran 50 minutes. Still the basic idea of the famous Sherlock Holmes mystery came through and Raymond Massey was a fine Holmes.

A slight change in the plot that Arthur Conan Doyle wrote has Dr. Watson played here by Athole Stewart called in on the inquest on the death of Joyce Moore. That was a mistake because Watson being a doctor and also having served in the Afghan War would have known exactly what the cause of death was and Holmes would never have to be called in.

In any event her sister Angela Baddely is fearful for her own life and fearful of a coarse and brutal stepfather Lyn Harding. Harding is also a blusterer and he dares Massey to pin anything on him.

Harding also served in India and that's the key to what happened to Moore and almost to Baddely.

I would like to have seen the full version of The Speckled Band as it is considered one of Arthur Conan Doyle's best Holmes stories. Still as an introduction to Holmes it's not a bad one and Massey's portrayal stands up well. In fact it was his first real cinema role of note.

Originally released in 7 reels at 66 minutes, the film survives only in a somewhat worn 5-reel cutdown that originally ran around 48 minutes, but now clocks in at just over 42. Credit and end titles have been added from another source. Here we now have virtually a straight version of the 1910 stage play by Arthur Conan Doyle. Originally, there were some modern 1931 asides in this movie, but, aside from an incongruous scene in the master detective's Baker Street office, these have now disappeared (which could well be an advantage). We are left with the compelling story of the speckled band itself, which Doyle himself regarded as the best Holmes adventure he ever wrote. If nothing else, the movie has atmosphere (though it's a shame the gypsies have been all but eliminated in this cutdown), thanks to its wonderfully cavernous, gloomy sets and Freddie Young's noirish lighting. The stage play's Lyn Harding gives a typically over-the-top performance as the villain, while Raymond Massey plays Holmes virtually straight with few of the characteristic mannerisms (except his passion for disguise), and Athole Stewart is every inch the sensible, cultivated, resourceful, helpful Watson that Doyle created, rather than the slapstick fall-guy epitomized by Nigel Bruce.

I saw this film in 1931at a time when most British movies creaked

along. As I recall, this was a cut above most of its contemporaries,

with convincing performances b y Massey, Baddeley and Harding.

Most impressive was the opening: camera ranged through the

dark halls and passages of an old English manor in a sustained

dolly shot to the eerie sound of some kind of Indian wind

instrument. The sequence ended with a jump cut to the face of a

young woman, screaming in her death throes. Most alarming and

impressive. For me it ranks with one of he best shock openings

I've ever seen. Today, they'd probably play such a scene before the

main title.

An interesting footnote: In later life, Angela Baddeley, the heroine,

was to play Mrs. Hudson, the cook, in the unforgettable British

series, Upstairs, Downstairs.