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Kayti Burt Aug 8, 2016

From silent film to the BBC's Sherlock, we're perusing the many on-screen incarnations of the villainous Culverton Smith...

Contains potential spoilers for Sherlock series 4 (well, in the sense that it talks about the hundred-year-old story that inspired one of its characters).

In series 4 of the BBC drama, we're told Culverton Smith is to be Sherlock's "darkest villain yet". Introduced in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's "The Dying Detective" and continuing in various film and TV adaptations over the years, the character has already had a long screen career.

In preparation for the forthcoming season of Sherlock (because what else are we supposed to do with this interminable hiatus?), we're taking a look at Culverton Smith's on-screen history through the ages. We've got your silent films. We've got your fan films. We've got your Jeremy Brett. Pick your poison — or should I say infectious disease...

First, an introduction.

In the history of soggy underwater adventures, none have been been soggier than this A.I.P. Panavision curiosity from England. Four out of five insomniacs agree: it has the most awkwardly mis-matched cast of players in fantasy film history... starting with a chicken. Kl Studio Classics Savant Blu-ray Review 1965 / Color / 2:35 widescreen 1:37 flat Academy / 84 min. / City in the Sea / Street Date August ll, 2015 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95  Starring Vincent Price, Tab Hunter, David Tomlinson, Susan Hart, John Le Mesurier, Harry Oscar, Derek Newark, Roy Patrick, Herbert the Rooster. Cinematography Stephen Dade Film Editor Gordon Hales Original Music Stanley Black Written by Charles Bennett, Louis M. Heyward, David Whitaker based on City in the Sea by Edgar Allan Poe Produced by Daniel Haller Directed by Jacques Tourneur

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

By 1965 American-International Pictures was looking in all directions, trying to hit on new themes to replace the monsters...

Hatter’s Castle (1942) Direction: Lance Comfort Screenplay: Rodney Ackland; from A.J. Cronin’s novel Cast: Robert Newton, Deborah Kerr, James Mason, Emlyn Williams, Henry Oscar, Enid Stamp-Taylor James Mason, Deborah Kerr Hatter’s Castle A 1942 adaptation of A.J. Cronin’s first novel, Hatter’s Castle, strips away multiple characters and subplots, thus streamlining the film into melodrama. The material, however, is still ripe for social commentary: James Brodie (Robert Newton) is a successful hatter, but a tyrant; a man who alienates family and villagers on the Firth of Clyde. He creates a small empire tolerated solely because of his financial success; he allows locals to infer the aristocratic pedigree that he projects from his recently constructed castle. When Brodie’s business ventures crumble, his vicious behavior leads to [...]...