I was first exposed to Sherlock Holmes when, at the age of nine, a relative gave me a tape containing two episodes of the old-time radio show "The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes." For a while, not too much happened in the world's greatest detective department, but when I was in grade 7 or 8, Mom bought me a set of BBC dramatizations of original Holmes stories starring Clive Merrison and Michael Williams. When I got home I popped in one of the tapes and I wanted more. Mom bought me a few more of these dramatizations and I got lots of enjoyment out of them.
Last night, while looking through some audiobooks I had been given, I found a set of these dramatizations on cd containing some I'd heard before and some I hadn't.
Below are my thoughts, some affectionately critical, on various adventures of Holmes and Watson.
The Musgrave Ritual: If Rachel was so disturbed at having murdered Brunton that she had to take to her bed for three days and require round-the-clock nursing care, then how could she have gotten it together to escape from an upstairs window, leave the estate and head for somewhere else in England, let alone abroad?
When I first listened to this story, I didn't fully get that Brunton was a player.
The Empty House: When I first listened to this story, I was so captivated by the aspect of the plot involving Holmes' return and the story behind everything that had happened that the murder of Ronald Adair part went right over my head.
The Dancing Men: In the late 1890s, how could Elsie Cubitt have made a full recovery from firing a bullet directly into her brain?
This story never entirely made sense to me until last night because, for some reason, as a kid, I never completely clued into the fact Elsie was American. Makes Abe Slaney's presence make a lot more sense.
A Scandal in Bohemia: A lot different than the Wishbone version.
The Redheaded League: The clue about Clay's trouser knees doesn't really make sense. Wouldn't customers and other people have remark on how filthy they were for someone in the service industry?
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