It seems to me that sir Arthur Conan Doyle portrayed the duo smoking in a various fashion, which the movies do not always portray. To my surprize the Jeremy Brett series, which in my opinion, portray the Adventures of Sherlock Homes closest to the book version of the original author's hardly contains any smoking, and we are talking about an era in which smoking was not demonized such as during current times. Taking place in Victorian London, the series does not catch the smoky English parlors and restaurants. Holmes smokes a churchwarden here and there, and Watson is a cigarette man. They both indulge on occasion in a cigar or a classic cigarette, but the smoking scenes are rare and far between. I mean, come on, what is a Holmes if not a smoker? This show, I must admit, does stay true to the pocket watch fashion of the day, as it displays every gentlemen wearing one, this being obvious by the various chains displayed on vests.
The Basil Rathbone is another famous one, and in my area youtube.com allows one to watch a colorized version of the show, without any copyright restrictions. This one, on the other hand, I believe is sponsored by Peterson. Both Holmes and Watson are smoking Peterson pipes, their namesake from the Sherlock Holmes series in fact - which makes one wonder if the brand and the movie producers did not have some sort of agreement. There is one episode, "The killing house" I believe, which surprises a tobacco talk between Holmes and a lady shop keeper, and the whole scene has a huge pipe tobacco bowl in the forefront, which reads "Peterson Tobacco". The series is engaging, although from a story stand point, this takes place in a 30s-40s London with cars, busses, trams, and all the more modern things present. It's neat, but not quite the classic.
I won't be bringing the very new Robert Downey Jr. series into discussion, as I feel that one completely lost touch with the original, but would like to hear some thoughts and discussions on even older Holmes cinematography. I remember having some old black and white shows from the 50s on a DVD collection ... unfortunately I do no longer have any means of playing them, since not even laptops have cd/dvd players incorporated.
The Basil Rathbone is another famous one, and in my area youtube.com allows one to watch a colorized version of the show, without any copyright restrictions. This one, on the other hand, I believe is sponsored by Peterson. Both Holmes and Watson are smoking Peterson pipes, their namesake from the Sherlock Holmes series in fact - which makes one wonder if the brand and the movie producers did not have some sort of agreement. There is one episode, "The killing house" I believe, which surprises a tobacco talk between Holmes and a lady shop keeper, and the whole scene has a huge pipe tobacco bowl in the forefront, which reads "Peterson Tobacco". The series is engaging, although from a story stand point, this takes place in a 30s-40s London with cars, busses, trams, and all the more modern things present. It's neat, but not quite the classic.
I won't be bringing the very new Robert Downey Jr. series into discussion, as I feel that one completely lost touch with the original, but would like to hear some thoughts and discussions on even older Holmes cinematography. I remember having some old black and white shows from the 50s on a DVD collection ... unfortunately I do no longer have any means of playing them, since not even laptops have cd/dvd players incorporated.
