Monthly Meeting Minutes - 16th July 2023

Date of Meeting: 16th July 2023

 

Location of Meeting:

The Sherloft, My House, Portsmouth, UK

 

Attendees:

"The Entire Canon" (Paul Thomas Miller)

 

Apologies:

None.

 

Motions:

"The Entire Canon" (Paul Thomas Miller) moved that we should move AOB to the start of the meeting so he could tell us all about his new book "Finding Sherlock Holmes" which is currently on Kickstarter. It is a comprehensive guide to all the locations in England which are mentioned in the Sherlock Holmes Canon. It covers more locations than any other similar work produced so far. It goes all the way from big locations like Baskerville hall down to small one's like the stone cutter's mentioned briefly in The Mazarin Stone. Aiming to be a genuinely useful guidebook, but still very much in the voice of "The Entire Canon" (Paul Thomas Miller) it is a work "The Entire Canon" (Paul Thomas Miller) is very proud to be bringing to the Holmesian community.

It can be found at http://kck.st/44kF8Ze

No one seconded the motion. "The Entire Canon" (Paul Thomas Miller) agreed that he would mention  it at the end of the meeting instead.

Presentation:

"The Entire Canon" (Paul Thomas Miller) presented the following long rambling and intentionally boring paper about horror movies and Sherlock Holmes:

Amicus  Portmanteau Horrors and Sherlock Holmes

 One of my favourite Holmesian past-times has to be ruining whatever my family are watching on telly by informing them which Holmes productions the actors have been in instead of letting them listen to the show. One of wife’s favourite things to watch is the set of seven portmanteau horror films produced by the Amicus Productions film company, between 1965 and 1974. As a result of this I have made a study of the actors of these films and the Holmesian links that they have. Here, I will confine this study to screen productions.

 For those not in the know, a portmanteau horror film is a single film consisting of several shorter films, usually with a connecting story linking the different segments together. The seven Amicus portmanteaus are:

 Dr. Terrors House of Horrors (1965) (hereafter TERR) in which a mysterious stranger in a train carriage shows his fellow travelers their potential supernatural futures.

Torture Garden (1967) (hereafter TORT) in which a mysterious side show owner shows some fairground goers  their potential supernatural futures.

The House that Dripped Blood (1971) (hereafter HOUS) in which an estate agent tells a police inspector the mysterious supernatural stories associated with a particular house.

Tales from the Crypt (1972) (hereafter CRYP) in which a mysterious stranger shows five people on a catacomb tour the supernatural story of their own deaths.

Asylum (1972) (hereafter ASYL) in which a psychiatrist is shown around a mysterious mental asylum being told the supernatural stories of the inmates.

The Vault of Horror (1973) (hereafter VAUL) in which five strangers meet in the basement of an office block and share the stories of their mysterious supernatural dreams with each other.

And, finally, From Beyond the Grave (1974) (hereafter BEYO) in which a mysterious antique shop owner sells people items which lead them into supernatural stories.

 I have also included three related films in my study:

 Tales That Witness Madness (Paramount, 1973) (hereafter WITN) is a clear pastiche of the Amicus portmanteaus. Like Asylum, this is based in a mysterious mental asylum where a psychiatrist learns the supernatural stories of the inmates.

The Uncanny (Rank Organisation, 1977) (hereafter UNCA) is another Amicus pastiche. In this one a mysterious writer tells his publisher supernatural stories about cats in an attempt to save the world from feline domination.

Finally, The Monster Club (Chips Productions, 1981) (MONS) is very much a parody of the Amicus films. A vampire invites a horror writer to a mysterious club for supernatural creatures and tells him the stories of some of the monsters found within.

 Starring in seven of these ten films, Peter Cushing was the obvious person to start with. He was Dr. Terror in TERR, Lancelot Canning in TORT, Philip in HOUS, Grimsdyke in CRYP, Smith in ASYL, the proprietor in BEYO and Wilbur in UNCA. Notably, in TERR, BEYO and UNCA he is the central character in the all-important connecting "framework" story. In Holmesian terms Cushing is an easy win. As well as playing Arthur Conan Doyle in the 1976 film The Great Houdini, he also played Sherlock Holmes in three separate productions: the Hammer production of The Hound of the Baskerville (1959), the second series of the British TV show Sherlock Holmes (1968) and Sherlock Holmes and the Masks of Death (1984).

In Sherlock Holmes and the Masks of Death Cushing was joined by Ray Milland in the role of "home secretary". He had joined Cushing before when he played Frank Richards - Cushing’s publisher - in UNCA. UNCA would also see Samantha Eggar in the role of Edina Hamilton (segment "Hollywood 1936"). Holmesians will be more familiar with her as Mary Morstan Watson in The Seven-Per-Cent Solution (1976), the same film which saw Charles Gray play Mycroft Holmes three years after his role as Nicholas in WITN's framework story. This was not the last time he played Mycoft - he reprised the role in three of the Jeremy Brett series (The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1984), The Return of Sherlock Holmes (1988) and The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes (1994)) that are so adored by Sherlockians the world over. Elsewhere in the Adventures… series Jeremy Kemp took on the role of Dr Grimesby-Roylott. This is not his only Holmesian credential - he also played Baron Karl von Leinsdorf in The Seven-Per-Cent Solution. In the Amicus universe though, he is known for the character of Jerry Drake (segment "Creeping Vine") in TERR. In this segment Jerry Drake tries to assist a family being plagued by a killer plant. The mother of this family is Ann Rogers who is played by Ann Bell who Holmesians will instantly recognise as Peter Cushing’s Mary Morstan from his 1968 version of The Sign of Four as part of his Sherlock Holmes series.

Another episode from this series - Black Peter - gave us Jerold Wells in the role of Patrick Cairns. Just five years later he would hit the big screen in VAUL as "Waiter" (segment "Midnight Mess"). This segment is a fun one for Holmesians as it features Anna Massey who was married to Jeremy Brett for four years. She was also the daughter of Raymond Massey who had played Sherlock Holmes in 1931’s The Speckled Band. In VAUL Anna played Donna Rogers whose brother - Harold Rogers - is trying to kill her. Harold was played by Anna’s real life brother Daniel Massey. Holmesians will be more familiar with Daniel in his role of Trelawney Hope from "The Second Stain" episode of the Peter Cushing's 1968 Sherlock Holmes series or J. Neil Gibson from the Jeremy Brett version of "The Problem of Thor Bridge" from the 1991 series The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes. A more villainous episode from this series was "The Illustrious Client" in which we saw Baron Gruner portrayed by Anthony Valentine. Ten years previously he had been just as scary in his performance from MONS as Mooney (segment "Vampire Story") a story which saw him hunting down the charater of "father" played by Richard Johnson. In 1991 Richard Johnson played Dr Watson to Charleton Heston’s Holmes in The Crucifer of Blood.

In 1965’s A Study in Terror the same role - Dr Watson - had been taken by Donald Houston, the same person who played Sam in the "Mr. Tiger" segment of WITN. The part of Fay in the same WITN segment was taken by Georgia Brown who has two memorable Holmesian roles: Frau Freud in The Seven-Per-Cent Solution and Rachel in the Peter Cushing Sherlock Holmes version of "The Musgrave Ritual". This was the same series that gave us the memorable performance of Christopher Carlos as Lucus in the episode Wisteria Lodge. Amicus fans will know Carlos better as Vrim from the Voodoo segment of TERR.

A similarly pivotal role in TERR was taken by Faith Kent who gave a scintillating performance as "Lady in Art Gallery" during the "Disembodied Hand" segment. Almost as good was her performance in Hands of a Murderer (1990) as Mrs. Husdon to Edward Woodward’s Holmes.

A similar star of TERR’s "Disembodied Hand" segment was Walter Sparrow who valiantly took on the part of "Second Ambulance Man". That’s right - the same Walter Sparrow who would, in 1985, play the part of Ethan Engel in Young Sherlock Holmes.

Indeed, that "Disembodied Hand" segment is littered with Holmesian stars. Michael Gough plays one of the main characters of the story - an artist named Eric Landor. Gough is famous enough in his own right, but to devotees of the great detective he will always be known as Russel Partridge from The Case of the Perfect Husband - an episode from the Ronald Howard 1950s series Sherlock Holmes. The star of the first episode from this series was Ursula Howells in the role of Joan (episode: "The Case of the Cunninham Heritage"). Ursula went on to appear in two of the Amicus films: TERR as Mrs. Deirdre Biddulph (segment "Werewolf") and TORT as Miss Maxine Chambers (segment "Mr. Steinway").

The Framework story of TORT heavily involves Michael Ripper. Despite being the barman in just about every British horror movie of the 60s and 70s, this is Rippers only appearance in the Amicus portmanteaus. Similarly, he only ever appeared once in a Holmesian role, that of Stanley Fluff in one episode of the kids' tv show The Baker Street Boys (1983) which centred more around the Baker Street Irregulars than Roger Ostime’s portrayal of Sherlock Holmes. Ripper’s co-star in the TORT framework story is Burgess Meredith - best know as one of the Batman villains from the 1960’s Adam West series. He appeared in twenty-one epsiodes as The Penguin. Less well remembered is the villain Egghead who only appeared in seven episodes. Egghead was a baddy with a big bald bonce who battled Batman with his big brains and bad egg puns. This role was played by Vincent Price.

Vincent Price is known to Holmesians as Professor Ratigan from Disney’s 1986 film The Great Mouse Detective. In the world of portmanteau horrors he is better known as Eramus - the vampire from the framework story of MONS. This framework story involves vampire Erasmus inviting horror author R. Chetwynd-Hayes to join him at the eponymous Monster Club. R. Chetwynd-Hayes is played by John Carradine, who Holmesians will know as Barryman, the butler (renamed from the canon’s original "Barrymore") from Basil Rathbone’s The Hound of the Baskervilles. The Henry Baskerville of this film was played by Richard Greene who also played Jason in the "Wish You Were Here" segment of CRYP and Lord Brompton in the episode "The Case of the Purloined Letter" from the 1970s series Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson which starred Geoffrey Whithead as Sherlock Holmes in a series which mostly rehashed stories from the old Ronald Howard series.

Another actor from the Geoffrey Whitehead series was Geoffrey Bayldon who played Morton Hadlock in "The Case of the Deadly Tower". This was not his only Holmesian role, he also played Sidney Johnson in the episode "The Bruce-Partington Plans" from Jeremy Brett’s The Return of Sherlock Holmes series. He had also had four roles in the portmanteau horrors. He was a psychiatrist in the "Shadmock Story" segment of MONS, Max in the segment "Mannikins of Horror" from ASYL, the guide from the framework story of CRYP and Theo Von Hartmann from the segment "The Cloak" in HOUS.

The main character from "The Cloak" section of HOUS was Paul, who was portrayed by Jon Pertwee. Jon Pertwee is most famous for two roles - the third Doctor in Doctor Who and Worzel Gummidge. In an episode of Worzel Gummidge Down Under from 1989 called "Elementary, My Dear Worty" the eponymous scarecrow investigates a crime by changing his head for a Sherlock Holmes head.

In HOUS, it is the dissapearnce of Pertwee’s character - Paul - which is the focus of the framework story, in which Det. Insp. Holloway is conducting the investigation. Holloway is played by John Bennett. This is not the only Dr Who/Sherlock Holmes connection he has, as he also worked with the forth Doctor on the Doctor Who story line “The Talons of Wen-Chiang”. Set in victorian London, Tom Baker’s doctor inexplicably goes around dressed as Sherlock Holmes for the entire six episode story. However, a more solid Holmesian connection for John Bennet can be found in 1991 when he played Dr. Sigmund Freud in the Christopher Lee film Sherlock Holmes and the Leading Lady.

Christopher Lee, like Peter Cushing, is another interesting person in this study. He appeared in significant parts for two of the Amicus films: In TERR he was Franklyn Marsh in the segment "Disembodied Hand" and in HOUS he was Reid in the segment "Sweets to the Sweet". In Holmesian terms he is far more accomplished. In Cushing’s 1959 The Hound of the Baskervilles he took the part of Sir Henry, in 1970s The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes he played Mycroft and he also played Sherlock Holmes himself in three movies: Sherlock Holmes and the Deadly Necklace (1962), Sherlock Holmes and the Leading Lady (1991) and Sherlock Holmes: Incident at Victoria Falls (1992).

Sherlock Holmes: Incident at Victoria Falls involves encounters with many famous figures of the day. Among them is King Edward who is portrayed by Joss Ackland - another multi-Holmes actor. Ackland can also be seen as Hon. Philip Green in "The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax" episode of Douglas Wilmer’s 1964 series Sherlock Holmes, the President in John Cleese’s The Strange Case of the End of Civilization as We Know It (1977) and Jephro Ruscastle in "The Copper Beeches" episode of Jeremy Brett’s The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. However, he only ever took one role in the Amicus universe - that of Rogers in the"Waxworks" segment of HOUS. The proprietor of the Waxworks museum in question in this segment was played by Wolfe Morris who Holmesians will know as from his portrayal of "frenchman" in Gene Wilder’s 1975 film The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother. Another, equally significant character in this movie was Fred who was played by Tommy Godfrey. Tommy also had multiple roles in the Geoffrey Whitehead series Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson. He played Smith in the episodes "A Motive for Murder" and "The Case of Smith & Smythe" and Jack Driscoll in "The Case of the Luckless Gambler". He also had two roles in the Amicus Films: Landlord in VAUL and Mr. Jeffries  in BEYO.

BEYO also gave us Nyree Dawn Porter in the role of Susan Warren from the segment "The Elemental". This is the same Nyree Dawn Porter who played ann in HOUS’s "Sweets to the Sweet" and Lady Brackenstall in Douglas Wilmer’s Sherlock Holmes episode "The Abbey Grange". This Douglas Wilmer series had repeat appearances from Peter Madden as Inspector Lestrade. However when the series was recommissioned with Peter Cushing in the title role in 1968, he transformed into Bill McCarthy for "The Boscombe Valley Mystery" episode. He also managed to bag the role of Von Tirpitz in 1970’s The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes. Five years previously, though, he had wowed audiences as Caleb in the "Werewolf" segment of TERR. The "Vampire" segment of the same movie centred around Dr. Bob Carroll who was ably portrayed by Donald Sutherland just fourteen years before he would become known to Holmesians as Robert Lees in the Christopher Plummer movie Murder by Decree.

In 1965 Donald Sutherland had appeared in a one-off TV special called Terry-Thomas Says How Do You Do? Unsurprisiningly, this was hosted by Terry-Thomas. Eight years later Terry-Thomas would appear as neat-freak Arthur Critchit in the VAUL segment "The Neat Job". Another five years would pass before he reached the radar of Holmesians as Dr. Mortimer in the unwatchable 1978 classic The Hound of the Baskervilles which starred Peter Cook as a confusing interpretation of Sherlock. This film also gave us a Beryl Stapleton played by Joan Greenwood. The same Joan Greenwood who a year earlier had played Miss Malkin in the "London 1912" segment of UNCA. This segment also gave us Susan Penhaligon as Janet (Penhaligon would later be cast as Miss Derwent in Sherlock Holmes and the Masks of Death) and Simon Williams as Michael. Simon Williams will be recognised as Lord Robert St. Simon from Jeremy Brett’s "The Eligible Bachelor" in the series The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes. In the epsiode "The Disappearance of Lady Francis Carfax" from the same series, the role of The Earl of Rufton was given to Michael Jayston who was already known to portmanteau fans as Brian from the "Mel" segment of WITN.

The only other actor from WITN who interests me is Leon Lissek who played Keoki in the "Luau" segment. I am sure the reader doesn’t need me to remind them of his performance as "stage door-keeper" in the Christopher Lee TV movie Sherlock Holmes and the Leading Lady. Christopher Lee followed this film up a year later with Sherlock Holmes: Incident at Victoria Falls in which Lord Roberts is played by Richard Todd who had previously treated us to his Walter in the "Frozen Fear" segment of ASYL. ASYL is also where many will have first encountered Barry Morse in his role as Bruno (segment "The Weird Tailor"). Morse got his Holmesian credentials from appearing as Carter Morstan in The Return of Sherlock Holmes. This was the Michael Pennington 1987 TV movie, not the Jeremy Brett Series.

Jeremy Brett, though, was responsible for many of the actors in this study. For example, Maurice Denham appeared as Reverend Merridew in "The Last Vampyre" episode of The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes as well as Josiah Amberley in Douglas Wilmers "The Retired Colourman". In the world of Amicus he had already been Uncle Roger in the "Enoch" section of TORT.

TORT also gave us Fred in the "Terror Over Hollywood" segment, played by James Copeland who we will never forget after he performed as "guide" in The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes. You might know him better as Selris from the Doctor Who "Krotons" storyline in 1968/69. The fourth Doctor did not encounter the Krotons, but, as already stated, he did once dress up as Shelock Holmes and his actor, Tom Baker did protray Sherlock once in a TV series version of The Hound of the Baskervilles in 1982. In the Amicus universe Tom Baker was the tortured artist Moore in the VAUL segment "Drawn and Quartered". One of the villains of this segment is Lawrence Diltant, played by Denholm Elliott. This is not Denholm’s only Amicus role - he also played Charles in the "Method for Murder" segement of HOUS. More importantly, Denholm Elliott has had three screen roles in Holmesian productions: Stapleton in the Peter Cook version of The Hound of the Baskervilles, Dr. Mortimer in the Ian Richardson version of The Hound of the Baskervilles (1983) and the "English delegate" in The Strange Case of the End of Civilization as We Know It. This last was a TV film which featured John Cleese as the grandson of Sherlock Holmes. It also featured Maurice Kaufmann playing the role of Steve McGarrett. Kaufmann was also in the "Drawn and Quartered" segment of VAUL.

The VAUL segment "This Trick'll Kill You" also gave us a few Sherlockian links. The character Inez was played by Dawn Addams who had previously been Doreen Meredith in "The Case of the Careless Suffragette" episode of Ronald Howard’s series. In VAUL Inez attempted to steal the magic of a fakir played by Ishaq Bux. Bux was Jeremy Brett’s Lal Chowder in his 1987 version of The Sign of Four.

Other stars of VAUL include Erik Chitty who played "old waiter" in the "Midnight Mess" segment as well as Walter in Douglas Wilmer’s version of "The Bruce-Partington Plans".

Similarly, the "Bargain in Death" segment of VAUL gave us Edward Judd as Alex. Judd would go on to portray Barrymore in Ian Richardson’s The Hound of the Baskervilles. Ian Richardson might be better known for his portayal of Doyle’s mentor - Dr Joseph Bell - in the BBC TV series Murder Rooms: Mysteries of the Real Sherlock Holmes. One episode of this, in 2000, saw John Malcolm in his iconic role of "doctor in street". He had also once been given the part of Tangey in Jeremy Brett’s version of "The Naval Treaty" for The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. In horror terms, though, he was known as Police Sergeant Martin from the framework story in HOUS.

This leaves just five actors to talk about.

 James Villiers was Lord Cantlemere in Jeremy Brett’s "Mazarin Stone" for The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, but was also George in the "Lucy Comes to Stay" segment of ASYL. George is brother to an unstable character called Barbara who is played by Charlotte Rampling. In 1976 Rampling would go on to play Irene Adler to Roger Moore’s Sherlock Holmes in Sherlock Holmes in New York.

Perhaps the strangest character in ASYL was Byron in the segment "Mannikins of Horror" who was played by Herbert Lom. Lom played his most famous character - police chief Dreyfus (of Pink Panther fame) - in a little known Czech film Sherlock Holmes V Pánském Klubu Aneb Komisar Dreyfus Zasahuje (which loosely translates as Sherlock Holmes in the Gentlemen's Club or Commissioner Dreyfus Intervenes). I can’t find anything out about this film, but it seems to me that Sherlock’s only involvement is in the title.

UNCA gave us Donald Pilon in the role of Mr. Blake (segment "Quebec Province 1975"). This is not the same Donald Pilon who was Geoffrey Whiteheads Dr Watson in Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson so he is entirely irrelevant to this study and I’d have done better not to mention him. However, Martin Boddey, who played the "husband" in CRYP’s "And All Through the House" segment, did once appear as Sam Merton in a 1951 BBC production of The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone. It was made as part of the For The Children series. Sadly no footage survives.

As you can see, then, there are many ways to annoy someone who is trying to watch one of these portmanteau horror films, which makes it a great hobby.

Any Other Business:

"The Entire Canon" (Paul Thomas Miller) spoke about his new book "Finding Sherlock Holmes" which is currently on Kickstarter. It is a comprehensive guide to all the locations in England which are mentioned in the Sherlock Holmes Canon. It covers more locations than any other similar work produced so far. It goes all the way from big locations like Baskerville hall down to small one's like the stone cutter's mentioned briefly in The Mazarin Stone. Aiming to be a genuinely useful guidebook, but still very much in the voice of "The Entire Canon" (Paul Thomas Miller) it is a work "The Entire Canon" (Paul Thomas Miller) is very proud to be bringing to the Holmesian community.

It can be found at http://kck.st/44kF8Ze