Fight Clip Club: Granada Sherlock: ‘The Solitary Cyclist’

It was a straight left against a slogging ruffian.

I think this may be the first time in Fight Clip Club history that I’m talking about a fight that’s …well it’s not good. Correct me if I’m wrong, but even the parodies and silly fights I’ve discussed before are all good examples of the genre of fight they are. I can check the FCC archive but I’m pretty sure this is the first truly bad fight I’ve ever analyzed (Black Dynamite doesn’t count, as the bad-ness of the fights in that movie are actually excellently executed fights whose bad-ness is the center of their humor).

And that’s too bad, because the Jeremy Brett Sherlock Holmes is, in my nerdy opinion, the best portrayal of the character, and the early seasons are the most faithful to original canon. That’s why this badly done fight scene is so disappointing—the dialogue is great, even a slight improvement on the book’s, but what should be an ‘absolutely delicious’ trouncing is just uncomfortable to watch.

And this brings up another interesting aspect of Sherlock Holmes: he’s supposedly an expert swordsman and single stick fighter, and has been an avid and successful boxer as well. One delightful moment in early novel-length story The Sign of Four sees retired prizefighter McMurdo recognizing Holmes from his time at Alison’s rooms in a bareknuckle tournament. 

~

“Not Mr. Sherlock Holmes!” roared the prize-fighter. “God’s truth! how could I have mistook you? If instead o’ standin’ there so quiet you had just stepped up and given me that cross-hit of yours under the jaw, I’d ha’ known you without a question. Ah, you’re one that has wasted your gifts, you have! You might have aimed high, if you had joined the fancy.”

“You see, Watson, if all else fails me I have still one of the scientific professions open to me,” said Holmes, laughing.

Victorian fisticuffs!

But all of Holmes’ fighting prowess is never seen in Conan Doyle’s original stories. Everyone keeps talking about how good he is at fighting, let alone his famous and unique prowess at ‘baritsu’ (a misspelling of popular self defense martial art of that time, bartitsu), but we never see this skill in action. Sure, once in a while we’ll run into a room along with Watson where we have to extricate Holmes from the grip of some villain, or he’ll attack a suspect along with Watson and maybe some officials as well, but as far as his boxing or fencing or whatnot, we don’t see it. We only hear about it afterwards.

Obviously, when adapting these stories to film, it’s tempting to show some of Holmes’ warriorship on screen, which I totally understand—film is a visual art, not a literary, and it’s usually best to show more, tell less. Problem is, if you actually show Holmes fighting, it has to look like he’s as good as the rest of the characters are always going on about. Which means training the actor, having a good choreographer and fight director, and knowing how to shoot a good fight well. None of these things are present in this fight, which is why I say it’s too bad—Jeremy Brett is the best Sherlock Holmes on screen to date (in my opinion), and this fight scene does not do the rest of his characterization credit.

Meet me below the paywall and I’ll show you what I mean.