the rules.
Again, the lion’s share of the credit for the film working as well as it did belongs to the writers. In an interview, the Mulroneys shared that apart from the producers giving them a bare plot concept—“taking the story outside London to the Continent and introducing the Moriarty character”—the story came from them. Even after others weighed in, the plotline “didn’t really change from the first draft to the shooting script. What developed were the character relationships, the dialogue, of course, and the layering in of clues and details.”
As to making Moriarty a boxing champion, the writers “knew from the outset that Moriarty must be Holmes’s equal in intellectual terms, as he is in Doyle’s books. Since our Holmes is a very physically capable character—a master of baritsu, also inspired by the books—we felt Moriarty should also possess great fighting prowess. Otherwise Holmes could too easily kick his behind! Both Guy Ritchie and Robert Downey are martial arts and boxing fanatics, so they led the charge to give Moriarty a boxing background. We very much wanted him to hide this skill set from Holmes until he absolutely needed to use it in their final confrontation. Holmes being Holmes, of course, he is one step ahead and knows of Moriarty’s boxing past. So he is prepared mentally for what Moriarty throws at him.”
Despite the mirror-imaging, the Mulroneys decided to differentiate Holmes and Moriarty in a more subtle way. “We wanted him to be a man of few words—as a counterpoint to Holmes’s loquaciousness.”
By succeeding in their goal of writing a “searingly intelligent, cold-blooded villain, who was both ruthless, unflappable, and for whom the game itself was almost as thrilling as the outcome,” the Mulroneys provided material to match Harris’s considerable gifts, and have set a standard that future Holmes-Moriarty duels, both on screen, and in print, must exert themselves to surpass.
Unfortunately from my point of view, but fortunately for them, the Mulroneys won’t be back for the third Downey/Law film, as they are occupied with several other projects. They will be followed by British writer, Drew Pearce, who is also scripting Downey’s third outing as Iron Man. With the Professor dead at the bottom of the Reichenbach Falls, creating a formidable adversary for Holmes next time will not be easy; while “the second most dangerous man in London,” does survive Game of Shadows, the Mulroneys’s version, much like the Canonical one, is more of a skilled hired gun, than an evil mastermind. And if Moriarty can be plausibly made into a man of action when needed, the same cannot be said for “the worst man in London,” Charles Augustus Milverton. One of the other Moriarty brothers, perhaps? Or perhaps there was a second survivor of the fall into “that dreadful cauldron of swirling water and seething foam”? Whomever it is must be more like Harris’s Moriarty than Mark Strong’s Lord Blackwood of the first film.
Will the merits of Sherlock Holmes 2 continue in its sequel, or will it seem like just a fluke? We’ll know in 2013. d
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Lenny Picker has been fascinated by Moriarty since reading “The Final Problem” at the age of thirteen, and staying up late to watch George Zucco in 1939’s The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. He can be reached at [email protected].
ASK MRS HUDSON
Dear Mrs. Hudson,
I am curious to know which is your favourite Sherlock Holmes story written by Dr Watson?
Peter
* * * *
Dear Peter,
What an intriguing question, and how difficult it is to answer! As I contemplate the question, half a dozen stories pop into my mind—“A Scandal in Bohemia,” “The Adventure of the Dancing Man,” “A Study in Scarlet” (I must confess a special fondness for the very first one, as a mother often has a special feeling for her first-born child.)
But then as I review this list, half a dozen more leap into my head, until my poor brain is quite muddled with the surfeit of choices. Very well, let me choose one and then tell you why I like it, if you will bear with me.
I shall choose “The Adventure of the Illustrious Client.” In it, you may remember, Mr Holmes is engaged to keep the headstrong young Violet de Merville from making a disastrous marriage.
I think the tale demonstrates Holmes’s reasoning ability as well as his fearlessness—he takes on the odious Baron Gruner, who promptly sends thugs to attack him. In spite of his expertise at single-stick combat, they do him considerable injury. There is a touching scene where dear Dr Watson visits the injured detective, fearing the worst, and Holmes soothes him, assuring the good doctor that the press has exaggerated his injuries.
The story also shows Mr Holmes’s gallantry and tenderness toward women. It is true he does not trust them, but he has been misrepresented as loathing the sex entirely. Nothing could be further from the truth—no one is more solicitous or kinder to me than Mr Holmes, when the mood strikes him. Of course, he can be abrupt and dismissive, but that’s as may be, and doesn’t negate the many instances of his kindness. Otherwise, I should not have put up with his unorthodox behaviour for all these years, I can assure you!
I don’t want to spoil the story for those of my readers who have yet to encounter it, but when the identity of the “illustrious client” was revealed, I must say I was quite thrilled, and my heart was quite aflutter for some time. I regard it as yet another tribute to my most unusual tenant—though Mr Holmes, bless him, took it quite in stride, as you may imagine.
Had he been half as impressed as Dr Watson and myself, I think he, too, would have taken pause to consider the honour it represented. But that’s not Mr Holmes’s way and never has been—he is of a most egalitarian disposition, and treats a stable groom with as much respect as a peer of the realm. A man ahead of his time in many ways, I always say, though I expect there are some who would take issue with me.
Although the doctor seldom speaks of it—I think for fear of embarrassing his friend—Mr Holmes is not without his admirers. I hope it’s not telling tales out of school to relay an amusing incident involving a well-born young lady and her infatuation with Mr Holmes—that’s the only word for it, I’m afraid—infatuation. She was quite besotted, and behaved with some forwardness, I’m afraid. Mr Holmes found himself in a rather delicate situation, which was compounded by Dr Watson’s sincere desire to help his friend, though he did it rather clumsily, I’m afraid.
Of course I can’t reveal the young lady’s identity, but she was the sister of one of Mr Holmes’s clients, and had occasion to meet him when he and Dr Watson paid a visit to their house. Lady W, as I shall call her, joined her brother for tea with the good doctor and Mr Holmes. She took a shine to Mr Holmes—apparently it was quite obvious, as Dr Watson himself remarked upon it. Mr Holmes alone dismissed it as “feminine charm” directed at everyone equally. That he did not perceive himself as the object of this young lady’s affections further demonstrates his lack of understanding of matters of the heart.
Well, it seems that after the case was solved, Lady W contrived to “drop in” on my tenant, showing up at Baker Street in a very handsome carriage and four, if you can believe it! We don’t see such extravagance in this part of London, I can tell you, and people were fairly hanging out of their windows to have a good look. The local street urchins fought with one another for the privilege of holding the horses while her Ladyship was inside, and although her coachman was quite capable of handling the situation, she gave them each half-a-crown! Bless me, but she was generous as well as extravagant.
Mr Holmes was out on a case, so I conversed with her briefly, until Dr Watson appeared, quite surprised to see her. I set out quite an impressive spread for tea, if I do say so myself,
