Join Your Local Sherlock Holmes Society - Scholarship, Fun And Fancy Dress

Friday night, we went to dinner and a movie, at the home of one of the Tulsa Sherlockians.  That's right, we belong to the Tulsa Sherlockian Society, The Afghanistan Perceivers.  This is a great group.  But all the Sherlockian groups we have belonged to have been great.  This evening was spent eating and viewing the1939 film, The Hound Of The Baskervilles, staring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce, in their first pairing as Holmes and Watson, respectively.  As bad as this movie is, from the perspective of those who love the writings, it is surprising to hear a great many Sherlockians that night, proclaiming Basil Rathbone to be the greatest screen portrayal of Sherlock Holmes.  Huh?  Have they never seen Jeremy Brett, in his thinner, pre-illness days?  Wasn't he amazing?  He was so good they could change the actor playing Watson half way through, and it made no difference.  Or was it the better writing and more serious treatment of the material by Granada Studios that makes me think this way?  I almost forgot that one of my favorite things we have done with these groups is to dress in period (Victorian or Edwardian Era) costumes for some events.  Anyone who knows me knows how I love to sew fancy dress stuff!
But I guess we all process what we read in our own way.  And in some cases, we have preferences about literary character from books we have never read.  For example, right now John is watching a James Bond film on TV - one starring Pierce Brosnen.  Good looking and suave, but he kisses like a fifth grader.  Now I don't remember reading in any of the books that James Bond is an unimaginative kisser.  But even if I had read that, I would still prefer Sean Connery's Bond.  That man could kiss!