EP32 - The Devil's Foot - The Jeremy Brett Sherlock Holmes Podcast

[@Jon_Doh]

Deserves at least a million subs. These are legendary podcasts

[@sherlockpodcast]

Cheers, Fred! We appreciate it.

[@shadeshiest22]

Best Sherlock Holmes EVER!

[@michaeldevaney5728]

Devil's foot is extremely unique absolutely excellent it has it all great characters scenery the cosy holiday house a total masterpiece

[@coreyg2177]

I always felt that the more Holmes got into the investigation, the better he felt and therefore the less extraneous clothes he needed.

[@matthewgabbard6415]

That was always my favorite episode. The way the Cornish coast looks in that old mid 80s film stock or video. Reminds me of my childhood watching PBS home sick from school

[@ChristopherMason19570202]

No matter what he said, he was perfect for the role. Sometimes the actor must die for the character to live. THE SHOW MUST GO ON!

[@vendettavahid521]

Thanks a lot for all of the efforts that were put into making this! This episode was one of my all time favorites. I remember seeing this as a 10 years old kid in Iran in the 90s and the trip scene was actually quite overwhelming and frightening for me at the time haha. The music and atmosphere were also both top notch in this one

[@sherlockpodcast]

Thanks for writing! Yes, we agree on the mood of this episode, it's a lot of fun to re-watch it. How widely was the show consumed in Iran? Were the episodes dubbed over there? We'd be curious to know how they came across.

[@vendettavahid521]

@@sherlockpodcast Thanks for getting back! The show was dubbed (by two different teams) and interestingly once I saw the original English version much later, I realized how similar Bahram Zand who was dubbing Sherlock Holmes, sounded like Jeremy Brett!

[@vendettavahid521]

@@sherlockpodcast As per popularity, the show was quite popular even amongst younger audience who were not supposed to watch them. I will need to see if I can find an article or reliable source of news that mentions the statistics of it as a reference. Interestingly, you can easily find the Persian dubbed episodes here on KZbin as well by simply searching for them.

[@metalmadsen]

Man this episode scared me as a kid - so naturaly I loved it 😄 Thank you for yet another great video guys 🙏

[@sherlockpodcast]

Thank you, Gert! This was always a standout episode for us as well. One of the more moody, spooky episodes. Always fun to rewatch!

[@peteg475]

Denis Quilley may be a versatile actor, but he played Prime Minister Gladstone in a mini-series once, and there's a lot of Sterndale in that performance. Gruff, short-tempered, and looks like the kind of guy who you'd be afraid to give bad news.

[@vgfalcao85]

Like you both and most people of modern sensibilities, I was kind of shocked to see Holmes throwing the lamp into the ocean. Then I recalled that when I was a child in the 50s, we were taught that the great ocean could swallow anything. It was a cultural shock to realize that the oceans could be polluted and that ocean life would suffer. I was also reminded of the scene from the end of "A Scandal in Bohemia where Irene Adler throws the lavishly framed photo of herself with the King into the ocean. Today we would consider those things a particularly immoral form of littering, but it was acceptable behavior within the mores of the time.

[@annas.770]

Thank you so much for this latest addition! The Devil's Foot has always been one of my favourite episodes, and you've done it justice here. I do remember watching it as a young teenager, and even then I felt some cringey embarrassment at the hallucination scene, which was partly because I had no idea what all the references were and also the weird twinkly synth music that sounded like the ancient and laughable 60's era science filmstrips we had to watch in school. Still makes me giggle, which is definitely not the effect they were going for. Oh well, the rest of the episode makes up for it. Another quote from the episode that I've used as a kind of in-joke whenever someone asks how things are going is when Holmes stumbles back into the cottage after a walk, clutching his scarf around his hat and adds to Watson's description of him as "a very sick man", "But getting better all the time! Cough cough...."

[@sherlockpodcast]

Thanks, Anna! We agree about the hallucination scene, but I think it's been slightly redeemed after the essay by Elizabeth Trembley. (we posted the full thing on our Twitter page) There are a number of quotable line in this episode, great for everyday use. "Well I can hardly answer that" comes instantly to mind.

[@annas.770]

@@sherlockpodcast Thanks for posting the essay on that hallucination scene; I've just read it and it makes it so much easier to appreciate what they were aiming for. Thanks again for sharing the results of your excellent research with all of us!

[@dantheman5745]

Finally got caught up on all of your podcasts after recently discovering these. The perfect accompanyment to my annual/semi-annual re-watching of this entire series. So now I can turn on notifications. Thanks for offering all these!

[@alexandracolmant9983]

Wonderful commentary on what might be my favorite episode..thanks for all the indepth information, esp on the drug sequence which now will become more watchable for me.

[@sherlockpodcast]

Thanks for listening, Alexandra! We agree on the drug sequence, it was made better for me as well after the research. -Luke

[@Ryan_Hansen]

[@sherlockpodcast]

Thank you for listening, Ryan! We had fun with this one!

[@russellb5573]

Another fine podcast, gentlemen. I raise my plaster pipe to you. My fun, hardly noticeable little 'Bad' bit, is when Owen Tregennis (Norman Bowler) and his brother are being carted off to the looney bin. During the zoom in on his face within the back window of the barred back door to the carriage, you can see that it is just being shaken hard, when it is supposed to be trundling along in the countryside. The landscape through the window to the right of his face is static! It's an effective trick. I also felt Sam Raimi and Hammer vibes, while watching this episode a couple of times recently, before I heard you make mention of it here. Good to hear that we concur

[@matthewgabbard6415]

OMG I never knew that is was the same actor who played the lion hunter in this episode who also was in that great cast of Murder on the Orient Express. He was the Italian American chauffeur

[@jaxhead]

Thanks gents I was starting to go into withdrawl. lol

[@sherlockpodcast]

Thank you, Jacqueline!

[@vgfalcao85]

re: Holmes' recognition of Sterndale without introduction: I assumed this wasn't so much from Sterndale's general renown, but rather Holmes' having read through the parish magazine. This was how he recognized Rev. Roundhay without introduction. And Sterndale would almost certainly have been written about in the parish magazine.

[@johnyricco1220]

Checking your relics, surprised there are no Persian slippers

[@vgfalcao85]

Thanks for telling us about the dry mounting of the Reichenbach Falls print. Am I right in thinking that you live in Earthquake Country? If so, you don't want glass high on the wall anyway.

[@matthewh.9544]

Love these. One question, why miss out the beginning when the reverend introduces himself and Holmes and Watson are walking the Moor?

[@80sforever3]

I'm in the opinion the reason why Holmes didn't pursue Sterndale was the less people who knows about the poison the better. To drag Sterndale to court would exposed the dangerous poison to the public knowledge. I was dying to listen to this podcast since the Devil's Foot is my top 5 SH episodes and after listening to the engaging episode with Gary Hopkins yet here i am 3 weeks too late! The little bit of interview with Ms. Gowers roused my interest, looking forward to that upcoming podcast too. I haven't rewatch SH in a few months but just last night was rereading a fave SH fanfiction, A Case of Insanity by a brilliant writer, Westron Wynde that deals with aftermath of Devil's Foot Root exposure, told by Watson. The writer penned several SH fics but i always found myself rereading A Case of Insanity and A Plethora of Surmise & other stories. The writer never stated if s/he write based solely on the books or SH movies or TV series but it is Brett's voice with sometimes Hardwicke's or Burke's (depends on the story) that echoes in my head whenever i revisited the stories. I got a great time listening to your dissection of this marvelous episode. Thank you so much!

[@sherlockpodcast]

Thank you for listening and for the fanfiction suggestions. Glad we didn't let you down with this episode of the podcast!

[@matthewgabbard6415]

Maybe, but I think he just thought justice had been served. Holmes did that quite a lot. Sterndale killed the man who had just murdered his own siblings, and his one true love. Why would he want to prosecute him for doing something just about anyone would do

[@WestVillageCrank]

To see a very, very different Dennis Quilley, see PRIVATES ON PARADE!

[@jeremyc2445]

Such a disturbing scene when they are seizing

[@sherlockpodcast]

Agreed. I wonder if it would come with a TV warning nowadays?

[@vgfalcao85]

I thought the blood flowing from his eyes in the hallucination was a reference to Oedipus. Can anyone identify which is the image of Cain? I'm not seeing that? Thanks.

[@randallmooreao9950]

there is ome glaring eror in TDF......why would our villian commit his crime when the most famous detective in england was literally next door?

[@sherlockpodcast]

Exactly. And why go introduce yourself to him at that! That said, hubris accounts for a lot.

[@RandallMoore-x4k]

@@sherlockpodcast Thanks for your reply....I have wanted to send a few notes your way re other "errors", some of which I did not catch for years, but not sure this is relevant to the scope of your focus, which is more on the modern production issues....but - as briefly as posssible - study in scarlets contribution to this "canon " is of course, the senseless return of Hope to the same address he would not venture to collect his ring, an error compounded by the equally seneless struggle, which puts a strain on his condition which is otherwise a constant theme in his final narrative, in that he fears his anuerism will prevent the disclosure of his motives. In "The dancing men" the most dangerous crook in Chicago returns carelessly to the house he had fled just hours earlier upon his murder of the master of same.....merely upon receiving a flat 4 word command, which, as Holmes knew, he could only assume had been written by the woman who had refused his strenous and violent entreaties to leave her with the man she loves...never, apparently suspecting even the most obviuous conclusion that, in all likelihood, police were in possession....in "A scandal in Bohemia", the King is portrayed as so paranoid re the secrecy of his problem, he not only tries to eject Watson from the consultation, he attempts to subvert Holmes ID of his august personage with the whole mask charade. Yet, he immediately assures Holmes that attempts to burgle the photo were, on several occasions, made. This had to involve the disclosure of vital information to the burglars, a very dangerous proposition if exposure and black mail are feared. There are a few more, but I have to review whats left of my memory. Some have speculated that ACD left some errors as bread crumbs for his more obssesive fans, a sort of puzzle within the puzzle......

[@RandallMoore-x4k]

Love your podcast, the detail is incredible. In this episode, however, I question the credibility of the plot...in that, the scheming villian has his family at his disposal every day, but he choses to act when England's most famous consulting detective is "vacationing" a few feet away....just sayin

[@RandallMoore-x4k]

sorry, reposted from a year ago, never mind!