A Study in Scarlet (movie 1914 with Braginton)

From The Arthur Conan Doyle Encyclopedia
A Study in Scarlet (1914)

A Study in Scarlet is a silent British movie released on 28 december 1914 (premiered in october 1914), produced by Samuelson Film Manufacturing Co. Ltd., starring James Braginton as Sherlock Holmes. Black & White. 6 reels (5749 feet). Standard 35mm spherical 1.37:1 format. © 25 November 1914 in the USA by Pathé Frères.

The production was shot from 8 june 1914 through july 1914 in Worton Hall, Isleworth, England, and on location in Cheddar Gorge and Southport Sands.

Survival status: Presumed lost.


Cast

  • Sherlock Holmes : James Braginton
  • Jefferson Hope : Fred Paul
  • Lucy Ferrier : Agnes Glynne
  • John Ferrier : H. Paulo
  • Father : James LeFre
  • Lucy as a child : Winnifred Pearson


  • Director : George Pearson
  • Director's Assistant : Jack Clair
  • Screenplay : Harry Engholm
  • Producer : G. B. Samuelson
  • Cinematography : Walter Buckstone
  • Distribution : Moss


Photos


Director interview

The Bioscope : Mr Pearson, can you tell us how you managed to recreate the Salt Lake plains and the Rockies in England?

George Pearson : The film called for ambitious locations, but much can be suggested camera-angles to hide geographical inaccuracies. We discovered what we needed in the Cheddar Gorge and the Southport sands.

Bioscope : How did you find your Sherlock Holmes, Mr James Braginton?

Pearson : Sherlock Holmes was a problem; much depended upon his physical appearance, build, height, and mannerisms had to be correct. By a remarkable stroke of fortune Samuelson had an employee in his Birmingham office who absolutely fitted these requirements.

Bioscope : But surely he could not act?

Pearson : A tactful producer can control every action of an inexperienced actor. I decided to risk his engagement as the shrewd detective. With his long and lean figure, his deer-stalker hat, cape-coat and curved pipe, he looked the part, and played the part excellently.

Bioscope : The scenes of the wagon train are very impressive. What planning was involved?

Pearson : As Buckstone and I were finishing our last scenes in the gorge on June 25th, we received an urgent message that all was ready at Southport; everything possible had been done to meet the problem of a suitable date for all concerned, and that date was Friday, June 26th, and furthermore, only the morning of the day! There was a little moonlight when we arrived, and since Buckstone and I had not yet seen the actual sport in the sands where it might be possible to stage that long procession of waggons, we spent the anxious hours before dawn in search of a suitably lengthy gully, and with a compass to guide us stuck sticks in the sand to mark the camera position and the line route for the waggons. The long snakelike winding caravan had to appear round a far distant bend in the sand-dunes, and move slowly towards the camera position. We had to get that important scene right first time, for a retake could only result in utter chaos. How we got that long line of wagons with their characteristic hoods, the cattle, the women, children and bearded drivers past the camera without mishap is beyond belief, but get it we did.

source : thebioscope.net