role as soothsayer, since birds were omens that needed to be interpreted). The mask worn by Jocasta (Eleanor Stuart), Oedi- pus’ mother-wife, clearly shows their difference in ages, as does her mature voice. The Chorus (comprised of the aged men of Thebes) wear masks that reflect their age, but also their anxiety over the woeful state of the plague-ridden city. Even more striking than the costume de- signs is the direction of the famed Tyrone Guthrie. Under his direc- tion, the actors employ a decid- edly expressionistic method of delivery, wailing their lines in an unmistakable lament, elongating vowels for emphasis, and often chanting eerily, as they partici- pate in the unfolding drama of the curse on the House of Thebes and the inexorable truth of the oracles. There can be no doubt that Guthrie was influ- enced greatly by Orson Welles’ film version of MACBETH (1948), with the otherworldly chanting of the weird sisters; moreover, the same miasma of evil and para- noia engulfs Macbeth’s castle, Glamis, and Oedipus’ palace, both about to burst from the se- crets they contain.
Information on the back of the keepcase wrongly lists Dou- glas Rain (the voice of HAL in 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY) as Creon. In fact, Robert Goodier plays Creon, and Douglas Rain plays the Messenger. (Why didn’t the label indicate that William Shatner plays one of the Chorus members?) Letter- boxed at 1.80:1 with 16:9 en- hancement, the image is fine if understandably on the soft side, with the color palette largely confined to browns, blacks, and greys. The DD-1.0 soundtrack, available in English only, em- phasizes the theatricality of the production, but is nonetheless ser- viceable. The 12 scene selections
Vasily Livanov stars in SHERLOCK HOLMES AND
DOCTOR WATSON—note his fine collection of movie stills, which he uses as an aid in his mastery of disguise.
are listed in an unadorned card in the keepcase. There are no supplements.
SHERLOCK HOLMES AND DOCTOR WATSON
aka Sherlok Kholms i Doktor Vatson
1979, Twister, DD-5.1/ST, $24.99, 67m 31s/65m 50s, DVD-0
THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES AND DOCTOR WATSON: THE KING OF BLACKMAIL
aka Priklyucheniya Sherloka Kholmsa i Doktora Vatsona 1980, Twister, DD-5.1/ST, $24.99, 63m 19s/64m 32s/ 64m 28s, DVD-0
THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES AND DOCTOR WATSON: THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES
aka Priklyucheniya Sherloka Kholmsa i Doktora Vatsona: Sobaka Baskerviley 1981, Twister, DD-5.1/ST, $19.99, 143m 16s, DVD-0 By Kim Newman
Considering worldwide audi- ence figures and the identifica- tion of lead actors with beloved roles, the UK-made Granada shows with Jeremy Brett were possibly pipped as the Sherlock Holmes series of the 1980s by a shorter-lived run of episodes made in the then-USSR, directed by Igor Maslenikov, with Vasily Livanov and Vitaly Solomin as a
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