By Assel Surshanova
Sherlock Holmes is perhaps the most universally recognizable character. There are numerous adaptations of Arthur Conan Doyle’s novels and stories about the famous detective from different years and countries. Between 1979 and 1986, a series of television films, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson, was produced in the Soviet Union. The purpose of this research is to study how the social and political climate at the time influenced the Soviet TV-adaptation of Sherlock Holmes.
The Soviet TV-adaptation saw the light in the times of economic, political and social stagnation in the country. Although stable in some aspects life was uncertain in others. In addition, Soviet people were going through a transition from communal to a more private mode of living which resulted in the reconfiguration of friendship. In this climate, an escapist series of films with “therapeutic” function was produced, in which the considerable emphasis was put on the friendship of the characters to address the changes in society. The example of this adaptation helps to understand how context can imprint itself upon creative works.
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson were produced and released in “Era of Stagnation,” the term which was not used at the time and was introduced later by Mikhail Gorbachev to describe the lack of development in all spheres of life during the years of Leonid Brezhnev’s rule (Bacon 1-2). Officially, at the time, the period was regarded as developed socialism. There were two sides of late socialism. On one hand, as pointed out in the Soviet Constitution adopted in 1977, people “were enjoying the fruits of their great revolutionary gains” (qtd. in Prokhorova, Fragmented Mythologies 47). Despite the stagnating economy, Soviet people had material prosperity, access to free education and medical care. On the other hand, the black market thrived, some products were continually in deficit, and the gap between the “people’s everyday concerns (private life, consumption, leisure) and the state’s adherence to outdated socialist rhetoric” increased (Prokhorova, “Cinema of Stagnation” 104).
The Soviet cinema of the time was affected by the increasing authoritarian aspects of Brezhnev’s rule. The films were examined by several stages of administrators, which resulted in many films not reaching the big audiences (Prokhorova, “Cinema of Stagnation” 105). However, 1970s cinema was not bluntly propagandistic. Entertaining pictures overtook “difficult” films, and literary adaptations became popular. “Directors had more freedom to produce genre films under the label of “adaptation” and to infuse the plot with contemporary allusions” (Prokhorova, “Cinema of Stagnation” 108).
The Soviet adaptation of Conan Doyle’s stories and novels could just not happen. Igor Maslennikov, the director of the series, said:
[Adaptation] was pure chance. I have no interest in detective literature. I had never seriously read Conan Doyle. It was just a very good screenplay. Iulii Dunskii and Valerii Frid brought it—funny and, most important, it had that which lived and lives in me: playing at being British (igra v anglichanstvo). It’s boyishness for adults (qtd. in Nepomnyashchy 131).
The “pure chance” turned into a series of 5 films made of 11 episodes:
| Year | Name of the film | Episodes | Based on |
| 1979 | Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson | “Acquaintance” | A Study in Scarlet, “The Adventure of The Speckled Band” |
| “Bloody Inscription” | A Study in Scarlet | ||
| 1980 | The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson | “The King of Blackmail” | “The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton” |
| “Deadly Fight” | “The Final Problem” | ||
| “The Tiger Hunt” | “The Adventure of the Empty House” | ||
| 1981 | The Hound of the Baskervilles | Two episodes | The Hound of the Baskervilles |
| 1983 | The Treasures of Agra | 1st episode | The Sign of the Four |
| 2nd episode | The Sign of the Four, “A Scandal in Bohemia” | ||
| 1986 | The Twentieth Century Begins | 1st episode | “The Adventure of the Engineer’s Thumb”, “The Adventure of the Second Stain” |
| 2nd episode | “The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans”, “His Last Bow” |
The series featured Vasily Livanov as Sherlock Holmes, Vitaly Solomin as Dr. Watson, Rina Zelenaya as Ms. Hudson continually and other famous actors episodically.
Initially, only one film was planned, however, after it was released, the director received “bags of letters” from the viewers who loved the adaptation and asked for more. Again, there were no films planned after the second film, in which Sherlock dies. However, Igor Maslennikov repeated the fate of Conan Doyle and despite his plans brought the character back to the TV-screens in The Hound of the Baskervilles with an all-star cast (Sherlock). Some scenes and phrases from the film became iconic among the Soviet audience.
To narrow down the scope of the research two first episodes, “Acquaintance” and “Bloody Inscription,” were chosen for close examination.
One of the main features of the Soviet adaptation is the fidelity to the Canon, which is largely praised by the Western viewers; however, the reason for the Soviet audiences’ appeal was different. At the time Soviet viewers did not know how a canonical adaptation of Sherlock would look like and could judge the authenticity of Victorian London in the series only by previous Soviet film adaptations of Victorian writers (Prokhorova, Fragmented Mythologies 208). Soviet audience favored the series because of its escapist nature which gave comfort and made them feel safe. Prokhorova points out that the series provided the sense of safety, which the socio-political climate at the time in Soviet Union could not (177).
“The strategy [of the series] is to isolate itself from history and to seal off the narrative space from any [political] and topical allusions” (Prokhorova, Fragmented Mythologies 208). For example, in “Bloody Inscription,” the writing left by the murderer on the wall says “Revenge” in English instead of “Rache” in order to omit any references to German socialist societies. The plotline with Mormons is omitted as well (“Bloody Inscription”). Nepomnyashchy remarks that the series undertakes its strategy by “museumizing” the original tales. She explains:
The recreation of the stories as period pieces […] has the same effect as does removing a potentially subversive monument to a hero of a deposed culture from a public space into a museum; it would seem to aim at taking that work of art out of dialogue with the present (134).
The term “museum” appears in Prokhorova’s argument as well: “[Soviet series made] escape from socialist realism into a self-conscious aesthetic museum” (Fragmented Mythologies 229).
Avoiding political or any other misreading was controlled not only by the production team, but also by censors. Twice in the Adventures the narrative was changed because of the censorship. In the first episode, instead of naming Afghanistan as the place from which Watson returned Holmes says “East” (vostok) and later again refers to the place as “Eastern colonies” (vostochnye kolonii) (“Acquaintance”). The first episode was aired only three months after the Soviet troops entered Afghanistan. In order not to cause negative associations among viewers, mentions of Afghanistan were changed with voiceover almost the night before the premiere. Another change occurred in “The Treasures of Agra”: the boat was renamed to “Diana” because the original name from The Sign of Four, “Aurora,” associated with the cruiser of the same name, the symbol of revolution (Sherlock).
Another striking feature of the adaptation can be deduced from the title of the series The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson – the equality of Holmes and Watson’s roles (my emphasis).
The first one to try to solve a mystery in the first episode, “Acquaintance,” is not Holmes but Watson. The first half of the episode is dedicated to the establishment of their relationship and Watson’s investigation of Sherlock’s occupation. A plot filled with humorous moments ends with Watson’s conclusion that Holmes is “the brain of the criminal world”. Sherlock notes Watson’s observations: “Your deductions are correct. But for the sign. You should have a put a plus instead of a minus.”
In the second episode, “Bloody Inscription,” Watson takes an active part in the investigation of the crime on Brixton Road. After seeing the crime scene with Holmes in the morning and getting puzzled by the details of the murder in the night he returns alone to Brixton Road with a thought of catching the murderer who would want to get back the lost ring. However, he gets hit by the murderer and rescued by Holmes. Despite this, he continues to actively participate in finding the villain Stangerson.
The friendship between the two main characters is one of the key features for which the viewers love the adaptation. In the series the friendship of the two main characters is very affectionate.
In the first episode, Watson is seen eating alone only twice, and when Sherlock encounters him at one such instance he says: “Hunger beats solidarity.” With the development of their friendship, in the consequent episodes Watson is never seen eating alone in the apartment on Baker Street. At the end of “Acquaintance,” Holmes invites Watson to opera, and Watson starts singing.
The second episode starts with the scene of two main characters playing chess and Sherlock deducing the fate of John’s brother through a watch. Sherlock’s deductions make John very upset, which in turn upsets Sherlock: “Forgive me, Watson, I shouldn’t have interfered with your family matters.” After explaining the chain of his logic Watson replies: “I’m sorry I offended you with mistrust.” To raise the mood of his friend, Holmes suggests Watson practice deduction on a stranger and offers very detailed information on him what amazes Watson. Then Sherlock burst into laughter, claps Watson on the back and say the passing stranger is his older brother, Mycroft Holmes, and they laugh together. Also, in this episode, Holmes is worried about the absence of Watson’s snoring and concludes that he went to the crime scene, then goes after him to save his friend.
The previous two features are heavily affected by the context of the adaptation: Watson’s greater role partially represents the Soviet ideal for social equity (perhaps, this also explains Ms. Hudson’s greater part); however, it mainly serves for the portrayal of the friendship, which reflects the changes in the way of living of Soviet people from communal to more private. Until the 1950s Soviet citizens mostly lived in communal apartments (kommunalka), where kitchens, bathrooms, and hallways were shared by all unrelated residents. In the 1950s there was a mass construction of multi-story buildings, unofficially known as Khrushchyovkas (named after the leader at the time Khrushchev), which had individual apartments with 1-3 rooms. (Attwood 125, 180). Many people moved to more private spaces, which led to “the rebirth of friendship” (Gerasimova 210). New friendship networks were based on very close, intimate, intense relations and viewed as private value. The friendship between Holmes and Watson reflected the changes in the social constructs of Soviet citizens and, thus, appealed to them.
Research indicates that the Soviet TV-adaptation of Sherlock Holmes, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson, is the product of and reaction to the socio-political climate and social changes in the Soviet Union in late 1970s and 1980s. Soviet citizens’ insecurity about the present and future despite reaching mature socialism and increased censorship resulted in the escapist adaptation of Sherlock Holmes, which isolated itself from Soviet reality and provided the viewers comfort and safety, similar to what Arthur Conan Doyle’s writings did for English readers at the end of 19th century. Meanwhile, Soviet people’s life was becoming more private, and friendship as a social construct got privatized. Partially achieved with Watson’s increased role Holmes and Watson’s close-knit friendship in the adaptation was a feature the Soviet audience could relate to a lot because of the friendship networks they engaged themselves. The Soviet TV-series is a great example of how context and adaptation of literature work can interweave. This research can be helpful in the studies about the development of Soviet cinema and TV as well as in the examination of the influencing factors for different adaptations of Sherlock Holmes.
Works Cited
“Acquaintance.” The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson. Directed by Igor Maslennikov. Writ. Yuli Dunsky and Valery Frid. Lenfilm, 1979. YouTube,
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Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson. Birth of a Legend. Directed by Maria Kravchenko. AlexFilm, 2009. YouTube,
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