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"more of the Russian" [RESI]



Vasily Livanov is probably the greatest Sherlock Holmes you've never heard of. Or, if you're an intrepid Sherlockian, it's likely you have heard of him.

From 1979 to 1986 Lenfilm produced five films (split into 11 episodes) for Soviet television starring Vasily Livanov as Sherlock Holmes and Vitaly Solomin as Dr. Watson. According to Wikipedia, the films were as follows:
  • 1979 Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson
    • 1st episode: "Acquaintance" (based on A Study in Scarlet and "The Adventure of the Speckled Band").
    • 2nd episode: "Bloody Inscription" (based on A Study in Scarlet, with a scene from The Sign of the Four at the beginning).
  • 1980 The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson
    • 1st episode: "The Master-Blackmailer" (based on "Charles Augustus Milverton", with a scene from "The Greek Interpreter" at the beginning)
    • 2nd episode: "Deadly Fight" (based on "The Final Problem")
    • 3rd episode: "Hunt for the Tiger" (based on "The Adventure of the Empty House")
  • 1981 The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson: The Hound of the Baskervilles. Two episodes based on The Hound of the Baskervilles.
  • 1983 The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson: The Treasures of Agra. Two episodes based on The Sign of the Four and "A Scandal in Bohemia".
  • 1986 The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson: The Twentieth Century Approaches. Two episodes based on "The Adventure of the Engineer's Thumb," "The Adventure of the Second Stain", "The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans" and "His Last Bow".
The series was extremely popular, earning Livanov an Honorary MBE "for service to the theatre and performing arts" in 2006. And in 2007, a statue of Livanov and Solomin as Holmes and Watson was installed at the United Kingdom Embassy in Moscow.

But in 1985, between the fourth and fifth films, Souzmultfilm studio produced an animated short about Sherlock Holmes that was nine minutes in length, called Sherlock Holmes and I. It features a dog named Tom reminiscing to his pups about his adventures with Sherlock Holmes and a very unlikely pair of burglars. As you have probably inferred by now, Livanov provided his voice for Sherlock Holmes.

Below you can watch the video in its original Russian, which now has English subtitles for the very first time.


Have you ever seen the original Livanov Sherlock Holmes productions? Let us know what you thought of them.

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