A Study in Scarlet and Pink
A successful adaption of a text does not have to follow the text exactly as written. There is an importance to maintaining the main concepts and characters in the story, such as in the mystery, A Study in Scarlet by Conan Doyle. The main characters, Dr. John Watson and Sherlock Holmes should be portrayed correctly; the type of crime, and the search for the criminal should remain the same. There is a higher importance for an adaption to have more excitement and interesting twist, makes a more successful mystery than the original text. Any movie or show should have the effect of people having a connection. The effects have being so embedded to the film that the audience feels a part of the mystery. In movies and shows, there are basic needs for a good director, good actors or actresses, and a good setting like any other normal movie to make a successful adaption. In the short story, A Study in Scarlet by Sir Conan Doyle, the mystery has almost linear storyline with an episode of flashback. The story is in first narrative person, through the eyes of Dr. Watson. It first talks about Dr. John Watson in Afghanistan war as an army doctor. He gets shot in the shoulder. He is discharged from the war efforts, returning to London. In London, he meets his friend Stamford who shows him to his acquaintance, Sherlock Holmes. They then become roommates and solve mysteries together. For the first mystery, they receive details of an unsolved murder of Mr. Enoch Drebber. They both to the crime scene and they investigate it. When they are close to solving the mystery, another man, Mr. Strangerson, is murdered in similar fashion to Mr. Drebber. With a few red herring, they eventually find the murderer to be Mr. Jefferson Hope. Then Mr. Jefferson Hope describes his motive for murder with a long flashback in third person omniscient. In Utah, he was not considered good enough to marry his finance, Lucy because he was not a Mormon and poor. The Mormons forced Lucy to marry Mr. Drebber. Mr. Strangerson killed her father John Ferrier. He had deep-rooted revenge for the rest of his life to find and kill the both of them. Then the story returns to the narrator on of Watson where Mr. Hope died from an aneurysm and he recaps the mystery.
The core of crime lies in the murders of Mr. Drebber and Mr. Strangerson. The crime scene in Mr. Drebber case had no blood on the body, cigar ashs, a ring, Rachel written in blood, German for revenge, written in blood, bottles of pills and an indicators to a tall murderer. The same Rachel in blood and a knife in the Mr. Strangerson’s heart were found in his room. Holmes later discovered my testing on a dog that Mr. Drebber died from a pill Holmes found next to him. There were two pills on with deadly poison and no effect. Mr. Drebber took the deadly pill. Beside the crime, John Watson is characterized as a well trained doctor. He received a Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of London in 1878. He is rather young. He received his degree in his early to mid twenties and served in the war for a couple of years. He must be in his thirties. He is slightly paralyzed need a stick to walk after being shot in the shoulder. After the war, Watson has little money and no employment. He makes eleven shilling and six pence a day. He considers himself as a rather loner and pointless man. He does not talk to a lot of people. Watson is the sidekick to Sherlock Holmes, a man that has sensational knowledge of chemistry and some literature. Sherlock is constantly testing different chemistry experiments in a local hospital. He has some knowledge of botany and geology. He does not know a lot about most literature, astronomy, philosophy, and politics. He has beyond super-natural analyzing skills and plays the violin. He quite the peculiar man, working from morning till night or not at all. Experimenting on his own hands with acid, shows his risk-taker and experimenter side.
In the 1962 film adaption of A Study in Scarlet, it has a linear structure with flashbacks. These flashbacks greatly differ from the text. The film is seen through omniscient narrative. This adaption starts off briefly with the motive for Mr. Hope to want to kill; he takes Lucy’s ring off of her dead body. It then shows the eyes of Mr. Hope as he lures Mr. Drebber to his final resting place. The adaption does not include Dr. Watson being in the war and the first meet of the both of them instead; it starts off with them already knowing each other. Then like the text, they are told about the murders and investigate the crime. The core of the crime and clues of it prove to be almost identical to the book. In this film, directors do not use the dogs to find the poisonous pill. Then they find the same murderer, Jefferson Hopes. In this version, Hope has the same motive, but the director does not include the Mormon backstory.
The portrayals of Holmes and Watson were very different then in the text. Both of them were in either then fifties or sixties in the film when in the text they are in their late thirties. In both he still acts as a sidekick to Holmes and is amazed my skills. In the text, Watson is a smart, rather sad, beaten-down, and lonely man. In the film, he was completely opposite. Watson had a round face that was constantly joy and he was not paralyzed. He smokes a pipe. He seen to have little common sense, when he is confused, going back and forth, trying to follow Holmes to get the murderer. Holmes still has amazing analytical skills. He has the more typical look of the common Sherlock Holmes with the robe and cigar. This version seems more of a comical mood. There was funny, sixties music and Watson was very joyful. The comical sense of the film is not coherent with the seriousness of murder and crime in the mystery.
In the 2010 version called A Study in Pink, it follows a more similar pattern to the text then the 1962 film. It is the most liner out of the three mysteries. Like the text, A Study in Pink shows Watson in combat and getting shot in the Afghanistan war and recovering. It is seen mostly through the eyes of Watson. There is a slight different and shift to show the string of murders. The victims have the choice between the two pills in each bottle. Then it returns to Watson going to London where he meets Duncan. Then he meets Sherlock Holmes where they became roommates. Them they go to a recent crime scene where they start to investigate the crime like in the text. The director has purposely put the thought of Sherlock out to be seen by the view to shows his thought purpose. It greatly differs from the text because Sherlock does not find the murderer before the murderer finds him. The murder tracks Sherlock and takes him to play his death-defying game. As in the text, Hopes dies from his burst aneurysm. In the movie, Hope dies from Watson shooting him. A Study in pink includes other side characters like Holmes’s older brother, Mycroft and his archenemy, Professor Moriarty.
The core mystery of A Study in Pink greatly differs from A Study in Scarlet. In the movie, no one is ever stabbed, but the victims all make the decision of which pill to take. There are twice as many in the adaption then in the original text, four victims. The crime scene is different. When they go to the crime scene it is greatly different. The victim is a lady in a pink suit, there is no cigar ash or cab tracks. The victim had carved the word Rachel. In the original text, Rachel stands for German for revenge and not the carving for the name Rachel, but in A Study in Pink they reverse the stand. Rachel stands for Rachel. The inclusion of the ring does not symbol the long lost love of Mr. Hope, but shows the victim’s love life. She was in an unhappy marriage and had many affairs. She often took it off and had a dirty ring. The murderer has a different motive. He is still the same person, Mr. Hope. Mr. Hope original murdered Mr. Drebber and Mr. Strangerson based on past love and revenge. As opposed to A Study in Pink, Hopes kills for sponsored-money for his children and the thrill of trying to live while he is dying. The characterization and personality of Holmes and Watson is more true to the text than the 1962 adaption. Watson and Holmes are around the correct age, at about thirties. Watson is slightly paralyzed and a war veteran. In the movie, there were parts such as, the steps and clues for finding the murder, that were muddily and confusing.
A Study in Pink was a successful, fascinating adaption of A Study in Scarlet by Conan Doyle. The mystery itself had the majority of such elements like the right portrayal of their appearance and personality, the pills, and cabdriver. Though it could have added more elements of A Study in Scarlet to make it a little more true to the story, the sheer brilliance of the movie offset the lack of elements. The movie has a serious mood for it was dramatic. Suspense music added that effect. Crime and murder is a more serious matter. Sherlock Holmes’ phrases are witty and add a comical sense that many viewers would love. Through the actually for the motive for the crime in A Study in Pink is not the same as in A Study in Scarlet, the motive for A Study proved to be more interesting, twisted, and a little disturbing. In A Study in Scarlet, the motive is for love and revenge, a motive that is often seen in mystery. In A Study in Pink, the reason for Jefferson Hope to want to kill is because he wanted money and a sense of thrill since he was dying. The movie was much more interesting; it was unaccepted. It was disturbing how Hope had pick anyone off the street who wanted a cab, showing everyone is weak to death threatening events. After watching the movie, audience is so immersed in the excellent mystery that people will be sad when it came to an end. The movie is a good mystery and the general public will like it because it is a well-developed and thoroughly-developed film to the modern times.