MovieChat Forums > The Woman in Green (1945) Discussion > Poor Nigel Bruce

Poor Nigel Bruce

posted 14 years ago by Squonkamatic
3 replies | jump to latest

I used to watch these Rathbone/Bruce Sherlock Holmes adventures as a kid every week back when they actually showed stuff on TV worth watching. Some local programmer here had a keen eye for matinee movie choices and I consider myself very fortunate to have been a kid in the 1970s when stuff like THE BLACK CAT, CONQUEROR WORM, COUNT DRACULA, Tarzan movies, and the Hammer Horror films were shown every weekend. You could count on it.

The Sherlock Holmes adventures were a personal favorite because it was something that my parents would actually allow me to watch, probably thinking that it would help to pique my young intellectual side (which it did, I hope!) even though they were appalled by the amount of smoking & consuming of adult beverages were vital parts of each story. You know, whatever, it's called "entertainment", mom.

My fondness for watching the adventures was brought back to mind by the promotions for the new big budget A list feature film directed by that guy who was screwing Madonna, what's his name. I have zero interest in seeing it but took the opportunity to look up some of the Rathbone/Bruce films and was delighted to find the four that are public domain at Archive.Org, downloaded and made myself DVDs of the versions to re-visit. They are really nappy lookin' prints and I'm going to save my lunch money to get the remastered DVD box set, rest assued.

But as I've been watching these I am struck by Nigel Bruce's role as Watson, which is more stooge like, constantly befuddled and universally clueless about what was going on than I remember. I was a Media Studies major as a student and understand that like the ritualized smoking & drinking the Watson buffoonery is just an exaggeration made for the sake of entertainment. Nigel Bruce was an actor performing a role based on a script and I am sure he was a bright, insightful enough person in real life. It's just an act.

But as I watch these it galls at me that not only is Nigel playing Watson as a functionary of Holmes' existence but one that is totally subservient to Holmes' brilliance & insight -- And THE WOMAN IN GREEN is the most egregious of the batch in depicting Watson as a bumbling, inept fool. I "like" Nigel Bruce's Watson too, he seems like a nice guy to spend an evening playing chess and having a couple of cold toddies with.

I'm just wondering, has anybody else ever thought about this interaction between the two? Watson was there as a literal storytelling device by which Holmes would explain the action at hand to the audience, but was there really a need to make it all Watson's fault at times that he simply doesn't get it? Holmes almost seems sadistically amused at how wrong Watson is at times, which galls at me. The portrayal sort of reinforces the notion that Sherlock Holmes was an arrogant, conceited narcissist and Watson was his validation enabler by always being three or four steps behind.

Are there any anecdotes about the production history of the series that might lend insight into the creative dichotomy at work? Was Nigel Bruce ever alarmed at just how stupid his Watson is portrayed as?

[–] Roddenhyzer 14 years ago

Holmes almost seems sadistically amused at how wrong Watson is at times, which galls at me. The portrayal sort of reinforces the notion that Sherlock Holmes was an arrogant, conceited narcissist and Watson was his validation enabler by always being three or four steps behind.

I never saw it that way myself, but I always thought the producers did, because in later installments, Holmes kept dropping rather blatant lines about how much he appreciated Watson's friendship, almost as if the writers tried to convince the audience that these two characters really did like each other.

The reason why I never percieved this as such a big issue is because even though Buce's Watson is undoubtedly exploited as comedic relief, Rathbone's Holmes never seemed to gloat over his colleague's "incompetence" at all. I think a truly arrogant, sadistic and narcissistic character wouldn't let go of other people's mistakes as easily as Holmes did throughout the entire series. The way I see their relationship, Watson serves more as grounding than validation, and Holmes seems to genuinely enjoy his company (plus, his admiration and loyalty).

Then again, maybe the characters really were deliberately written with Holmes as the dominant, arrogant dick and Watson as the submissive idiot, but the actors' chemistry made it seem like a more, or less healthy relationship/colleagueship.

Anyway, I can't provide you with any behind-the-scenes stories, but I certainly can recommend the remastered DVD set you've mentioned. Not only does it present the movies in surprisingly high audio and video quality, but it also comes with a few commentary tracks that might reveal a bit more about the actors' thoughts on their characters. I haven't listened to any of them myself yet, though.

[–] pt100 10 years ago

I always thought that Holmes showed great affection for Watson, even if the latter was a bit clueless. Sort of the way Christopher Robin thought of Winnie the Pooh: Robin would shake his head and say, "Silly old bear."

So I don't see Holmes's attitude as vicious; and I think Watson came across as sort of lovable and endearing, the way Winnie the Pooh seemed to Christopher Robin.

Bruce often played such characters, as can be seen to some extent in his role as Beaky in Hitchcock's 'Suspicion'.

[–] Sassysheepdog 8 years ago

I agree. His Watson is somewhat of a Doofus. I read the stories before watching any of the shows so, I had my own idea of what I thought he would be like and Jude Law's portrayal of Watson comes closest for me.