福尔摩斯： 《粉字研究》 阿富汗还是伊拉克？

这几天，除了迷在《歇洛克》的电视剧上（已经翻来覆去地看了好几遍了！）外，就是在网上四处翻找各式各样的信息。顺带着在爱拍得上下载了小说，晚上睡觉前，一切福尔摩斯之后，再看看小说。啊，有一样事情让你盼望着，急忙忙地下班去看一样东西的向往的感觉，真的很好……

电视里看过来，发现英美英文还是有很多不同。比如，在伦敦，你要叫出租，可以说Taxi的士，也可以叫cab，司机他们好像就是cabbie，我们比较规矩，叫做出租车司机taxi driver。大型垃圾车，我们是garbage dump，他们叫skip，当天我听了疑惑半日，只能查找网站，才知道原来如此。而最大的区别，好像还是出租房。伦敦经常要说flat，我们都是通称为apartment公寓。似乎国内对美式叫法比较通常一些吧。

伦敦是世界上居住最昂贵的城市之一。所以，对于一个退役军官，没有工作，又有PTSD（创伤后心理压力综合症）的人，伦敦似乎不是一个理想的居住地，除非你有家庭的帮助，或者，愿意分担财政压力，那么找到一个roommate分租的房客，应该是一个很合理的事情。对了，英国人叫flat mate。而澳洲人，看见谁好像都是mate。我要是心思再歪一点，来一个方宏渐，李梅亭都能歪到mating上去，flatmate怎么不能有其他感想？

时机凑巧，正好是天时地利人和都在这一天。早上福尔摩斯和同事（他有同事吗？）抱怨，说他不是一个很好找室友分租的房客，然后，他就到停尸间去狠命鞭打尸首去了。而这个同事（再次疑问，他算吗？）碰上了以前的同学/朋友，华生。插播一句话：Watson在英语中和中文最对应的，应该是瓦生，这一点上香港人比较有优势，他们的“屈”发音是“挖”，所以，大型超市Watsons，就是屈臣士。而国语就比较不幸，结果，华生就很委屈地在很多人那里变成了花生了！

华生从军队里回来，日子过得很憋屈，不大的地下室卧室，被他整洁地成为了空洞的巨大的房间。他每天面对的，就是一个空间，和夜里不停的梦魇。所以他走在路上，好像根本就没有什么目的，朋友一叫，马上就无所事事地坐下喝咖啡，跟着就到了实验室，遇见他命中的魔星。

要说福尔摩斯的日子没有华生，就是一个怪异人物的自生自灭，那一个没有福尔摩斯的华生，也是一个普通的好人的默默无闻的幽寂。甚至他这种寂寞感，都被军队的培训和战争的磨练，成为不可存在的身外之物。要说这一百年，人类社会的进步，一方面是社会的福利的进步，另一方面，是人类忍受苦难和磨练的能力大幅下降。一百年前的华生，从阿富汗战争中退役回家，有战争的痕迹，但是，什么PTSD，什么神经性的瘸步，那是现代人的无病呻吟，大概是会让一百年前的歇洛克嘲笑的一种弱点。不过，两个人的第一次见面，仍然是雷鸣电闪般的动人。而且，所有的中心，当然还是在歇洛克的典型的模式的揭示陌生人的一切观察。

这里，两人第一次会面前后，有两层可以观察的意义。一个是演员，一个，就是演员试图表达的人物。在第一幕里，康伯巴奇Cumberbatch的福尔摩斯，很迅速而直截了当地建立了他这一个福尔摩斯，是得到福尔摩斯精髓提炼的福尔摩斯。这个人物，把他放在什么时代的穿越，他都会如同一只巨型的恐龙，把屏幕银幕和任何他在的片面立体空间，将所有旁观者的注意力牢牢地把握住，没有一时一刻的放松，但是，又没有一丝一毫的表演。有很多喜欢老式福尔摩斯的观众，可能还会把他和老牌的明星，有那种冷漠甚至阴贽的俊美面容的表演相比较，但是绝大多数观众和评论家都会承认，他这一个福尔摩斯，大概要成为今后的创作福尔摩斯的模板，超越过他的，才能算有所建树。

福尔摩斯的这种表现，在认识他的人中间不算怪异，大家见怪不怪。对华生来说，这个是开天辟地头一回，照老外的话说，就是blow out of the water，被炸出水面，披着一头雾水，稀里糊涂地看着福尔摩斯。华生是一个医生，军医，西方医学培养相当严格，能够成为医生，是一个很受尊重的职业，也是一个智力比较高的人物吧。但是，和福尔摩斯这种人比较，任何人可能都会有一种压力，不过，这里就是华生这个人物出色的地方，他真心实意地佩服福尔摩斯。而他的真诚，在第一第二次交往中，马上闪光地在福尔摩斯心里留下的不同的印象。两人的友情，从此开始。

回到现代化的福尔摩斯创造的问题上来。

福尔摩斯在1887年第一次出现在《血字研究》中，之后风行一时。他这个人物，大概是电影史上被拍摄最多的一个人物。据我目前看过的研究，大约不下一两百个演员在各种场合扮演过福尔摩斯。英国《邮电报》The Telegram上评选了前二十名，我相信不是所有人都同意，但是代表了一大部分人的意见。而且一个拍福尔摩斯为主角的剧作，如果福尔摩斯就不让人能够相信他就是福尔摩斯？那大概就不用再提其他的了。故事情节，音乐安排，特技摄影和配角配合，都是一个题外话了。

很有趣的一点就是，一百多年前的华生，和现代的华生一样，都是从阿富汗负伤归国。英国，或者说，这个世界，转了一个很大圈子，似乎又停留在同样一个地点。是不是什么怪圈？或者有什么奥妙。都没有，时间时代的进步，不会改变一个出色的虚构人物的构造的存在的意义。比如，红楼梦不管是多少年前的作品，或者三国的人物存在背景都早已不存在，都不会影响一个真实地描写出来的虚构人物的现实相关性。这种人物，有着长久的生存的意义的人物，自然会在岁月的长河里越来越清晰地存在。

《夏洛克》--叹口气，我还是喜欢用歇洛克，但是……算了。夏洛克的塑造，除了斯皮尔伯格（？）曾经创造过的青年福尔摩斯外，都是在我们记忆里的五十岁以上的成熟人物。其实，并非如此。

《血字研究》里，华生第一次见到福尔摩斯的时候，两人都应该是正当年，年少轻狂用在福尔摩斯身上，恐怕不会太过分。柯南道尔这时，也刚刚二十七岁，年轻人一个，华生刚从军队回来，他从军的经历并不那么长，《夏洛克》里的演员，大约三十七八岁，很符合故事要求的气质和成熟又刚劲的气度。人不到成熟，不可能接受福尔摩斯，也不太可能透过他怪异的行为和傲慢的举止言行看出福尔摩斯可爱的地方。人不够刚劲和年轻，谁会愿意去继续旁观那些暴力死亡的受害者，还觉得正好是解决无所事事的解毒剂？而福尔摩斯的年纪，也正好能让观众接受他的超常智力之后的社会交际能力的缺乏。现代人对于怪异的接受程度比一百年前要提高了很多，但是，对于不能溶入社会的主观行为，还是有着非常低，甚至比一百年前更低的接受力。

可是，福尔摩斯，在现代社会正常存在，魅力四射。算了，今天太长了，明天继续！

嗯，附上邮电报的评论：前二十名福尔摩斯。

20. John Cleese The Python co-wrote and starred in the 1977 spoof film The Strange Case of the End of Civilization as We Know It. In fact Cleese plays the imaginatively named Arthur Sherlock Holmes, the original detective's grandson, but with Moriarty's own progeny roaming around and generally causing mischief it all feels very familiar.

19. Jeremy Irons Jeremy Irons would seem a perfect candidate to play Holmes, but we only have his sketch onSaturday Night Live from 1991 to convince us of the fact. Case not proven.

18. Michael Caine Michael Caine's appearance in the 1988 comedy filmWithout a Cluewas a very sub-par Holmes - and not only because his "Holmes" is a wastrel actor hired by Dr Watson (Ben Kingsley), the piece's real detective, to help him tackle the case.

17. Roger Moore Bond star Moore moonlighted unconvincingly as the great Victorian detective in a 1976 TV movieSherlock Holmes in New York. Not stirring.

16. Charlton Heston The American actor turned in a rather stiff, mannered Holmes in a filmed version of the playThe Crucifer of Blood (based onThe Sign of the Four), in which he had appeared on stage, when the play transferred to LA from Broadway in 1980. Suffice to say, it wasn't the greatest show on earth.

15. Tom Baker Soon after leavingDoctor Who,Tom Baker took on Holmes in the 1983 BBC four-part serialThe Hound of the Baskervilles.He may have been better off staying in the Tardis though, as he gave an oddly flat performance in this rather more traditional take on Holmes's most famous adventure than that seen on BBC One last night.

14. Christopher Lee Horror star Lee had a chance to observe other actors playing Holmes close up, when he appeared as Sir Henry in the 1959 adaptation ofThe Hound of the Baskervilles, and later as Mycroft Holmes inThe Private Life of Sherlock Holmes. His own three attempts at the role fell victim to a trait more usually associated with American actors in the part, a bit too stiff, a bit too formal, rather lifeless.

13. Peter Cook Peter Cook and Dudley Moore paired up to spoof theThe Hound of the Baskervilles in this 1978 comedy film, but for all the hamming-up an ensemble cast including Roy Kinnear, Kenneth Williams and Prunella Scales could muster, it was sadly short on laughs

12. Rupert Everett Rupert Everett played a snooty, dandyish Holmes with a taste for cutting put-downs in the 2004 BBC filmSherlock Holmes and the Case of the Silk Stocking. For all that current Sherlock duo Cumberbatch and Freeman deny the Holmes-Watson chemistry goes beyond professional respect, Everett was in no doubt that theirs is "a love affair, albeit one that is not really expressible".

11. Ian Richardson Long before Richardson made his name as the Machiavellian Francis Urquhart inHouse of Cards, he made a decent stab at playing Holmes in two mid-Eighties TV adaptations:The Hound of the Baskervilles andThe Sign of Four.

10. Buster Keaton Buster Keaton directed and starred in this wonderful 1924 silent film. EntitledSherlock Jr. because its protagonist is a young cinema projectionist who dreams of becoming a famous detective like his idol, 29-year-old Keaton's child hero gets caught up in a movie-style mystery, complete with hilarious runaway moped scene.

9. Christopher Plummer The Canadian actor had two stabs at playing Holmes inSilver Blaze in 1977 andMurder by Decreein 1979. Altogether too human and emotional to make the upper reaches of this list, it's nonetheless a thoroughly likeable portrayal.

8. Peter Cushing "Terror stalks the moors! Horror fills the night!" This 1959 Hammer take onThe Hound of the Baskervillesstarring Peter Cushing - reunited with Christopher Lee who perhaps fares better as the supporting Sir Henry Baskerville - is a thrilling and stylish outing to Dartmoor.

7. John Barrymore The silent film star made for a visually arresting Holmes in his one movie appearance as the detective in the filmSherlock Holmesin 1922.

6. Arthur Wontner Despite being not exactly physically suited to the part, the rotund, round-faced actor got down to some solidly authoritative clue solving in five British films during the 1930s.

5. Robert Stephens The great English actor made a brilliantly unconventional Holmes in Billy Wilder's 1970 filmThe Private Life of Sherlock Holmes. Ostensibly a parody, the film is seen by some as an important influence on the new Sherlock.

4. Robert Downey Jr. Robert Downey Jr. was perhaps not the mostly likely Sherlock, but then there's not much conventional about Guy Ritchie's brawling, all-action take on Conan Doyle's creation. Pictured here in the 2009 Hollywood hit filmSherlock Holmes, Downey Jr. portrays the brilliant detective as a mischeivous Victorian 007 but, amazingly, it works.

3. Jeremy Brett For many, Jeremy Brett is Sherlock. His role in the Granada TV seriesThe Adventures of Sherlock Holmesspanned 1984-94 and 42 productions.

2. Basil Rathbone Basil Rathbone appeared in 14 Hollywood films made across 1939-1946 as Sherlock Holmes, and for all the time that has passed he remains many people's quintessential Holmes. A charming, humane even gentlemanly Holmes, he certainly wouldn't have approved of Cumberbatch's incarnation tossing that poor CIA agent out the window.

1. Benedict Cumberbatch If Holmes is not cold, inhumanly calculating and with an addictive personality, he's just not Holmes. Cumberbatch's Sherlock in the BBC's updated adaptation is all three. A Sherlock Holmes for the 21st century.

我评不了这个，好多我听都没有听说过……