The Soviets made Sherlock Holmes sexy and nobody saw it coming.
Acting
Livanov's Holmes: intellect as seduction technique
Cinematography
Misty moors that actually look haunted
Costume
Watson's mustache deserves its own billing
Director
Igor Maslennikov
Vasiliy Livanov
Sherlock Holmes
Vitali Solomin
Dr. Watson
Rina Zelyonaya
Mrs. Hudson
Boryslav Brondukov
Inspector Lestrade
Evgeniy Steblov
Dr. James Mortimer
Nikita Mikhalkov
Sir Henry Baskerville
Alexander Adabashyan
John Barrymore
Svetlana Kryuchkova
Eliza Barrymore
Oleg Yankovskiy
Jack Stapleton / Hugo Baskerville
Irina Kupchenko
Miss Beryl Stapleton
Alla Demidova
Laura Lyons
Sergei Martinson
Mr. Frankland
Oleg Palmov
Head of Post Office
Paul Leomar
Selden - convict
Dmitry Bessonov
Butler
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
This adaptation was so beloved in the USSR that Livanov became the definitive Holmes for generations—Russians still quote him. The BBC version? Never heard of her.
Nikita Mikhalkov (Sir Henry) later became Russia's most controversial Oscar-winning director; this is him as pretty-bait. Director Maslennikov shot the whole series over six years with the same cast, unprecedented for Soviet TV.
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7.81980
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1981
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7.21987
7.01988
7.41988
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