The Sign of Four (1983 film)

In 1982, American producer Sy Weintraub partnered with English producer Otto Plaschkes to make six television films of Sherlock Holmes stories. Charles Edward Pogue was enlisted to pen the screenplays but the schedule precluded having David Healy portray Watson in both films so Donald Churchill was enlisted to play the role in The Hound of the Baskervilles. Two previous Watsons appear in the film: Terence Rigby who played Watson to Tom Baker's Holmes in 1982s The Hound of the Baskervilles and Thorley Walters who played Watson three times previously; with Christopher Lee as Holmes in Sherlock Holmes and the Deadly Necklace, with Douglas Wilmer as Holmes in ''The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother and with Christopher Plummer as Holmes in Silver Blaze''. Clive Merrison, who plays Bartholomew Sholto, would go on to played Holmes in the long running radio series. == Cast ==

• Ian Richardson as Sherlock Holmes • David Healy as Dr. John H. Watson • Thorley Walters as Major John Sholto • Cherie Lunghi as Mary Morstan • Joe Melia as Jonathan Small • John Pedrick as Tonga • Clive Merrison as Bartholomew Sholto • Richard Heffer as Thaddeus Sholto • Terence Rigby as Inspector Layton • Michael O'Hagan as Mordecai Smith • Robert Russell as Williams == Differences from novel ==

• The plot includes the recovery of the Agra treasure, which here was hidden in Small's wooden leg as he attempts to claim he disposed of it in the Thames. In the novel, Small disposes of the entire treasure into the Thames. • Unlike the source novel, the movie features the murder of Thaddeus Sholto, where Small returns to the house to try and intimidate him into revealing the location of the treasure, beating Sholto to death in a rage when Sholto claims that it was given away long ago. • While Watson expresses a strong attraction for Miss Morstan, a romantic development between the two characters is not implied in the movie, being displayed only in slight "romantic touches". • The original novel features a local detective named Athelney Jones working in tandem with Holmes and Watson. In this version, the detective's name has been changed to "Layton". ==References==