Destination: London
Movie: Sherlock Holmes, starring Robert Downey, Jr.
Robert Downey, Jr. as Sherlock Holmes
On Christmas day, the latest of many movie versions of the adventures of fictional detective Sherlock Holmes debuts. The new Sherlock Holmes stars Robert Downey Jr. as the brooding, sexy, young sleuth with a 21st century 3-day growth of facial hair.
Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes
In the preview, Holmes becomes an action figure– the Bruce Willis or Arnold Schwartenegger hero rather than the brainiac of old. The real mysterys: What would Sir Arthur Conan Doyle have thought of this new version? and will Robert Downey replace Basil Rathbone as our image of the tweedy detective that spawned a genre?
Visit Britain, the tourism agency, has cooked up an entire campaign to direct tourists to scope out the Britain of Sherlock. The map of locations in and outside of London and suggested itineraries to help you travel can be found on line. It seems that peripatetic Holmes visited as much of England as Bill Bryson.
Since 2010 marks the 150th anniversary of the birth of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the very least you can do is visit 221B Baker Street Museum. (Ironically, the museum opens every day except Christmas, so on Christmas day you are free to go see the film.)
Visit Britain’s press release says, “Sherlock Holmes was filmed on location in London, Liverpool and Manchester with scenes shot at St Paul’s Cathedral and the Houses of Parliament, Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich, Manchester Town Hall, Liverpool Docks and at Chatham Historic Dockyard in Kent.” Movies for A Traveler’s Library don’t get much better than that!
Let’s hope for a sequel to this movie when Sherlock travels to his final destination in Switzerland.
Tags: BlogSherpa, London, Movie, Robert Downey, Rovbert Downey Jr, Sherlock Holmes, Travel, Visit Britain
what fun!!
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Twitter: chezsven
says:
This is so tempting. Wish I could travel to London in pursuit of Sherlock Holmes, but I’m afraid the movie will have to do!
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Twitter: pen4hire
says:
Ah, sad, but that’s my conclusion, too. At least we’ll have the movie.
Twitter: travelwonders
says:
I’ll check the movie out. When I lived in the UK, 221B Baker Street was no more than a plaque on a building mentioning Conan Doyle’s great creation but nothing more.
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I’ve been looking forward to this movie since I heard about it a couple of years ago.
Frugal Kiwi´s last blog ..World Famous In NZ Since AGES Ago
I’m sure the movie will be fun but not certain how I feel about the character being an action hero.
Twitter: pen4hire
says:
Me, too. But I can’t wait to see it and decide.
As a great fan of Holmes, I fell that I’ll probably need to divorce any concept of the original from the movie, and just go and enjoy the talented Mr. Downey as if this work were unrelated to the books.
Having visited all the places listed in the suggested tour, I can’t help but think that some of them will be disappointing to anyone not really interested in Holmes, while the others should be seen for more than their association with a fictional detective. I love history as much as literature, and while I have nothing against British tourism cashing in on the film’s success, I am rather saddened by the thought that people will value St. Paul’s or Greenwich solely because Robert Downey, Jr. filmed something there.
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