Rathbone Rocks!
- May 13, 2018
- 1 min read
My second Cursed Horror talk at the Castle Keep centred on the definitive Sherlock Holmes - the great Basil Rathbone, who features in chapter 2 of my book.
As kid I grew up watching the Holmes movies, and to me Mr Rathbone is the personification of the Great Detective, so it was a real privilege to discuss his life and career at the Castle.
I previously did a talk on Rathbone a while back at The Black Gate, so in theory I pretty much knew what I was doing - I hope!
Following my little spot, there was a screening of one of his classic Holmes adventures The Scarlet Claw (1944), one of his better efforts from the series of second features produced by Universal Studios.
Once again we had an appreciative audience and the Castle remains a super venue to screen these marvellous old chillers.
Our next talk at the Castle will be on 9 June. It'll be on Peter Lorre, followed by a screening of his debut film M (1932). For a future blog I'll be doing a piece regarding the origins of Fritz Lang's controversial thriller.
Among the audience at the screening was Michael Glancey, who runs the Friday Film Club at Gateshead Central Library. I will be doing a talk for the club on 18 May at 2:00pm at the library. Its open to everyone so please come along.
Best get rehearsing!
What a fantastic evening this sounds, Mark! Basil Rathbone really is the gold standard when it comes to portraying Sherlock Holmes — there's a reason his version has endured for so long in the public imagination. The Castle Keep sounds like the perfect setting for this kind of event; there's something wonderfully atmospheric about watching a classic horror or mystery film in a historic venue. It's interesting how Rathbone managed to dominate the role so completely, much like how understanding competitive dominance in any field requires the right framework — the same way businesses learn how to apply Porter's Five Forces to assess who truly holds power in a market, Rathbone simply had no real rivals for the role during…
This blog really hits on something most CS students only figure out after losing marks! I remember staring at an assignment brief for hours, not because I didn't know how to code, but because I genuinely couldn't decide which paradigm to use. The debate around Object-Oriented vs Functional Programming can feel overwhelming when your lecturer doesn't spell it out clearly. What I found most useful here is the practical framing — asking "am I modelling real-world things or transforming data?" is such a simple but effective question to start with. The comparison table is a great quick reference too, especially for students juggling multiple assignments at once. I'd also add that many modern projects actually blend both approaches, so understanding…
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