Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson: The Bloody Inscription

Amazon Prime now offers (free with prime) Sherlock Holmes: A Blood Inscription, one of the Vasily Livanov and Vitaly Solomin Russian language films with English subtitles. The film is interesting, if a bit slow moving, and the stars well suited for their roles. Production quality is high as well.

The Sherlockian story is called "The Adventure of the Speckled Band", about a deadly snake with curious coloration.

But the subtitles! A few typos and misspelling were not that bad. It did not bother me too much that Stamford became Stanford. On the other hand, StockMoron was bit much for "Stoke Moran," the house where the adventure takes place.

But then, Helen Stoner, sitting at 221b, describes her situation and death of her sister, which shown in flashback. The subtitle of the dramatic moment, when her sister collapses and says her dying words, was, "A motley ribbon". Sherlock Holmes then repeats back "motley ribbon" to make sure he got it right.

That just doesn't work!

The red herring of a Gypsy band on the grounds should be replaced by the travelling crew of a rock band who sell their brand of ladies finery on the side.